Put a stop to wedding junk mail

A few months ago, Groomasaurus Gal and I ventured over to one of the many bridal expos that are offered in the Denver area. Supposedly Denver has a large demographic of 20-somethings, which makes us very attractive to wedding vendors and marketers. When we signed up for the expo we provided our names and address, and since this is America, within a few days we were getting all sorts of junk mail and emails from photographers, caterers, tux rental stores and the like.

Now, I’m a marketer by trade, so I can’t well blame these vendors in their attempt to make a buck and survive this dismal economy. But because we’re having a destination wedding and really have no need for any of the vendors who are hitting us up, it seems like a huge waste of trees, fuel and effort. Which got us thinking…

We’ve been meaning to sign up for some of the stop-junk-mail lists for a very long time, and now seems like as good a time as any. So we tracked down a few online resources that allow us to minimize the amount of junk mail sent to our house, and here they are:

• DMAChoice.org – This site allows you to set preferences for what emails and direct mail you receive and control who sends commercial email and smail mail to you.
• Catalog Choice – A great resource that enables you to choose what catalogs you get in the mail. More than 900 merchants have signed up to allow you to opt in our out, so kudos to them for volunteering.
• 41Pounds.org – This organization contacts direct mail companies on your behalf to stop catalogs and junk mail like those ubiquitous pre-approved credit card solicitations. It does cost $41 for 5 years of service, but they’re a nonprofit, and that fee covers their costs (plus they donate $15 to the charity of your choice). Another fine option.

Here are also a couple Web pages with more information on stopping junk mail:

http://www.ecocycle.org/junkmail/index.cfm
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18530707/
http://environment.about.com/od/greenlivingdesign/a/junkmail.htm

Check out these great resources and, when you want to turn off the spigot of wedding junk mail, try them out.

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Thanks to Tom Santilli over at Examiner.com, who blogged about our Workbook. For all those in Michigan who need a wedding videographer, check out Tom’s site at Complete Video Solutions.