I cannot believe it's already been 7 months since our wedding day! Now that I remembered my login for freshopenair, I thought it would be good to share some of our
almost zero waste wedding.
I underline almost because it surely was not 100% waste free, but we freaking tried. We tried so hard and I believe we deserve at least 8 out of 10 gold stars for that.
1. Rings
We chose not to get an engagement ring and instead both got handmade bands on Etsy.
2. Venue (s)
We knew long ago that we wanted to be married in the mountains. We chose Brainard Lake Recreation area near our home, because it was where we got engaged, it was free and we didn't need a permit. We wanted a site where we could make all of our own decisions regarding waste. For dinner we chose a local (AWESOME) restaurant called the Boulder Tea House. We had visited before and we knew that they had cloth napkins, table settings, and mostly did not have a lot of the inherit restaurant waste.
3. Food
After the ceremony we had a little breakfast at some nearby picnic tables. I made cloth napkins (out of scrap fabrics, an old shower curtain and some new fabric). My mom and I collected mason jars (thrifted and already had) and I made little jar cozies (out of scrap yarn), which people took home later as a party favor. We had coffee in giant thermos containers that we borrowed from a local coffee shop. They also provided us with cream, sugar, (all in mason jars!!) and mixing spoons which we later returned. I borrowed a lot of serving platters and carafes from friends/family and opted out of table cloths. We ordered pastries from a local bakery and picked up a bunch of fruit from Costco. These were all in plastic containers which we recycled later. We purposely chose finger foods to avoid having to get any silverware. I brought a couple butter knifes from home for jam and butter for the pastries but otherwise no silverware. It was such an easy clean up and pretty hassle free! Lastly any organic waste was taken home to be composted.
4. Invites
We sent an email save the date, 10 months prior because most people were traveling. 3 months prior we sent out recyclable paper invites that a good friend designed. We could have opted out of sending these but they are very dear to my heart and I love them.
5. Gifts/bridal shower
For the bridal shower, I registered at one place for a small collection of items that we really needed. I think the important part here is to really look at the things you already own and make sure you aren't just replacing for the heck of it. We already had plates, bowls, cups, silverware and pots/pans-most were handed down to us from Sean's parents long ago-but are awesome and completely usable. I also had my mom organize for people to chip in for a Dutch oven and this was the best idea ever! We use it multiple times a week. It is well made and hopefully lasts us a lifetime.
For wedding gifts we sent a little note along with the invite that had a little spiel about no gifts since most people had traveling expenses. Of course people are extremely generous and kind during weddings and wanted to give something so we also wrote that they could contribute to our honeymoon fund. I knew there would be some straggler gifts here and there but the ones we did receive were really thoughtful and amazing.
6. Welcome/gift bags
Because of the number of people traveling who would be spending money and time to come support us, we really wanted to show our appreciation. We purchased canvas grocery bags from our local whole foods (it has our city name with some mountains, so cute) and we filled it with some goodies. We purchased bulk snacks and put them in individual cotton tea bags. We also included some local tea. Since our ceremony was in a place with no service we had directions to the site printed on recyclable paper, along with a welcome/thank you letter.
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In general we opted out of a lot of the traditions that may have caused us to have to think about more waste. We didn't have a bridal party, I didn't get my hair or makeup done, we didn't do flowers and/or decorations. It was very simple, family/friends oriented and very 'us'. Another thing to note was that many of the people that came were excited about the lack of trash and they noticed! I so happy that we were able to start a conversation about waste consumption, especially at a wedding!
I think that the biggest thing was not about waste but what kind of wedding we were able to have because we chose not to focus on certain things. It was crazy at times but I felt I was able to soak it all in. The love, the family, the friends and the nature. It was such an amazing day.
Mistakes to learn from:
-Both Sean and I bought brand new clothing for the day. Sean's suit has since been worn many times (his button up shirt he wears at least once a week!) And I have worn mine ZERO. I knew immediately that I made a mistake when I purchased my dress. It's hard to not get sucked into all the crazy consumer ideas during weddings..I'm currently in the process of designing a project with said dress to redeem myself. For the dinner I wore a casual dress that I borrowed from a good friend who wore it at her wedding. I probably should have used that for the whole thing!
There are many resourceful and cheap options for wedding clothing, you can thrift, borrow from a friend or even just wear what you have!
-i stressed waaaaay to much about keeping it zero waste and making sure that no one else was breaking any trash rules.
If you are thinking about reducing waste in any part of your wedding, good for you! It is a lot to even think differently than what would be considered normal. Don't stress to much because you are trying your best!
Well I think that's it! I'm sure there were a lot of other things here and there that I can't remember but if anyone is in the midst of planning a wedding with any questions or are in need of resources, reach out! I'm more than happy to help, and happy wedding!
Note: the photos above were taken by Kandice Breinholt who is THE QUEEN. She has a beautiful understanding of love and weddings that she somehow magically captures in every photo! You can see her work here--http://www.kandicebreinholt.com/
