A Wedding Gown Giveaway by WedVert!
You are not seeing things. We are actually partnering up with WedVert on a giveaway that is making us squeal with unimaginable glee! WedVert was first to push green weddings mainstream…and in such a way that makes a chic, green affair an absolute no brainer! And with today kicking off Go Green Month, this is the perfect way to really celebrate!
Here is a little snippet from the fabulous Meghan at WedVert…
In honor of World Environment Day, and our third year supporting the WED (WED with the World in Mind) w/ the UN, we’re announcing that June is Green Wedding Month. We’ve partnered with Style Me Pretty to help brides Style Me Green!
We are GIFTING one lucky bride with a gown from our new line VERT. These gowns are designed by Jessica Iverson ~ each is made lovingly with all-natural, vegan friendly fabrics. The WED mission this year is all about giving back … by planting trees and bringing a little true and honest green to our world. We are determined to prove that weddings can not only be beautiful, but can also be an incredible opportunity to share the green love!
. . .
To win the dress – valued at up to $2000 – we want to hear how you are planning on incorporating trees and reforestation into your wedding. Whether you email us pictures of you and your fiance planting trees to win the gown or you share stories right here in our comments section of gifting seeds as favors, we want to hear all about it!
The contest will run for two weeks … SO EXCITING!
I'm using a lot of natural elements found on the beach for our seaside wedding, but most of all we are really excited to try and attempt to make an arch for the cermony using a sea grape tree. We saw our idea in front of a local surf shop and knew we had to have something similar for our wedding! We also plan to use driftwood as part of our decor!
Oooooh the colletion is so beautiful! My fiancee and I are looking at the wildflower infused paper for our invitations and the cones that will hold our tossing petals. We'll include a note in the invitation suite and/or at the reception encouraging guests to plant their paper, and if they dont have room or a yard, to place them in a birdcage that we will provide so others may take them to do so. We're also looking at the option of giving away tree saplings (http://greenworldproject.net/ or the like) as our favors, and using some potted hydrangeas as opposed to cut flowers.
I absolutely love this idea! I'm a wedding photographer but also a full time mom with two kids in diapers - cloth diapers of course! I'm definitely a green mama and love doing things to help our environment. I would love to give away a free engagement session to a deserving couple doing something for the environment - like planting trees. Please contact me with session ideas, a photo of you two love birds, and why you feel this would be an important thing for you to have captured. I'll select a winner, feature the session on my blog, and fwd the info to Style Me Pretty for their Green Gown give-a-way. I will also award the winner a $1500 gift certificate toward a wedding package!
green green green!! This is so important to us, and it is amazing that it is becoming mainstream in weddings!! We have gone green already with our save the dates (postcard style... NO reply envelopes, printed on recycled paper), and invites (NO reply cards/envelopes... everything done via the web!). We have also purchased biodegradable utensils from Ecoware Biodegradables (http://www.ecowareproducts.com/ ) for our rehearsal BBQ. Other ways we are staying green is minimizing fuel consumption by having our reception and ceremony at the same place, and providing a shuttle for our guests (carpooling rocks!!), and I am wearing a not-new (ie. used/second hand/recycled) wedding dress. Fernie's Old Growth Forest is such a special place, and we are taking our guests for a hike through the forest to show them one of our favorite places... passion leads to honour leads to protection!! Thanks for sharing your passion for reforestation with this contest!!
That is Eco-Chic. Love the idea. There are so many simple changes we each can make in the our personal lives and wedding plans that would have a great impact on the reducing waste and conserving energy. I love stories like this...perfect for Friday :)
Very cool. I think the biggest way we're helping trees is not using paper where possible. We're planning on electronic save the dates (or phone calls for older family members), Electronic rsvps too! We're having a fairly small wedding, so we won't be having place cards or table numbers. We also don't want any one time use utensils, cups or napkins. If I don't win this, I was planning on buying a dress second hand. As for favors, seeds or seedlings was one of the things we're considering. We know for sure that we don't want something wasteful that will just sit on peoples mantles gathering dust.
Seeing as our wedding is in Oregon, where I am from, reforestation and conservation is something that has certainly come up. Deforestation and the lumber industry has surrounded me since I was growing up and our wedding is certainly an opportunity to make our out of town guests a little more aware of it, if only by bringing them to the beautiful forests of the pacific northwest.
We are having our rehearsal dinner in the beautiful Ecola State Park. The state parks or Oregon seek to protect the natural environment as well as educate the public on the importance of conservation especially in a section of the country with country that relies on the lumber industry so much. We are encouraging out guests to not only enjoy the park but learn a little about the park system and their mission.
