Check these books out the sustainable way--borrow them from your local library or through inter-library loan. Also, books on the general topics of simpler lifestyles and voluntary simplicity sometimes have sections about weddings.

Organic Weddings: Balancing Ecology, Style and Tradition
Michelle Kozin
New Society Publishers, 2003
ISBN: 0865714967
http://www.organicweddings.com/shop2/book.html
This new book with beautiful graphics and layout is a practical, up-to-date guide on planning a wedding that incorporates environmental, social, and personal values. It is one of the few wedding planning books available with such a focus... Read the full review

Green Weddings That Don't Cost The Earth
Carol Reed-Jones
Paper Crane Press, 1996
ISBN: 0965083306
This book and the book Organic Weddings: Balancing Ecology, Style and Tradition are the two best books about environmentally-friendly, socially-responsible weddings available today. Green Weddings gets into nuts-and-bolts detail about everything from the invitations to the honeymoon. The book begins by listing the many good reasons for having a green wedding and then outlining some basic principles that can be applied to all aspects of wedding planning... Read the full review

Let's Elope!
Scott Shaw and Lynn Beaham
Bantam, 2001
ISBN: 0553380826
This book covers not only elopements but also smaller, and therefore simpler, weddings. From a personal and ecological perspective, small weddings have the advantages of less hassle, less cost, and a smaller resource footprint. Notably, Let's Elope! has a chapter on how to persuade family and friends to go along with alternatives such as small weddings and elopements, or even accept them after the fact! Acceptance by close family members, who may have had their own expectations about the wedding, can be a formidable hurdle for engaged couples to overcome when they depart from tradition. Because of the book's focus on elopements and small weddings, with both their fun side and their more practical aspects, Let's Elope! is a refreshing counterpoint to the thousands of books out there about the 200-guest chicken-dinner kind of wedding.

The Alternative Wedding Book: Create a Beautiful Wedding That Reflects Your Values and Doesn't Cost the Earth
Alternatives for Simple Living
Northstone Publishing, 1997
ISBN: 155145081X
http://www.simpleliving.org/~simpleli/osCommerce/catalog/product_info.php?
cPath=51&products_id=244

The Complete Tightwad Gazette
Amy Dacyczyn
Villard Books, 1999
ISBN: 0375752250
In addition to being the frugal person's bible, The Complete Tightwad Gazette features a number of tips on having a less-expensive wedding.

 

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