Invisibly green?
I have to admit that I’m terrible when it comes to the blogging games and memes that go around, so I’m going to try to make amends today by responding to a tag left by tto of a $10,000 wedding. The tag in question read:
This is a “green” tag and your challenge is to provide three ways in which you are trying to minimizing your impact on the environment. Then pass it on to five other bloggers.
When it comes to day-to-day life, green — as in ecologically green — is definitely my favorite color, which meant I wanted to incorporate some green into my wedding day. While a great many of my choices were probably not smiled upon by Momma Earth, I did try my best to make sure that my nuptials weren’t too damaging. Favors shipped from Egypt? Yeah…not so eco friendly.
I’m going to modify tto’s tag a tad, and share three ways I greened up my wedding. The items on my short list may not seem like a big deal, but remember that you don’t have to feed your guests bean sprouts and go barefoot to minimize waste.
- When it came to dresses, I asked my bridesmaids to buy dresses they would wear again, and I made arrangements to pass on my gown to a needy bride (or needy brides) from the family church. While we all bought new dresses, the life of those dresses will be extended. We also wore shoes we already had. Maybe I’ll get the gals 101 Uses for a Bridesmaid Dress for Christmas this year, just in case.
- We served our guests a vegetarian meal, and donated the leftovers to a local halfway house so we could be reasonably sure that we weren’t wasting food. I’m glad we did this because I overestimated our food needs (what, with all the booze and cake) and we had at least one unopened tray of each entrée at the end of the day. Vegetarian food can be less destructive than meat, depending on where it comes from, and way too much food ends up rotting in landfills. Ick!
- And in the selfishly green category, I bought decorative accessories and favors that I liked and are less disposable than, say, a miniature porcelain basket. People snatched up most of the lanterns, fans (this was Florida, remember), and perfume vials, but I kept all the leftovers and now display them unobtrusively around my house. I didn’t feel bad about buying the charger plates because I’d wanted them anyway, which meant that they came home with me instead of ending up in the city dump.
In conclusion, I tried to steer away from things that were unintentionally disposable, thought about the impact of our purchases, and recycled where appropriate. Could I have done more? Yes, and I wish I had. Could I have done less? Ohhhhh yeah. Instead of tagging any of my fellow bloggers, let me ask you this: How would you rate the environmental impact of your wedding? Did you keep it green or throw caution to the wind? Answer here, or comment with a link to your answer in your own blog.
One of the green things I did was our centerpieces/favors. I purchased wine goblets from various thrift stores and on each table I had a cluster of them with candles inside. I attached a wee tag to each with our names and wedding date and thank-you. Everyone had fun choosing which glass they wanted to take home, and it’s fun to still see those glasses when I am at friend’s homes.
The extras that weren’t taken either went to friends or back to Goodwill, and thus the circle continued.
I also let my maids select any dress they wanted with the stipulations for long and jewel toned. At least two maids have worn the dresses multiple times.
That’s what I’m thinking of off the top of my head…I’ll be married six years tomorrow so it’s been a bit!
Thank you for answering my Green Challenge – especially when you normally don’t do them! I love your answers. I’m getting married and have the same goals. I really want to make sure that my wedding day wasn’t simply a day of extravagance. I’m letting everyone who participated int he challenge know that I’ve compiled all of the responses on my blog. I hope you pop by to read some of them.
Thanks again!
Lara
While we weren’t focused on being green, per se, a lot of it wound up being low-impact, even though we weren’t a veggie wedding by any stretch.
All of our leftovers were carted home by my family, who used them again that night for a second family party. (Since everyone was around, why not?)
All of the centerpieces were taken home by either his aunt or my mother. My mom is hoping to re-use some of the flowers for my sister’s wedding; these flowers were already recycled from a friend’s wedding (they were silk).
What few decorations we bought were given to friends after the wedding. Some of them wound up being donated to a church group, which is fine by me. Most of the decorations were permanent hall decorations.
As far as dresses, one of my bridesmaids had gotten her dress early enough to wear to her prom the summer before the wedding. She loved it so much I think she wants to sneak into another one. Another bridesmaid is donating her bridesmaids dress (as well as mine from her wedding, and a couple of others) to a charity drive at the school where she teaches.
Most importantly (I think), we had the whole shebang in one place, so no one had to waste time and gas driving from place to place! And apparently, a lot of my guests carpooled, which helped even more. I tried to limit my more far-flung guests, too, although that was mostly for expense purposes.
So, even though it totally wasn’t intentional, I think you could say we did a good job. I think that most low-budget weddings are probably going to do well on the green side, because it’s just too expensive to do everything disposably!
Awesome idea, Raven! I wanted to do something similar, but we were traveling and carting all of those glasses would have been a real pain.
You’d be surprised how veg-friendly your wedding was, LasySun. Sure there was sausage or bacon (or both?) in the breakfasty choices, but there was plenty that was non-meaty. The pasta primavera was AWESOME. And if you remember, The Beard and I carpooled with Pint and his friend, who ended up being super cool!
And congrats, Lara! I’m checking out those other responses right now
wow, i kind of REALLY like raven’s choose-a-goblet idea!!!
ntb, thanks for sharing your green. i think you did an amazing job of being eco-friendly without any hinderance!
We didn’t purchase any sorts of dishes or chargers for the wedding reception–all the table ware will be provided by the caterers. The vases for the tables are slightly-tapered beer glasses from Ikea, and can be used as either vases or large glasses again later. The major flower arrangements in the church will be the large arrangements of white silk flowers that belong to the church, so only hand bouquets and corsages will be provided by a florist. The banners for the pews also belong to the church.