At our actual wedding we are skipping paper napkins and I have spent weeks making cloth napkins that can be reused. The ones people don't take home (and we are encouraging them to take home a few for their own tables) we will keep or make into a quilt. We are also encouraging people to send us digital photos instead of prints by sharing them online in a digital album. We are using paper products (as efficiently as possible, and eliminating unneeded print items where we can. Our ceremony and reception are in the same location, my family's house on the coast and it is within walking distance of the hotel where we have a block of rooms booked. We are encouraging guests to leave their cars in the lot and walk down the beach to the wedding, we will also be making out "get away" on foot with a vintage hand-me-down suitcase.
After the wedding we are skipping the typical honeymoon and going on a backpacking trip in a state park, a hobby we enjoy together. It's a great way to appreciate the few remaining natural forests left in this country and it's a VERY low-impact vacation (virtually now carbon emissions and almost no damage to the environment). We will also be planting some trees to help offset any carbon emissions from guest travel, etc. And of course we try and incorporate green practices into our everyday lives and work.
WedVert seems like a great resource! I'm so glad to be introduced to it this way! And green wedding month is so exciting! I'll be sure to carry the message on to other brides I know! Can't wait to see what other great ideas people post here! Happy green wedding month!
Dear Abby and Meghan -
What an incredible collaboration. Style Me Pretty is definitely the best read bridal blog, so what an initiative to take for others to be aware of Green Wedding Month and the many ways a bride can throw a very green wedding. Even if a bride hadn't initially thought about any ways of thinking green, this post will get many to re-think. (On another note, I must say I totally wish I had an invite to Lindsey's wedding from her comment! I'm thrilled to know that there are other brides thinking on this path.)
To tell you where my passion stems from I have to talk about college. The class that had the largest impact on my life is corporate social responsibility. Prior to taking this class I'd never put much thought to "being green." Originally being from NYC - public transportation and recycling were things I just did. In my first job right out of school I started a "Save what's left" committee. My office had the largest paper consumption possible. I was in the business of non-profit fundraising, so annual appeals and other acknowledgement letters were always being printed - think about MASS mailings. People didn't recycle even paper. Getting this group off the ground and collaborating with other office suites in my office building we were able to take action and truly make a difference. I currently am working on a grant to start a post secondary education program on my university campus for individuals with intellectual disabilities to have the same opportunity we all have - to go to college.
My wedding will be very small - mostly just family and a few very close friends. I have designed my own save the dates and invitations. All the ink is organic and handdrawn on recycled paper. There will be no enveloppes involved - both are postcards and replies will be electronic. There will be no name cards or any of that sort. It's an intimate wedding.
The wedding is taking place at my fiances parents' backyard for the wedding and reception. With the approximate 50 guests we will be utilizing no paper products. Like Lindsey I have been making cloth napkins and going to flea markets to purchase plates and cups of all shapes, color and sizes to be used by our guests, washed afterwards and serve as our china - no request for china in our bridal registry (I haven't started one yet, but there won't be a request for china for sure). This goes for silverware as well!
We will not be using floral centerpieces. My fiances parents have an incredible garden in the backyard. I will pick a few flowers prior to the wedding for my bouquet, but that'll be it. We are going to be in such a lush and gorgeous setting that floral centerpieces aren't necessary.
My fiance and I are also skipping the honeymoon and will be going on a trail run for our after the wedding trip. We got the idea off of the June's issue of Runner's World! We cannot wait for this trail run/backpacking adventure.
What's very important to me is that anything left from my wedding, I hope to pass on to another bride. If I do win a free wedding gown, then this gown will be given freely to another future bride. Leadership, service and philanthropy are three concepts I live by.
Again, thanks for the opportunity!
My family owns 80 acres of land in the North Carolina mountains, and that is where I plan on having my ceremony and reception. The land is where my grandmother and great-aunt grew up in the early 1900's along with their parents and grandparents. They raised cows, chickens, pigs, grew cabbage, vegetables, and collected maple syrup. The cabin and outhouse they lived in are still on the land in a beautiful meadow nestled between two mountains. There is a wildflower field and also a creek running down the middle of the land. This land is by far one of the most beautiful places I've ever been, and it has deep meaning for my family.
