Day 107 / 365
Woah dudes, my husfriend and I spent a week moving our stuff from our old apartment to self storage, and a little bit to our last-minute airbnb. We'd dedicated about two days for moving and it took seven. Partially because we could only use a small van, partially because our elevator was broken. Because of all this I left the blog and a lot of the beautiful guestposts I'm excited to share on thw wayside, but fear not, I'll make it up to ya!
The first from the wedding series comes from one of my fellow Ethical Writer's Coalition members, Stephanie Villano from My Kind Closet, she's a sweet soul on a good mission and she's put together a beautiful collection of ideas from her own wedding on how to plan yours sustainibly. I'm going to cover each of these subjects individually over the next week, but her real life renditions were too stunning to not share.
You can follow Stephanie on her own blog, My Kind Closet, here. Below are her words and photos!
The trees have popped and lovely shades of pink and purple
blossoms dot the increasingly green landscape.
As we move into May we look forward to longer days, warmer weather, and-
if you happen to fall within a particular age bracket- the inevitable start of
wedding season, especially here in coastal southern New England.
I love weddings. They’re an excellent excuse to put on a
fancy dress and get together to eat food and party with your nearest and
dearest. I’m a bit biased, but my wedding was seriously the best night of my
life.
But, let’s face it, weddings can be super wasteful and not
so eco-friendly.
Imagine this: You walk into the reception of a wedding and
the tables are adorned with beautiful and elaborate floral centerpieces in
which some of the stems appear to be suspended at angles that seem to defy
gravity…. In this centerpiece, it’s more than likely the florist used floral
foam to secure the stems firmly in place, or to achieve a more sculptural look
or geometric shape.
Sounds innocuous enough, but not only is floral foam forever
(it’s not biodegradable), it contains at least two potential carcinogens:
carbon black and formaldehyde. Dry blocks of floral foam are especially
dangerous to the florist as they risk inhaling floral foam dust before it is
soaked in water for use.
Marriage is forever — but you don’t want the waste from your
wedding to be.
This is just one example of something that could easily be
omitted at your wedding if you know to be mindful about it.
When I look back on my day about three years ago, just as I
was in the process going vegan and being more “aware”, if you will, of taking a
more active role in my own personal environmental responsibility, I think of
things I may have done differently- especially this day in age as we contend
with environmental issues like global warming and water scarcity.
So, as you plan your big, beautiful day, consider being
greener with the following sustainable ideas:
Use Local In-Season Flowers
As I mentioned above, the use of floral foam really sucks
the beauty out of an otherwise lovely floral arrangement. So, be sure to work
with a floral designer who doesn’t use it. Or, just ask that it not be used.
Another easy way to reduce the carbon footprint of your day
while also supporting the local economy, is to make use of in-season, organic,
locally grown flowers in your bouquet and arrangements.
From Debra Prinzing’s book The 50 Mile Bouquet , “As the
demand for green flowers increases, the sources of chemical-free crops will
also expand, allowing the local flower farmer to earn a living wage supplying
designers, florists and consumers in his or her own community.”
Prinzing’s book, along with her other books, are great
resources for anyone who wants sustainable flowers at their wedding or just in
general.
This also has the happy consequence of being nicer to your
wallet! You’re going to spend a lot less
on flowers that weren’t shipped in from other parts of the globe. For example,
if you see plumeria or protea at a New England wedding, they traveled very far
to get there and were doused in preservatives to help them look “fresh” despite
being a week or two off the farm. Sourcing flowers in this way adds to your
cost and also to the overall carbon footprint of your wedding.
Another bonus of using local flowers is that you may even
have the opportunity to visit the farm where they’re grown, which is a fun way
to feel more connected to the entire process and the people involved.
Before my wedding my floral designer, Polly, of Robin Hollow Farm in Rhode Island, invited me to her farm where I was able to see rows upon
rows of flowers, some of which were used on my wedding day. It was great to
learn about the farm, their growing methods, and just have the opportunity to
see the process from farm to vase.
If you really have your heart set on a specific flower then
consider planning your wedding to fall within its growing season. For example,
I really love Dahlia’s and it just so happened that my wedding fell within
their growing season where I live. I
also really love lavender, but since my wedding fell outside of the lavender
blooming season, we opted for dried lavender instead.
Prinzing is a proponent of using what is available in season
and notes in The 50 Mile Bouquet, “Seasonality does not mean giving up on our
floral traditions.” You just may need to
refocus your concept or vision to account for what is seasonally available;
you’ll likely be happily surprised by the beauty that can be found in local
flowers that are perhaps less popularly used in conventional wedding bouquets.
