10 Ways To Green Your Halloween Masquerade Ball Wedding Slideshow

There are so many eco-friendly options for Halloween costumes. If you are a crafty bride, you can create your mask and gown yourself. This allows you to choose your own sustainable fabrics and you can control the overall cost a bit more. If you don't think you can get a costume together in time for your big day, you can shop at costume rental shops or vintage stores for classic designs that are also affordable.

If you don't want to transform yourself completely, wearing a normal bridal gown with a few masquerade ball touches such as an organic cotton mask or ornate peace silk gloves will still make you look like the eco-chic belle of the ball.

If you ask your local baker to add organic flour and cage free eggs to your cake, chance are they will willingly oblige. Find a cute sugar skeleton couple cake topper or a textured butter cream topping in place of a plastic throwaway.

If you don't want a cake and you are tired of the cupcake craze, try a delicious cheesecake mousse cup with a sustainable wooden spoon attached. Guests will love the festive colors. Tie an orange raffia ribbon around the top and garnish with an organic candy.

For all the over processed and mass produced candies out there, there are organic and fair trade alternatives for your sugary sweet Halloween wedding. Yummy Earth makes organic gummy worms and Divine Chocolates creates fair trade goodies that positively impact cocoa farmers. The Groovy Baker also creates delicious Black Cherry Cocoa Nib Caramels. These caramels are slow cooked and stirred by hand for an addictingly creamy-chewy treat.

Look for candies that are made without artificial colors, dyes, flavors, and preservatives. Real fruit extracts with no high fructose corn syrup is another healthy way to go when choosing Halloween treats.

No Halloween bash is complete without a delicious punch. Freeze ice cubes and fill them with delicious seasonal organic fruit bits. You can also find organic liquors and sugar free soda to add to the mix. Serve the brew in a classy glass punch bowl that you can use again and again.

Create spooky martinis using organic liquor, olives and all natural unprocessed sea salt around the rim for a decorative touch. Pour these potent potions into recycled glasses and dance the night away.

An eclectic masquerade wedding calls for a unique engagement ring or wedding band. If you want to avoid the conflict diamond issue, choose a semi-precious gemstone like a blood red garnet. If you want to do something really special with your fiance, take them to a garnet mine (they are located in several areas of the U.S.) where you can retrieve gem quality garnets without even using any tools. Any established jeweler can set your special gem in reclaimed or recycled metal.

Your bridesmaids will love a mesmerizing masquerade themed piece of jewelry. You can also go the halloween route and pick something classy yet festive. An ethically harvested black pearl, a conflict free sunflower yellow diamond or a recycled sterling silver masquerade mask pendant will look stunning on your favorite ladies.

In keeping with the masquerade ball theme find a green certified hotel and ball room for your fancy affair. If you want to go the kooky spooky Halloween route, have your wedding at a bizarre museum like the voodoo museum in New Orleans, Louisiana or the Cryptozoology museum in Portland, Maine.

Of course, there is always the perfect venue: use the stunning natural splendor of nature as a backdrop during your "I Do's." There is little decor needed so set up some rustic wooden tables, line Jack-o-Lanterns along a path to light your guests way, and create a simple dance for for your ball to begin.

Hollow out mini sweet pumpkins and fill them with warm and delicious dips. Guests will love this unique container and it can be composted after your wedding. You can also serve individual mini pumpkins filled with warm autumn inspired soup for your first course at dinner.

For beverages you can make use of a larger pumpkin and fill it with ice for an eco-friendly cooler. Stock it with delicious pure cane sodas for kids or delicious organic pumpkin spice beers for the adults. You can save the pumpkin, cut it up and freeze it after the wedding for ingredients in an autumn soup or dessert.

Instead of importing flowers from out of town choose local, seasonal and organic flowers. You can either search for your own bouquet findings such as colored leaves, acorns, sunflowers, mums and mini gourds, or have a custom creation made at your local farmers market or florist.

There are a lot of chemicals like lead, parabens and phthalates in face paints that can be avoided by using organic face paints. In addition to these known toxins, many products contain chemicals that have never been tested, because the FDA does not require cosmetic testing and the industry's review panel only tests about 10 percent of what they use.

While the amount of these chemicals you are exposed to in your daily routine will probably not harm you, the cumulative effect of these products when washed down the drain and put in the landfill is significant.

Spectacular decor is one of the most important parts of a Halloween wedding. Instead of a traditional aisle runner, use dried seasonal flowers and herbs scattered along the floors. Adorn your cake with bright yellow sunflowers and place hardy mums in pots as seasonal centerpieces.

Skip the mass produced plastic Halloween decor and create pretty signs using recycled cardboard, ring pillows with organic cotton and let your flower girls carry hollowed out pumpkins filled with organic flowers down the aisle.