The land has been passed down to my mother and her brother. One day it will get passed to my sister and I so we were included in the discussions on what to do with the land once they acquired it. The temptation to sell was strong (imagine how much it would be worth!), but we immediately knew we did not want to sell the land. The mountains of North Carolina are becoming more and more populated and shopping centers and strip malls are going up everywhere. We are determined to keep this land in its natural state. We have recently had workers come to cut some of the rotting trees down, and plant new trees, so that new trees can start to grow. We will continue to work and feed this land to help it stay as beautiful as we all know it to be. My family has always been pretty eco-conscious, but now with this land we are able to make a big difference in this area of the mountains. We feel we are really helping the environment.
This spot is the ideal location for my wedding and my entire wedding is centering around it. I am hand making almost everything myself (with help from my fiance and family of course), including the invitations (made from recycled paper on a letterpress) and the cake! We want our wedding to be a down-to-earth, mellow affair with homemade food, family traditions, and great outdoor scenery. I feel that using this land as the setting of my wedding is a way to say thank you to the Earth and use this land in a way that does not destroy it.
Also, the save-the-dates are printed on special biodegradable paper that has seeds infused into the paper, so after you write down the date on your calendar, you just bury the paper in your garden or yard, and a beautiful bunch of flowers will grow! I use these for almost all my cards now. Whenever possible (food plates, napkins, etc.) we are using biodegradable products. All the guests are also staying at the same hotel and carpooling to the ceremony/reception area. No need to have everyone drive themselves alone!
I have always thought flowers bought from stores/florists are ridiculously expensive (and are often grown with chemicals) so for all the centerpieces and my bouquet, we will use fresh wild flowers from the field on the land picked the day of the wedding. These tiny, beautifully vibrant flowers are perfect for the wedding and I feel its just another way to compliment the Earth, that we don't need chemically-grown flowers, the flowers the Earth produces are the most stunning.
Most of my family lives in Raleigh/Durham, Winston-Salem, and Charlotte, so I think all my guests will be relieved to have a break from the hustle and bustle of city life and retreat, relax, and celebrate in a natural mountain vista.
GO GREEN AND KEEP THE NATURE ALIVE!
These gowns are beautiful!
On the day of our rehearsal dinner, we're actually attending a tree planting with our bridal party and close family! The event is organized by a sustainability project I've been involved with since my university days and the dates just happened to align...I'm really looking forward to it. What a great wedding kickoff!!
GIVING AWAY A GOWN? WOOOWZA! Are you serious?!?! Such a neat giveaway. My fiance and I are SUCH beach people and we chose to do a beach wedding for that reason, and because we wanted to be able to use decorations and favors and details that were eco-friendly. All the decorations we are incorporating are from the beach--we are using sand from the beach where we're getting married. After the wedding, we are going together to pour the sand back on the beach. We are using shells as decorations--shells that we have found. We decided to go paperless and printed one canvas program rather than enough for each individual (same with the menu). It has been really fun to try to be creative and eco-conscious. It has allowed us to make it so much more personalized and unique.
Thank you for honoring people for doing the right thing. This giveaway is so special. THANK YOU!
What a great giveaway Abby! The amount of resources consumed to put on a wedding can produce a large carbon footprint, so I think it's important to take steps to offset those carbon emissions. Luckily, there are simple and easy ways to "go green" with wedding planning that can also be applied in everyday life.
On The Wedding Channel, I've set my gift registries, so that whenever a guest buys an item, a portion of the cost is donated to the Sierra Club. I've also know of couples requesting their guests to donate to environmental charities, such as The Nature Conservancy, in lieu of gifts.
I also plan to eliminate the use of extra envelopes in my invitations and use recycled paper for invitations/programs/ and place cards. I've also seen seed-embedded invitation/program/place cards that can later be planted, which is such a unique idea. After the wedding, I will recycle any leftover paper products and compost my bouquets and flower arrangements.
For wedding favors, there are so many great ideas out there! I will be giving away tree seedlings or maybe flower bulbs.
I can't wait to hear what other ladies will be doing for their weddings!
Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! I am so excited that June is Go Green Month!
My fiance and I are trying to have the most eco-conscious wedding possible. We are getting married on a vineyard in my hometown located in North Carolina. www.grassycreekvineyard.com Most of my family is located here so there will be less traveling by guests. The vineyard has a lake surrounded by old hunting cabins built in the 1930's. This will be where the ceremony, reception, and rehearshal dinner will take place as well as where out of town guests will stay. There is paddle boating, skeet shooting, hiking trails etc. that will keep guests entertained throughout the weekend. It's perfect!
The most charming thing about this location is that it has a history and is dear to me. The road that leads to the vineyard is lined with the most gorgous pine trees. These trees were planted by my grandfather over 60 years ago when he was a teenager. My grandfather died when my mother was 12 years old, so I never got to meet him. He left behind 6 children that still tell the best stories about him. I know that this location will mean so much to each of them as well as the 13 grandchildren that love a grandfather they never met. In honor of my late grandfather and grandmother, I will be planting a pine tree in the same row. It's not often the whole family is together, and I know on my special day, they will be looking down at us all in joy.