Waste Free Decor
Along with your flowers, instead of using additional decor
that will ultimately go to waste, consider renting decor from your floral
designer if it’s available, or repurpose things you already have at home. For example, my husband and I used vintage
bins and boxes to hold flowers, cards for guests to write to us, etc.
We also collected old/vintage jars and bottles in the months
leading up to our wedding to use as part of the centerpieces. We still have the
jars and use them at home for fresh flowers. Potted plants as part of the
centerpieces can also be repotted or planted.
Between save-the-dates and the actual invitations, replete
with RSVP cards, travel info, and any other additional inserts, the amount of
paper used for your wedding can add up quickly.
Instead of sending physical save-the-date cards, why not opt
for an E-vite? If your guests would
prefer a more tactile reminder, they can choose to print it themselves.
If you must send something, consider using post-consumer,
recycled paper printed with vegetable based inks or send postcards to negate
the need for envelopes.
For your invitations, you could also choose to print on
recycled paper, or you could use seeded paper!
Gardening lovers rejoice, because plantable, seeded paper is
the answer to your wedding invitation prayers.
Seeded paper is exactly what it sounds like: paper that has
been embedded with seeds. Paper companies like Bloomin offer an array of
invitations, favors, and DIY paper seeded with wildflowers, while companies
like Botanical Paper Works have an assortment of seeded paper offerings
including papers embedded with wildflower seeds, herb seeds, and vegetable
seeds.
Other eco-friendly invitation options include using
tree-free paper. The tree-free papers from popular and easy-to-find paper
company Crane & Co, are made from 100% cotton fibers recovered from the
apparel industry.
Welcome Gifts & Wedding Favors
It’s customary to provide welcome gifts to guests traveling
to your wedding. It’s easy enough to just stuff a bag with bottled water,
prepackaged snacks, and maybe some wine or beer. But, opt for an eco-friendlier
welcome gift by using a gift bag made from recycled paper. Or, if you have the
funds, splurge on reusable linen totes that your guests can use again. Instead
of bottle water, go for boxed, and reduce excessive packaging by including some
fresh fruit like apples or bananas.
As far as favors at your wedding go, choose a more enduring
gift that isn’t going to be forgotten about and tossed in the trash. Little
potted plants, succulents, cacti, or air plants make great favors and also add
to the decor. Potted kitchen herbs also
add to the decor, smell great, and are actually useful.
For my wedding, my husband and I created seed bombs with
wildflower seeds native to our neck-of-the-woods. We hand-stamped little
recycled cotton bags with a flower and popped the bombs inside. I’m sure not
everyone used them, but I know for sure some of my guests did and even if they
were ultimately tossed they’re made of organic material so no harm done. I had a lot of fun throwing the seed bombs
around my yard and in various spots around town to see if any wildflowers grew.
If you’re not much of a green thumb, but love to be in the
kitchen, gifting your guests with jars of homemade jam or your favorite cake
(or cookie or hot chocolate etc etc) mix is a tasty way to add a real personal touch.
Since my dad is a beekeeper, for my wedding he jarred honey* to pair with the
seed bombs – which was a blend of seeds intended to attract honeybees.
Lastly, you could forgo a take-home gift all together and
donate what you would have spent on each individual guest to a charity of your
choice. In an effort to be really eco-friendly, consider donating to an
environmental organization of some sort. Be sure to do your research before
settling on a charity or non-profit – you’ll want to make sure that the bulk of
your donation is actually going to the cause, and not to administrative or
marketing costs.
Reduce Food Waste
Some weddings have more food than others, but it’s likely
there are bound to be some leftovers. This is one of the things I wish I had
been more mindful of at my wedding. We
did take home and give friends the leftover cupcakes and pies, but we somehow
didn’t think about the rest of the food that wasn’t touched (we had a buffet
style dinner). We certainly could have
brought food home or given it to friends or family, but we also could have
chosen to donate leftovers to a local shelter.
To reduce waste, you might consider composting waste that would
otherwise be thrown out. Check with your
venue: if they don’t provide composting, then you may be able to bring your own
bins and signage so guests know to compost and know what to compost. This
obviously takes a little more effort and planning on your part, because you’ll
have to take the compost bins with you after the wedding, but you can take
comfort in knowing you’re saving a lot of food and paper waste from heading to
the landfill.
Now, we’re all not perfect and don’t let anyone make you
feel as though this is an all or nothing commitment. It’s better to make a
couple of intentionally eco-friendly choices at your wedding than none at all.
With that said, it does feel satisfying when you’ve planned something that
allowed you to be both more engaged in the process, while also leaving a little
bit lighter footprint.
Happy planning!
You can follow Stephanie on her own blog, My Kind Closet, here. All photos above her own, bar the last one which I cound on Pinterest here.