Tip of the Week
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Featured in Winter Issue of Martha Stewart Weddings We are thrilled to be in the winter issue of Martha Stewart Weddings where our CEO, Kate Harrison, is featured as the Eco-Weddings Pro! This is an important milestone for the wedding industry, as it proves that green weddings are now mainstream. We are proud to be at the forefront of this exciting new step for the industry. |
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Check out our Hot Green Gown Guide in Beautiful Bride Magazine! Dress in sustainable style on your wedding day with any of these trends and more. Green is always eco-chic and fashionable no matter what earth friendly fabrics you choose. Your wedding dress is front and center on your big day, so find a designer who will make a positive impact on your wedding day. Every choice makes a difference. Go Green! |
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Spruce up bare branches with bird seed favors Bare branches are striking as wedding decor if you add to their stark beauty with bird seed favors hung from twine or sustainable ribbon. You can often rent, or buy and resell, small trees from a local nursery. For a winter wedding, you can also get a wonderful effect by placing branches from dormant flowering trees (like cherry, apple, peach, forsythia, flowering quince, redbud, red hawthorn, and dogwood) in warm water for a few days before the ceremony--which will make the leaves and flowers bloom. This natural decor can double as favors for your guests to take home and hang in their backyard. Birds will flock to the seed and there will be no leftover waste. This is an easy way to add an extra touch of green to your wedding. Image Credit: mamamusthaveit.com |
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Write for Change in the New Year If you're getting married in 2013 take the time to write down your goals and assess what is realistic. Perhaps it's time to get back in shape or reconnect with a loved one that you want to see at your wedding. Either way, start a journal and write down your goals. If it's health related start a food journal and track what you eat and the amount of calories consumed in a day. If you want to improve your mental outlook, jot down one thing a day that you are really grateful for or perhaps something you do each day to help another. Writing will also ease some of the stresses related to wedding planning so you are clear headed heading into your wedding day. Image Credit: trainwithmeonline.com |
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Ways you can help To help those affected by the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, follow the links below: Memorial Donations for Sandy Hook Victims Sandy Hook School Support Fund Western Connecticut Health Network Foundation, Danbury Hospital |
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Donate your leftover wedding food to those less fortunate Consider donating leftover food from your wedding meal to a local homeless shelter, women's shelter or retirement homes. Flowers, signage and centerpieces can also be donated to these locations to brighten up someone's day. Make sure to check with your state and see if their regulations allow the donation of leftover food items. If this is the case, provide your guests with recycled cardboard doggie bags and sustainable wooden utensils to bring home as many leftovers as they want. Provide recycled paper bags with handles so they can carry out the food with ease at the end of the night. Image Credit: Blog.KoyalWholesale.com |
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Find a wedding planner who shares your green values. We have green wedding planners available in our Vendor Directory. These planners have taken our Green Wedding Certification Course and many more will be certified in the coming months in many more cities. Finding a green wedding planner will make your day so much easier. You will have someone who understands the importance of your green values and they will not overlook any eco-friendly details that a normal wedding planner may miss. |
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Use a tree slice as a wedding ring pillow There are many ways to walk your sustainable wedding ring down the aisle in style. Fallen wood is just one of many options. You can adorn the wood with vintage lace, organic cotton rosettes or a simple inscription with your wedding date and names. You can also use tree slices as centerpieces. Cover them with vintage milk jugs filled with flowers, or use them as drink coasters and personalize them with your guest's names on each one. This Fine Day hand makes all of their items from fallen wood in Portland, Oregon. Image Credit: This Fine Day |
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Prepare your food the eco-friendly way Avoid using plastic in the kitchen. Use an alternative for grocery bags, food storage or cutting boards. Glass, ceramic or stainless steel containers are so much healthier than plastic. Plastic is full of toxins that will end up in your food when stored in plastic or worse yet, microwaved in it. Cutting and chopping your food on a plastic cutting board, brings those toxins directly into the food. A bamboo cutting board is the choice of many environmentalists. Bamboo is a healthier and more sustainable option as it is a renewable resource, grown without chemicals. Another added benefit? Bamboo also absorbs less liquid than most wood cutting boards. Tip of the week courtesy of: Clean Spirited Image Credit: Greenprophet.com |
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That's a Wrap! Reduce the extra waste that comes along with wrapping paper, packaging and ribbon by using repurposed items such as calendar pages, brown paper bags or newspaper. There are many ways to reuse items instead of sending them straight to the landfill. Cut out a colored section of the newspaper from the cartoons page and use the bright hues as trim against a plain brown paper backdrop. You can also use personalized cookies or candies with names on them instead of using an extra piece of paper or a sticker tag. Look for items around your kitchen to add some spice to your green gifts such as star anise, cinnamon sticks or cloves and incorporate their shapes and colors into the package design you've created. |