We are being eco-concious in other ways as well. The invitiations are on recycled paper, no seating cards, cloth napkins, rented linens, glasswares, etc. My mother and I are reusing our wine bottles from the past year for the centerpieces and putting wildflowers in them. We are not having many decorations besides the centerpieces. The landscape in and of itself is decoration enough. I am handmaking the wedding programs using recycled paper. For the rehearshal dinner we are using Bambu plates that biodegrade in 4 months. The bridemaids were able to get their dresses used off ebay. I am using reuseable fabric gift wrap for all the homemade presents I will be giving out.
We are also eco-consious in our daily lives as well. We recycle everything possible! We hardly have any trash! Even though we don't have recycle pickup (I know, right?) we sort our recyclables and take them to the local recycling center. We have also encouraged friends and relatives to go green as well! We also composte and have our own garden.
My fiance and I very much want our future children to have a bright future and grow up in a world that is clean and safe. We believe that if everyone does their part, then we will all have a bright future ahead of us.
Christian and I will be getting married this fall in my parents backyard. The environment is extremely important to us, so choosing to do our wedding outside was a no brainier. In the spring here in Utah, the city comes and collects old "garbage" that people don't want left out on the curb. So this last week we have gone around and collected some unique items that can be recycled into something brilliant. For example, we found 2 amazing doors that i am going to sand and repaint to help with hanging Polaroid pictures of our guests. We also found and awesome table that we are going to re-finish and use as the guest book table. The company we are printing our invitations with uses eco-friendly paper. Recycling is an incredible opportunity to further the future. Christian and I look forward to our future because we are doing our part to help keep the world clean. I would love a dress from your line, not only because they are beautiful, but because it would be one more step in creating a clean world.
My FI and I are getting married at our favourite campsite so instead of choosing an unity candle, we'll be planting a tree together instead. We basically live at this campsite all summer, so this means a lot to us.
We are organizing and planning our wedding with the environment in mind because that is how we make decisions in our everyday life. Especially for my fiancé, he works in environmental advocacy for non-profit organizations. Did you know that some companies plant trees to offset their carbon footprint, but they are actually destroying native habitats to do so? (Check out World Rainforest Movement.Org http://www.wrm.org.uy/ ) The concept of planting trees as a carbon offset is great, but the execution needs some work.
For us “going green” goes beyond planting trees. For us it means supporting local vendors and using local products, using and purchasing practical items that can be re-used or recycled, and eliminating unnecessary consumption. Here are some things we are doing for a green wedding: We are using local venders for potted flower centerpieces and for bridal party flowers. The vendors are also the growers, so less transportation to get stuff=a lower carbon footprint. The potted mum centerpieces are something the guests will be able to take home to plant or enjoy in pots. The bridal party bouquets will also serve as additional décor during the reception. In lieu of a wedding cake (because we feel that so much of it gets tossed and we like other desserts better than cake) we will have a dessert bar with treats made by a local bakery. As favors we will give glass containers of maple syrup. Since we are from New England and getting married this October, we are again supporting local venders, providing guests with something useful to enjoy, and a container that can be recycled when the syrup is gone. The favors will have small tags that will double as escort cards. My bridesmaids were allowed to select their own dresses, so that they would be able to find something they loved and could wear again! We used magnet save-the-dates that guests will continue to use long after the wedding on a fridge which means less landfill waste. Our RSVP cards are postcards, which eliminates the outer envelope. We have also decided to eliminate wedding programs and menus to reduce our paper consumption. Finally, our ceremony and reception will be held in the same place and the accommodations for guests are close by. P.S. I actually already have a wedding dress, but I really wanted to share some ideas about how we making our wedding green!
Where do we email these pictures?
To promote trees and reforestation, my fiance and I are planting our own flowers to use at our wedding in the pots we're going to use for the tables. Because we're moving to a farming community with a ton of orchards prior to our wedding, we're buying a hive of bees to help pollinate the local area - bees make for healthy fruit trees! We're then using a portion of the honey (the bees still need some to keep their hive thriving) to make our Mexican Wedding cookies in lieu of a professional wedding cake.
We're doing DIY for almost everything - I even made our invitations by hand - (I even walked to the store to get the materials!) which cuts down our carbon footprint.