My dress is very plain and simple, with no train, and I plan to put colored trim on it after the wedding and wear it to future formal events with my tartan sash whenever the (future) DH wears his kilt. I have only one bridesmaid, and she has been allowed to choose her own dress, and even the color of the dress, so I suspect that she will be able to wear it in future, too. There will be no favors for people to take home unless they want to keep the wedding programs. The only really disposable things will be the programs and the disposable cameras on each table, and paper programs can be recycled.
We didn’t set out to have an eco-friendly wedding, and we did one big thing that – on reflection – was decidedly eco-unfriendly (disposable plates/cutlery/napkins). On the other hand, we did several things that did turn out to be eco-friendly even if it wasn’t a particular goal.
1: The wedding and reception were held at the same site, saving gas and the attendant emissions. Also, since I knew in advance what site I wanted (my brother and several friends had already used the same site, so I knew the space and what the owners were like to work with), we didn’t have to make scouting trips to find it. We made one phone call to book it, mailed the deposit, and didn’t actually have to drive out there until the day of the wedding.
2: The bridesmaids outfits were simple skirts and blouses that I know for a fact were worn again by at least two. One actually happened to have the blouse in the right color, so her top was already recycled for the wedding. They also wore their own shoes, and did their own hair and makeup. Two who lived just a couple blocks apart travelled to and from the site together, along with their husbands.
3: The men in the wedding party all wore clothes they already owned. They didn’t match, but each looked good and nobody had to spend time, money, gas, etc. on getting clothes they would wear only once.
4: I wore shoes and accessories I already owned, and Mr. Twistie already owned his wedding clothes from his top hat to his dress shoes. And again, I did my own hair and makeup. My headpiece was made up of a couple pretty hair ornaments I picked up while I happened to be at the store for another purpose.
5: Since nearly all the work was done by either me or another member of the wedding party (the only professionals we hired were the band, the officient, and the photographer), we didn’t make a lot of trips to hire/meet with caterers, florists, etc. In each case, one trip – or at the most, two trips – was made to purchase supplies once decisions were made. Also, none of these professionals or their staff had to come to us. Two mail-order deliveries and one trip to the local fabric store took care of all the necessary materials for my wedding gown…and since the bridesmaid who generously agreed to sew it lived some six blocks from my house, I took said materials there on foot and walked to fittings. Oh, and the fabric for both my wedding gown and the bridesmaids’ outfits were all natural fibers, and I made my own lace by hand. Pure silk.
6: Since we were married out of doors in a lovely redwood grove, we decided a huge outlay on flowers would be silly. Why bring coals to Newcastle? Consequently, the only flowers were the bouquets, boutonnierres, MOG’s corsage, and one flower on each reception table (the only decorations there). My MOH and I went to a local open-to-the-public florist’s supply the afternoon before the wedding and got one bunch each of about four or five different flowers that were pretty, long-stemmed, and really inexpensive as well as a couple bunches of long-stemmed red roses. My bridesmaids and I arranged the flowers into the necessary items ourselves. The only accessories we used were florist’s tape, silk ribbon (leftover from making the favors), and corsage pins. No plastic holders, no picks, no throwing bouquet, no vases, no tulle, no spray glitter…just flowers and the minimum items needed to hold them in an arrangement for a few hours.
7: My engagement ring isn’t a diamond. It doesn’t even have a stone. It’s a sterling silver frog. That means only the metal was mined, so slightly less environmental impact was caused. My wedding ring is recycled: my mother wore it for about thirty-five years before her death. It’s now the outward symbol of another good marriage. Mr. Twistie doesn’t wear any rings.
8: Since the reception was basically a picnic, there was no formal seating arrangement, so no place cards. We also didn’t bother with programs. The favors were Jordan almonds wrapped in tulle and tied with ribbon. The rest of the ribbon was used for the flowers. No plastic, and the favors were edible. I freely admit here that the only reason I had favors at all is because I’m one of the six people on this entire planet who is honestly buggy for Jordan almonds.
9: All leftover food was sent home with guests, wedding party members, and hungry musicians. There was a lot left over, but it didn’t get wasted. In fact, when Mr. Twistie and I left on our honeymoon the next day, we took some leftovers as snacks for our first day on the road!
Most of these things were done either because we were looking to save a little cash, I preferred the effect, or we knew that we couldn’t get what we’d like best through more expected means. I like to think, though, that some of our decisions were kind to Mother Earth, ’cause I kind of love her a lot.
Wow, that’s a good question. I can admit that I didn’t even factor being “green” into my wedding plans. My husband and I are incredibly outdoorsy and very protective of God’s creation, so some things come naturally for us. But it was probably thriftyness and my refusal to do something because I “have to” that really factored in.
We had a Renaissance wedding so the groomsmen had rented outfits. My mother made dresses for me and the bridesmaids that I designed, as well as my husband’s vest. All of us attend Ren Faires or Highland Games and similar things we can wear them to again (my mom also entered them in a huge sewing contest and won 2nd!). I asked the bridesmaids to get sandals they’d use again, and my husband’s sword is going to be on display (we’re still unpacking!).
Our food was very simple to go with the theme and our budget. Fruit, cheese cubes, bread (we had smoothies and fondue with leftovers). Rather than birdseed or rice we used rose petals. The one thing that was all out was decorations, but it was an outdoor wedding so really we just sought to compliment nature in the wedding colors. The great thing is those colors match the tropical theme of our bedroom and bathroom so I planned ahead that I would use the fabric for curtains and such. Except for the real flowers and bows, all the decorations are being reused. You can see some of them on my blog.