Eco-Friendly Products and Honeymoon Registry

You live a green lifestyle every day of the year. You bike to work. You recycle everything you can, and you never forget to turn off the lights in your home.

Now that you and your partner are getting married, that same green lifestyle can carry through to your wedding registry. Here's how these eco-friendly products and a honeymoon registry can help you save the earth and make your big day that much more special.

Greener wedding: Top green wedding registry gift ideas

The key to a green wedding registry involves being mindful of what you truly do and do not need. It also comes down to thinking about quality over sheer price alone. While you want a mix of price points on your wedding registry so that everyone feels comfortable contributing, you don't have to choose the cheapest products. Opt for a mix of high-quality products at different price points.

Here's our room-to-room breakdown of the top green wedding registry gift ideas to help you start building your list.

Kitchen must-haves

Most people expect the usual when it comes to wedding registries — blenders, toasters, that kind of thing — but green wedding registries go one step further and include kitchen accessories that are eco-friendly and help minimize the couple's impact on the environment.

Here are a few to add to your green wedding registry:

• Compost collector:

  The best way to cut down on waste in the kitchen is to turn scraps of food and organic matter into valuable, nutrient-rich soil. A compost collector will help you do just that, and you can find small ones that fit on kitchen countertops.

• Tea infusers:

  Cut down on your tea bags and packaging by asking for tea infusers that can be reused and refilled with your favorite teas.

• Silicone cupcake liners:

  Hate buying those paper cupcake liners? Silicone cupcake liners can be reused time and time again.

• Reusable Keurig pods:

  Keurigs may be great coffee makers, but their individual pods create a lot of waste. These pods can be filled with your favorite coffee and used time after time.

Bedroom favorites

Every couple could probably use a new set of sheets or even a comforter set for their bedrooms. Here are a few green wedding registry items that elevate those common gifts to the earth-saving level.

• Bamboo sheets:

  If you didn't know any better, you'd think bamboo sheets were made from silk because of how soft they are. Bamboo is actually one of the most renewable resources on the planet, so upgrade your sheet set on your green wedding registry.

• Oil diffusers:

  Aerosol sprays can harm your environment. To get your room smelling fresh, opt for an oil diffuser instead.

• VOC-free paints:

  If you're getting ready to paint your bedroom, choose a paint that is non-toxic and volatile organic compounds-free for your green wedding registry. Your home will thank you for it.

Create the best green honeymoon wedding registry. Start your registry

Bathroom baes

Your bathroom could use a green makeover, and because bathrooms are small and have few accessories, it's easy to design a green wedding registry that focuses on products that will last a long time and are made from environmentally friendly materials.

Here are a few we love for green wedding registries:

• Organic cotton bath towels:

  So soft and oh-so-good for the environment, organic cotton bath towels are made sustainably and feel so good when you step out of the shower.

• Fair-trade accessories:

  Fairtrade soap dispensers, soap dishes and toothbrush holders look great, and you can feel good knowing that the makers were paid well for their work.

• Bamboo wooden furniture:

  Need a storage container for your bathroom? Opt for one made from bamboo or other Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood. This certification means the wood is sustainably harvested, responsibly managed, socially beneficial and economically viable.

Greenest wedding: How a honeymoon registry complements a green wedding

If you've built your green wedding registry is a thoughtful way, then you might think that your registry looks a little sparse. That's because as you built it, you probably realized how little you really needed in the first place.

When you find yourself struggling to fill a registry, it's time to pivot to the ultimate green wedding registry: the honeymoon registry. Here's how a honeymoon registry is actually the greenest option for a wedding registry and how it can give you and your partner the honeymoon you've always dreamed of.

No packaging or shipping required

The amount of waste created by a wedding registry is staggering. Think about all the waste generated by just one set of wine glasses. It's wrapped, so you'll need to near off the wrapping paper. Then there's the box that the glasses come in. Inside, there's plastic wrap and probably bubble wrap to keep the glasses from breaking, and there might be more cardboard inside. And that's all just one gift. Sheets usually come in plastic zip containers, and pillows are wrapped in plastic.

Even if your guests ship their presents directly to you, there's still a high amount of pollution associated with shipping.

Create the best green honeymoon wedding registry. Start your registry

Fewer unneeded gifts

It's always lovely to get gifts from people wishing you and your partner well, but not everyone sticks to wedding registries. Some people like to put their own presents together, and while they mean well, they might end up getting you items you already had and didn't need to replace. You can always exchange these items, but that's an extra step for you, and if you don't have the store nearby, then you'll probably be stuck with that gift.

Unwanted and unneeded gifts can pile up in your home, especially if you live in a small apartment where every bit of closet space counts. As someone committed to a green lifestyle, you want to avoid as much excess clutter as possible and make room for items that truly give you joy.

Money spent where you want to go

Taking a honeymoon is probably one of the best things that couples can do for one another after they are married. After the stress of the wedding, the honeymoon can help recenter a couple and let them forget about jobs, friends and obligations for a while so they can sit back and just enjoy each other's company.

With a honeymoon registry, the money collected goes towards building that perfect honeymoon for the couple and taking away some of the stress of paying for it. When a guest buys you and your partner dinner on your honeymoon registry, the money goes directly to your bank account, which means you can spend it wherever you like. The money won't be tied to any singular restaurant, so you and your partner can choose where to dine out.

With the added money in your bank account, you and your partner can plan for snorkeling in the Caribbean, zip-lining Costa Rica or wine tasting in Napa Valley — wherever you want, whenever you want.

Building a green wedding registry or a greener honeymoon registry takes little added effort on the part of the busy couple, and many of these green products can be found at popular outlets such as Bed, Bath and Beyond, Target and Crate & Barrel. Honeymoon registry sites like Hitchd help you integrate your physical and honeymoon registries all in one place, making the whole process easier on you and your guests.

Your green lifestyle can now extend to your wedding and honeymoon registry. With a little planning and some quick research, you can do your part to minimize your carbon footprint while still celebrating your love.