Instead of a wedding registry for housewares, we've put together a honeymoon registry which completely cuts out the carbon foot print for making, packaging, shipping, storing and eventually throwing away tangible wedding gifts.
On our wedding page, we've listed all the alternatives to getting a rental car (for our out of town guests) - luckily we live in the SF Bay Area so we have BART, our electric rail system which we are promoting for our wedding guests.
We're using reclaimed wood to build our own food platters and planting two trees at our new house (and more to come when kiddos arrive!)
[...] Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 18 comments | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Dress, Eco Chic, Eco Friendly, Go Green Month, Green, Jessica [...]
as a former environment reporter in manila, i, with the support of my groom, have decided to have a rustic, eco-chic themed beach wedding in a beachfront resort in boracay, philippines that was built around the natural elements in the area, i.e. the trees, hill, beach. the whole resort, where we'll have the ceremony, reception and accommodation of families and suppliers (to avoid having to use transportation), was made to blend with, not obstruct, the environment. it uses driftwood for tables, chairs, etc. we will also be using all-silk flowers for the bouquets, corsages, headpieces. our centerpieces will be candleholders that can be brought home by the guests as extra favors. there will be no paper napkins, no STDs to save on paper, no fancy unwearable-on-regular-days bridesmaid dresses, no ceremony arches, just a table as our altar. our invites will be a one-page postcard to be printed on recycled paper, and our wedding favor tag will be the same as our seating card, meaning each of our clay bracelet favors will be wrapped around a piece of paper with the guest's name on it, and placed on their seats. it not only saves on paper, it makes everything more personal. we did not get a photo package with all those albums because we plan to use the digital display album to hold our wedding photos and remind us of how easily possible and fun and beautiful it is to go green on the most important day of your life.
We live in Brazil, and we are planning to take advantage of the natural beauty we have here! The venue where we'll have our party used to be a farm in the 19th century, it is right by the river and surrounded with trees. It is simply beautiful, so there won't be a lot of decoration needed. We plan to to use more candles then flowers and just keep it simple. We are also using cloth napkins instead of paper.
As for food, we are going 100% vegetarian. I have been a vegetarian for over 7 years (and a vegan for the most part of those). One of the main reasons for it is the great impact that raising animals has on the environment. It was not easy to convince some of my family members, but now everyone is excited and curious about what we are serving.
For favors, we are thinking of giving little glass jars of homemade marmalade. But I really like the idea of giving away seeds or small potted plants.
I have also picked up so many good ideas from the other girls comments, I'll probably incorporate a lot of those also! My dress budget is tiny, so I hope I win, but just being able to share these ideas is already a great result from this contest! Good luck, everyone!
If you have photos ... email them to abby@stylemepretty.com!
Such GREAT stories so far!!!
It is very important to my fiancé and I that we use local vendors and not buy things that we can't reuse after the wedding. We are not using birdseed, rice or bubbles, but rather a rose petal toss (that will biodegrade!) and we are printing all of our paper products (Save the Dates, Invites, Maps, etc) on recycled paper using soy based ink. As a stationery designer, I am an advocate for environmentally responsible printing and would like to see more people interested in this form of printing.
We are currently on a challenge to see if we can become self-sufficient by converting our lawn to lunch in a year. I've been writing regular posts encouraging people to think about different environmental topics. At the end of the year long challenge we are going to celebrate by having our wedding in our backyard in which we have planted over 100 natives.
gorgeous collection!
my fiancee and i are planning on sprouting either baby trees, or garden plants so that we can give them out for our favors. as a representation of our growing love. we just planted our our little herb garden and hope to start composting in the coming weeks.....hopefully to use what we yield from the compost for when we plant and sprout our seeds.
I emailed my green wedding ideas in since I have quite a few! Wanted to say how great it is to see all these thoughts and goals up here- What a great give-a-way- not only does one lucky gal get a stunning dress, but we can celebrate Go Green month by sharing tips! Hoorah.
First I am holding my ceremony and reception in the same place to cut down on travel costs. I'm making my dress out of recycled fabrics (recycled bridesmaid dresses!). I'm am using seed paper and recycled paper for all of the invitations and save the date cards, and instead of giving cheesy favors, I'm planting a tree in each guest's name through treesinstead.com. Also I am going to try to grow some of my own fllowers and perhaps produce for the wedding but I'm not sure how much I can do. Every little bit counts though!
my fiance and i are having a wedding in Sri Lanka later this year. There is not a company which offsets carbon emissions for flights, but nothing is stopping us doing this ourselves. In our welcome packs we will offer guests the ability to offset their flights with an afternoon of planting. We will also advise guests on local charities where we will be donating in lieu of gifts.
