Wedding Planning: Incorporating Charity into your Wedding {Guest Post}

Today I am welcoming a rather special guest to Pocketful of Dreams who has kindly provided an amazing article all about how to incorporate charity into your wedding day.

There’s so many ideas for you to try out and I’m by no means saying you have to do all of them, but sometimes it’s nice to be able to give something back to those less fortunate than yourself, or simply to use the opportunity to highlight a specific cause that’s close to your heart.

Alicia of The Charity Wedding blog is the expert on how to raise money and awareness for charities during your wedding process. Alicia said “When we began planning our wedding we felt discouraged as we were having a hard time spending such a large amount of money on one day for ourselves.  We believe in giving back and living a life of purpose. Neither one of us enjoys being the center of attention and while we knew we wanted a wedding to celebrate our love for each other with our closest friends and family, we knew there had to be a better way”. And so The Charity Wedding was born, you will find so many ideas on her fab blog so do make sure you check it out.

For now here’s a few ideas to start with…..

Photo: fhwrdh on Flickr.com

“Hello Pocketful of Dreams readers! I am delighted to be here with you today to talk a bit about incorporating charity into your big day! Thanks to the royal couple who recently raised over £1 Million through their wedding for various charities, the trend is getting even more press. However giving back with your wedding started way before the royal couple got on board and there are more practical ways to do it for the average couple. I am excited to be able to share all the ways that you could bring a little good will into your day with little to no sacrifice on your part!

• Wedding Giftlists / Registries: This is one of the most popular and well known ways to give back. In today’s world many couples already live together, have a house full of things, and really don’t need to register for new toasters and china. Organizations like the I Do Foundation and Oxfam Unwrapped allow you to not only to create charity registries but also to register with common retailers who will donate a portion of any items bought through the I Do Foundation registry, at no additional expense to your guests.
• Suppliers: Several suppliers donate all or a portion of their proceeds to a charity. While some will make this public, others may not so it might be a good idea to ask suppliers when you meet with them.

Wedding Toms image from Just Lovely Things Blog. You can visit the Toms website and download their free toolkit with ideas and inspiration on how to incorporate Toms into your big day. For every pair of Toms sold another pair is given to a child in need.

• Attire: Many dress shops sell wedding dresses and use part or all of the proceeds to help their respective causes. The British Red Cross has a charity bridal shop that helps support the Red Crosses efforts. Visit this post on Ethical Weddings to find a list of charitable shops in the UK. Grooms can get in on the action too by wearing Tom’s Shoes or seeking out companies and organizations that donate to charity- like these ties from the Cancer Research Gift Shop.
• Goods: Even wine can benefit charity if you purchase from One Hope Wine!  While it may take a little extra effort and research to find companies that use some of their funds for the good of others it will help counteract that buyer’s remorse just a bit!

• Details: Consider raising awareness by using different charities as your table numbers, selecting colors based on specific charities (red for heart disease, blue for autism, purple for cystic fibrosis) and then tell your guests a little about it in the program. My Bridesmaids and I wore red shoes to bring awareness to heart disease (the number one killer of women in the USA) and we even asked female guests via our invitation to do the same.
• Paper goods: The I Do Foundation even has a partnership with an invitation company. They will donate a portion of your invitation sales to charity at no extra cost to you.

Bottled water with DIY labels announcing breastcancer charity donation in place of favours, as well as the significance of the donation, via Wedding Bee

• Postage: The post office sells stamps that benefit or raise awareness for various charities. Instead of opting for a wedding related stamp or something else, ask what cause related stamps they have on hand.
• Flowers: Consider donating leftover flowers to local nursing homes or hospitals. Some places have restrictions on what can be brought in so try to arrange this in advance.
• Food: If you have leftover food consider arranging to drop off anything extra at a local homeless shelter.
• Favours: Skip the little mementos with your wedding date on them, that let’s face it, no one really wants and opt to make a donation in your guests honor instead. Guests are not coming to your wedding to get a gift and I can promise you they won’t miss it! If you do want to give them something search for a little something from an organization that gives back like these pins that benefit cancer research.
• Cake: Wedding cakes are gorgeous but one of the costs I had the hardest time swallowing. Some bakeries donate a portion of each cake to charity.  If you can’t find one that does, consider opting for a less expensive option- like small desserts or pie- and donating some of the savings to charity.
• Honeymoon: Yes, even your honeymoon can be charitable! A portion of travel booked through the I Do Foundation will go to charity and companies like Sandals even have their own non-profit organisations so you know that while it may not translate directly, they do use some of their profits for good in the community that their resorts are located in.

Overall with just a slight shift in perspective and perhaps a little effort, you can bring charity into several aspects of your wedding. The most important thing you can do is simply ask if your suppliers make any charitable contributions from their proceeds or even if they are actively involved with any charities. You just may inspire them to give back too! In the end the day will be beautiful, guests will have an amazing time, you will be married and you will know that along the way you helped change the lives of others.

You can find Alicia on The Charity Wedding blog, on Facebook and on Twitter.

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Wow, thank-you so much to Alicia of The Charity Wedding for this fantastic article. Giving back is something I am so very keen on, and I often have a hard time reconciling the amount of waste that can inevitably occur with an event (particularly the many Corporate events I have been involved in previously). Definitely food for thought and really inspiring to hear about all the many ways we can all ‘do our bit’.

I would love to know your thoughts on this one, did you or will you be incorporating charity into your wedding day and how are you going about it?

Michelle xx