Turn Your Wedding into a Time of Giving

Why not make your wedding a time for reaching out to others in need, a time for giving and sharing. It is so easy to get lost in one’s own needs (style of dress, food selections, honeymoon plans, etc…) that finding ways to think of others can actually make your wedding planning less stressful! My fiancé, Haym, and I, have come across several ideas that we like. We would like to share them with all of you.

For those couples who have everything, ask your guests to donate to one (or several) of your or their favorite charities. At www.justgive.org there is a Wedding Registry, replete with an on line form and search engine to help even the most internet-challenged decide which charities to use. The site has over 850,000 charities from which to choose! You can even submit a picture, bio of yourself and your groom, and any details about the wedding you wish to provide. When guests make donations, your name is mentioned.

Wedding favors are lovely and cute but many don’t even make it home with the guests! Instead of a gift, you can donate a set amount to a favorite charity in each guests name. But if you do decide to have favors, think about the following.

Are you and your hubby (or wife)-to-be into protecting the environment? You can give a soon-to-be tree to your wedding guests. At www.growatree.com, you can pick a tree that is customized for your state and they arrive in ‘attention grabbing display boxes’. Another option is www.treeinabox.com. This company provides personalized wedding boxes with names, dates and pictures of wedding bells! The www.expressionsgifts.com website offers ‘celebrations in green’, lovely live seedlings or spruce trees that are nurtured and grown for two years. Not into ordering on the web? Go down to your local nursery – and have them package up small seedlings with a pretty bow for your day. Not only are these favors, good for the environment, but your guests will have lasting memories from your special day! In the same vein, you can print your wedding invitations and thank you notes on tree-free and/or recyclable paper.

Have you thought about what to do with the delicious and extravagant food that will be left over after the wedding party? You can bring happiness to the lives of others by donating this delicious fare to a homeless shelter. You can also donate your wedding flowers to a nursing home or a woman’s shelter, or any other organization that could use some brightening up.

You don’t have to stop giving when the wedding ends. Not all women can afford a beautiful wedding dress in which to get married. What a tremendous gift of love to donate your gown to an organization such as the Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation. At www.makingmemories.org they will instruct you on how to send your precious gift!

When all is said and done and you are blissfully happy with your new spouse, you can be thankful not only for what you have received on this wonderful day but at peace with yourself for the kindness and love you will have brought to others. What a beautiful way to start your new life with your beloved!

By Lisa Ellin