Thanks Abby and Meghan. This is a great idea by virtue of the fact that it starts a productive dialogue. There are some great ideas in some of the posts above - things that we will definitely consider in our on-going wedding planning. Although my fiancée and I are trying to make climate-conscious decisions for all aspects of our wedding, here are the decisions that we've made that I believe have the most positive impact.
Local - it is important to us that our guests not be required to travel too far to attend our wedding. To that end, we picked a venue that was central to the places from which our guests would be traveling. I know that this seems like a simple and relatively unsophisticated measure, but of all our decisions, it will certainly have the greatest positive effect on the environment. Our decision to go with a venue close to home in Massachusetts instead of one of the many beautiful Vermont venues we considered saved almost 3 metric tons of Co2 emissions! And that's for a smaller wedding of only 80 guests.
Offsets and trees - instead of more traditional favors for our guests, we will be purchasing carbon offsets to neutralize impact of the carbon emissions that our guests do create in traveling to our wedding. As an additional "party favor," we will be having a tree planted in the name of each of our guests in areas around the world where reforestation will do the most good.
Venue - we are having our ceremony and reception at a venue owned and operated by the Massachusetts Audubon Society. The setting will be fantastic - a beautifully maintained formal garden in the middle of the woods. The environmental benefit here is knowing that our site fee will be going towards land conservation and habitat preservation.
Local foods - another important one for us, and one that I'm pleased other posters have considered, is having our caterer use locally grown produce in preparing our dinner options.
Thanks again for the providing the impetus for starting this dialogue. Great that so many upcoming weddings are focused on making the celebration both beautiful and climate-conscious.
Both of my grandfathers were foresters in Northern California, so I have grown up with a long history of respecting and rebuilding the forest. When one of them passed on, we gave out redbook sapplings at his funeral, and asked all of our loved ones to plant them wherever they could in his memory. Now, as my partner and I are planning our wedding, I want to carry on the tradition of planting trees as a tribute to our marriage. Even though he can't be there, we hope that by sharing something that he truly loved and nurturing the trees through our family members that we can produce a beautiful and lasting memory.
This issue is really important to me and I was so excited to see the post- not only are the wedding gowns sublime, but I love the idea of having people share their eco-wedding goals.
My fiance and I are getting married next June. We live on the west coast but our families still live in the Midwest where we grew up. We chose to have the wedding back home because we knew there would be a much smaller carbon footprint if the majority of our guests didn't have to travel cross-country. We're trying to keep our wedding financially reasonable and green- this extends from the invites to the food to the ceremony site and hopefully to the dress!
Environmental ethics and green living is an important part of my life. I've worked for a non-profit environmental group since my college graduation, where I majored in environmental studies. I'm also getting my master's with a focus on local-to-global environmental communication. My fiance is a writer and is also environmentally savvy. We eat locally, recycle and find little ways to make a difference.
More than anything, what makes us a great match is our love of being outdoors, trees, and the environment. So it seemed natural to celebrate trees and nature during our most important day.
Firstly, we're getting married in the countryside! We contacted a small (and amazing!) land trust to see if they could help with our ceremony site. This trust works to help landowners in the area conserve their private lands through conservation easements. It's an important issue since most of the land here is privately owned. This group does essential work to preserve some of the best natural areas--including woodlands (trees!) and to educate the public about why this is important. They also do restoration work (reforestation!).
We wanted to say our vows in a beautiful place that will stay beautiful forever! Lucky for us, this land trust was touched by our interest, and they've found us a beautiful knoll on conserved land with panoramic views of the countryside! We couldn't have asked for anything better. Guests will throw bird seed.
We're sending 100% recycled paper save-the-dates using a custom stamp and the rest of our information will be on our wedding website! No more paper (though we love the idea of paper you can plant!). The wedding is a family affair, as most are. Because we're in control, we can make sure the materials we get are eco-friendly. My mom's an artist and will be getting all the non-toxic paint and recycled paper for our placecards. My parent's have a beautiful garden and so we're planting the native grasses, mosses and flowers we want for the wedding now. My bouquet will be wildflowers cut from my mother's backyard garden. The floral industry is one of my strongest human health and environmental concerns and so I hope more brides will think about where their flowers come from. Local is BEST!
We're going to have moss-filled terrariums as our centerpieces. Our family and friends will be able to keep them afterward. We're scouting through local antique stores to find vintage mason jars and vases instead of buying new.
