Very cool. We had flowers as our cake toppers too. Here's a picture:
Green Wedding Tips for Real People
Photo: Crystalspman
Not into researching every single invitation company for recycled paper content? Is a hemp bridal gown not your dream dress? I hear you. If you’re looking for a more traditional approach to wedding planning but still want to do your ecological part, here are a few ideas.
1. Keep it simple.
Just by cutting out a fair amount of unnecessary fluff, you can eliminate a great deal of waste. Some examples would be losing the balloon arch and skipping the streamers.
2. Seed favors.
I touched on this a bit in the green gifting article, but it really was an excellent eco favor that all the guests enjoyed and commented on as being the first wedding favor they were absolutely thrilled to receive. The package was tastefully decorated with a botanical illustration of the flower and a wedding message from us was printed on the back. We had them by the sign in book, and chose a perennial so that when people went through the trouble of planting them they would be able to enjoy them year after year.
3. Consider fuel costs.
Go local if possible. However, if people are coming in all different directions, you may need to choose a central location that’s a reasonable distance for everybody.
4. The all in one location.
This worked out very well for us on many levels. It was a well decorated and fully stocked for events historical mansion. You can book these things for rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, ceremony and reception. People only need to drive and park once, and since it was routinely rented out for events it came fully stocked with vintage style linens, dishes, flatware, coffee urns, cake table, serving dishes, chairs, the works. Even the seating tables came with linens and crystal oil lamps. Basically no disposable decorations were needed. We went with cut greenery and baby roses around the bottoms of the crystal oil lamps, bridal party flowers and two arrangements on the finials at the bottom of the staircase to frame the landing we had the ceremony on. All compostable.
5. Organic cake topper.
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Rather than go with a large plastic cake topper that will get tossed at worst and collect dust at best, consider a simple elegant floral arrangement on the top of the cake, with a coordinating set of accent greenery around the bottom of the cake. I happened to have one of those porcelain bridal themed tea candle holders someone gave me for a shower gift that I worked in. But honestly, it would have looked just as classy without it. Several people commented that they liked the look better than the plastic ornament laden cakes. If planning an extra detail with the flowers stresses you out, just go with some additional details added in frosting only.
6. Dress options.
Vintage, something streamlined you can modify and wear again, or turning the dress into a christening outfit for your someday offspring are all ways to go. And of course, less is more.
7. Bird seed.
We had packets of this instead of rice to throw. Worked great, people still got to throw stuff at us, and the animal kingdom was happy.
8. Plantable invitations.
We didn’t know about these when we had our family bash. But if we had, we would have used this idea for sure. Numerous companies are out there that will print your invitations on eco friendly paper that is studded with such things as wild flower seeds. The idea is that while they need to be able to read the invitation, it can then get planted as an additional garden resource to the seed favors. Cool, huh?
I’m sure there are more intense lists out there for researching individual companies and their products. The purpose of this piece was to toss out some simple ideas which when implemented, will let you make green wedding choices without having it be an additional stress factor. As always, I welcome any ideas and resource recommendations.
Additional photo credit: Manassas Cakery
Best of Wise Bread
Thanks, Xin. I've been dying for some folks to start posting pics. Yours looks like a really dramatic cake, and that folding candle screen in the bac is to die for! Looks like you had a really classy event.
Yup, it definitely turned out better than I thought. We had our wedding in the gardens of an office building. We got all the flowers wholesale at the San Francisco flowermart, and the arch had some weird plant that matched the weeping willows in the background. Here's a picture of the arch:
I love greeeen!
I think outdoor garden weddings are so beautiful. I just never muscled up the courage to risk the weather issue. But the photos from those who do are usually fantastic.
When we got married 30 years ago . My gown was on clearance. My son is now wearing my husbands tux. Our flowers ( the entire party) were done in silk flowers in baskets that were then able to be used as table arrangements at the reception and then at the peoples homes. All the Aunts baked cookies and a friend did the cake. We even had a band. A terrific group of high school kids. They even played longer because I was a new nursing scool grad and all my classmates were there. Lots of young nurses!!! WE ALL had fun . It was paid for in advance so no woories for anyone.
Haven't heard from you in a while! Good point you make about the tux. If it's a classic style and doesn't get a lot of wear, you can really get your money's worth.
"Some examples would be losing the balloon arch and skipping the streamers. "
i think, green wedding or not, that is advice everyone should live by. lol. TACKY!
We eloped--neither of us were (or are) the type to enjoy being the center of attention, my divorced parents are the Hatfield-McCoy types (got a view 5 years after we married, when my brother wed--yipes, people are still burned about that event 15 years later!). I made my wedding dress (green velvet jacket and skirt with ornate black piping, sort of Edwardian riding habit, no bustle though), he wore his best suit, we had one friend as a witness, married at our church (and gave a nice donation to the church hunger fund), ate lunch afterwards at a nice restaurant, and then drove across country to backpack and white-water kayak in Colorado. It was fabulous, everyone was wonderful to us, especially when we mentioned we were honeymooning (the kayak guides brought us a cake and champagne!), and we've never regretted it. Will be 20 years this coming September, and we still remember that honeymoon fondly.
Cool! I have several friends who are looking into doing that when they marry. I think in their case they are in their thirties or older and their financial priorities have shifted from a huge splash to a more intimate event. We married in Denmark because it was easier to function in the military system if we got the license / certificate quicker, and then had a family event back home because folks wanted to participate.
Both were fun, and we liked having the Europe event be "just for us". It can be so stressful dealing with everyone else's wants / needs / issues on your big day. So it was actually cool that we got to break it up into seaparate bits.
Your outfit sound cool, and definitely something you could wear again.
The bird seed idea is great, but it depends on your area. Sometimes the seeds are for non-native plants that can be invasive for you area. (Here in Oregon, things grow like mad and take over when they don't belong). Make sure to double check before using this as an option.
That's an excellent point. I'm wondering how many of these companies can tell you what kind of seed is in the packets they sell. Or, I suppose you could bulk buy seed that works for your area, and put it in a nice container with a scoop. Someone could be handing out the seed to everyone when read? There's probably an easier way than that . . . it's just an idea off the top of my head.
Wooow All the ideas r great.U have done nice piece of work.Thanks a lot buddy for sharing with us.
keep up the work.
www.lifeinfozone.com/category/activities-fun/cake-decorating/
We used rocks as certerpieces instead of energy intensive hothouse grown airline imported flowers.
Napkins were made of remnant cloth by aunties and are still being used by us and relatives 4 years later.
Location was a fire lookout overlooking a mountain range, lake, and miles of forest - no decorations required.
Dress was actually 2 separates picked up at 2 different shops. I don't really wear the flowy skirt, as I've kind of outgrown that dancing in the wildflower fields hippie stage, but still wear the top with jeans & skirts, very versatile.
Bridesmaids wore dress of their choice in compatible colors, groomsmen wore black pants, white shirt, black shoes (my brother wore black socks and brown sandals due to having locked his only black shoes in his locker over the weekend, but that's another story...)
Most importantly, I picked a common sense, relaxed groom who didn't worry too much about having things be traditional!