Instead of favors, we're making a donation to the land trust. We're also considering planting a tree for each guest- through the Plant a Billion Trees Campaign. We're using vintage napkins and linens, and my mom is going to make many cupcakes instead of going to a fancy bakery in the nearest big city (an 1.5 hour drive!). We're trying to find little ways to have vintage and old items in our wedding. We've found our porcelain owl wedding cake toppers on ebay for $5!
We chose our reception site because the catering company there is well-known for their sustainable, local dining services. They work with local farmers to get seasonal, sustainably-grown meat, dairy, and other grains. I've been a vegetarian since I was 12, and even though many of our guests aren't, we've decided to have two vegetarian, locally-grown dinner options. This way the meal will stay fresh, delicious and in tune with our ethics.
The only part of our wedding I'm struggling to make green is with my wedding dress! I want to look beautiful (and stay green) on my wedding day and once I saw the Vert line, I was stunned by the elegance of these gowns, but also so pleased and amazed that they were eco-friendly!!
I wanted to submit our wedding plan because I do think we're truly a "green" couple throwing a "green" wedding party. In addition to the standard things you can do to have a more eco-friendly celebration, we want to honor the landscape we grew up on with our guests. We're so glad we are working with our local land trust to make this idea a reality. Though a lot of the details I shared don't directly relate to trees/reforestation, they are part of a larger conservation ethic, which is the basis for reforestation and creating protected habitats for trees and the species that depend upon them.
It's no news that the economy is difficult these days, but I see the positive of a declining economy. It's time to get back to basics. Love, health, family, and our natural environment. Therefore, my fiancee and I have been focusing on eating organic, farm-friendly meats and vegetables, we're spending more time at the beach and walking around town. So, when it came to wedding planning it was natural to enjoy what we love to do with our guests. We're focusing on natural mediterrenean greens such as olive trees and beatuiful greens and spots of yellow flowers. In addition, we're giving away a seed packet with a lovely green ribbon and yellow paper giving our thanks to our guests, and noting how much we love our life and appreciate their presence.
This is AWESOME! I haven't seen vegan, all-natural wedding dresses before! They're absolutely beautiful! We're newly engaged and haven't nailed down a whole lot of wedding details yet. We recently moved to California where living a green life-style is much more common (and easier) than in our former state. For that reason, a lot of the inspiration I've found for our wedding is "green" by nature! For instance, just today I stumbled across a vendor who makes beautiful invitations on recycled paper. Instead of giving out favors, we're giving to our favorite charity. To most of our guests, our wedding will be considered a destination wedding, so I'm going to make them a basket (reusable!) of organic baked goods wrapped for freshness in (reusable and organic!) tea towels as welcome gifts in their hotel rooms. Something that was important to me was that our guests didn't feel like they'd have to rent a car, so we made sure that accommodations are accessible via public transportation from the airport and within walking walking distance of the reception. I was also planning on buying a used/vintage wedding dress.
Love these dresses! We've decided going green for our wedding will be a great way to share with our friends and family how important it is to us. We're doing thrift store shopping for all dishes, silverware, and glasses. We're having our wedding in a beautiful national park surrounded by trees. Our invitations take up a half of a 12X12 peice of recycled paper with no envelopes...including the RSVP post card that's attached. This is just the beginning because we still have A LOT of planning to do. Yay for Green Brides!! :)
We are having our wedding ceremony and reception all at the same location, so we and our guest save on fuel consumption. Not to mention, we will be saving money by not needing limos. For the ceremony, we will be getting married on the back lawn of the Biltmore Hotel, which overlooks the beautiful gold course and fountain, so that will be our decor. For the reception, guests will find their seat with a bottle of local wine from Schelby's Vineyard, with their seating assignment attached. At the tables, we will not be having flower centerpieces, instead we will be having crystal candleabras and soy candles on all of the tables. It will be a sea of candlelight. As guests leave, they will grab some "Seeds of Love" (still decided exactly what type), to spread the love with a tree and/or flowers.
My wedding ceremony and reception will be at the same location, my uncle's farm house!
Thankfully this will save on gas, limos, etc. We're also using very little decor, seeing as the property is already beautiful and filled with amazing old trees and greenery my decorating ideas are simply stringing christmas lights in the trees and maybe hanging a few lanterns. My fiance and I have been discussing different options for unity ceremonies and we're thinking we may plant a tree together, nurturing a seedling will reinforce how we must nurture each other as a newly formed pair!
This is great! We have been planning to have a green wedding from the get go. We are having our wedding ceremony as well as reception at the Audubon Society in Washington, DC which is known for it's green practices. We are having a daytime wedding outdoors surrounded by trees, so that we do not have to use any lights. Our venue is metro accessible in case people want to take mass transit. Our invitations, envelopes, rsvps, place cards and thank you cards will be made from 100% post-consumer recycled content, compostible paper with seeds so that our guests can plant them in their garden afterwards. We are having a 100% vegan wedding and the caterer is certified green. They only use organic and use mostly local products Our dishes, stemware, and utensils will be 100% corn-based products and completely compostible. My engagement ring and wedding band was passed down for 4 generations so that we didn't have to go out and get a new one and waste the earth's resources. my fiance's wedding ring will be made from 100% recycled white gold. We are booking only green hotels for our guests and buying carbon off-sets for the people who travel here. We choose to have the wedding here in DC because most of our guests are from this area and we can reduce the amount of guests traveling here. Our flowers are going to be home grown in our garden and the photography will not be printed on paper or in an album but put online. We are also going to mostly communicate with our guests before the wedding via email. Our registry is being done completely online, so that we don't have to drive to any stores and look at items. We are going to make gift bags completely green, haven't gotten that far yet!
Thanks!
Those dresses are gorgeous! My favorite is the Evergreen!!
I have always been into being green. When I moved in with my fiance, he was really excited that I was going to put a green plan in place in his apartment! I designated areas to collect our recycling, what we would recycle, and even talked him into riding his bike to work instead of driving. :)
For our wedding, our caterer will donate any extra food to local organizations feeding the homeless and underprivileged in Philadelphia. We'll use recycled paper for the invites. I don't believe in wasting paper with the extra envelopes for invitations and I am also going to make the reply card a postcard so that no envelope is needed for that. We chose an outdoor ceremony and reception on site at a local arts center surrounded by gorgeous trees and forested areas. That will reduce the amount of decorations we will need for the reception and completely eliminate them for the ceremony!
Thanks so much for the chance at the giveaway! Have a great day!
Rosa Says
Green is Very Good!! Me and my husband ae redoing our vows after a bad breakup. Thank God we are working it out. So to that means we have purchased a home on a one acre lot. We are planning a garden, but mostly wish to reforrest the upper back half of the property. We plan to have our ceramony on the property. We understand that the tree that grow here are a nut tree, very progressive and need little help to do there thing. We have laso disccovered that to help simply relocate the nut seed. We plan to use the nuts as like a rose pedal. Let my grandbaby throw them far and wide. As long as no one gets hurt. You ask how would a forrest or trees be used in the wedding. I submit that a outdoor wedding with nut seed as rose pedals fits the bill well for us. Although we are already maried I hope you will concider us,
My fiancé and I are planning a Green Wedding. We are making EVERY element eco-friendly but still need to be on a tight budget as I am still in school for social work. Living in Austin Texas we are fortunate enough to have Barr Mansion, an all organic event center where the wedding and reception will be held which will reduce our carbon footprint by not having people travel from one location to the next. The Artisan Ballroom is an ecologically advanced and energy efficient building that was built from the timbers of an old barn from the 1770s. For save the date cards, we will also be sending out postcard and are still searching for ones on recycled paper. We were going to forgo save the date cards entirely but we need a way to guide our guests to our wedding website. On our wedding website we are encouraging people to RSVP online so we will reduce waste and not have to send out as many invitations. However, for those guests who want an invitation we have chosen tree-free ones that are gorgeous. Our website also provides guests with tips on how they too can be green including not purchasing new clothing to wear at the wedding as it is likely no one even saw the dress/suite they wore at their friend Sally’s wedding! Or, for the shopaholics, we are encouraging them to buy clothes from a thrift shop or clothing made with eco-friendly materials. We are also organizing car pools for our guests. I have chosen to use silk flowers for my bouquet so that after the wedding I can put them in a vase and enjoy them for a lifetime. We will not be using centerpieces but rather will spread some rose pedals (the same ones the flower girls will use) which will be purchased through Barr Mansions who buys them from the only national organic wholesaler in the US. No other decorations will be used as the garden where the wedding will take place is beautiful enough! As favors, my fiancé will be collecting spare pieces of wood (he is an acoustic guitar maker) and will be wood burning our guests names into them. We will then drill a hole on top and sting through hemp string for our guests to keep. We are now looking for eco-friendly attire which is how I came across this website. My fiancé will either be renting a suite or buying a hemp one as will the groomsmen. I have been searching for the perfect wedding dress that will fit my budget and am in LOVE with your dresses! I would be so happy to wear one on my wedding day and complete our dream of having a wedding that will not harm the environment or our budge. I PROMISS to donate it afterwards as I know that people will continue to enjoy it! Thank you for considering me :)