Our Dream Green Wedding

May 14, 2011

On a “blustery” Spring Saturday in Chicago (yes, that’s how the weatherman described it), my husband and I celebrated our dream green wedding.

18 months of research, planning, preparation, emails, calls, blog posts, to-do lists... the day had finally arrived.

I want to thank everyone who helped us along during those months... family, friends, and all those who contributed green suggestions.  We are so grateful!

Though the wedding planning is now done, I hope this blog will continue helping brides find greener ways to celebrate their days too, and I will continue to contribute ideas I come across.  As a “been there, done that” bride, I will certainly have some advice in hindsight to add.

But for now, here is a little peek inside the completion of “My Dream Green Wedding”:

The Attire

My dress and the bridesmaid dresses were made with gorgeous all natural silk by Chicago designer, Victoria Sdoukos, and I was even able to incorporate pieces of my mom’s dress as well.  I was thrilled to be able to work with a local designer in order to eliminate the factory-production process and support a local small business-owner as well.  The groomsmen either rented suits or wore ones they already owned.

The Flowers

The flowers, done by BoKay, were organic, in-season, and local.  My florist, Becky Dees, used peonies, sweetpea, lavender, and hydrangeas.  We wrapped the bouquets in leftover fabric from the dresses.  The centerpieces were potted duranta plants, given to guests to plant in their yards or gardens.

The Transportation

We had a trolley from Windy City Trolley transport the bridal party and guests en masse from the church to the reception.

The Food

All food was local, in-season, and sustainable from Limelight Catering.  Leftover food was donated and whatever could be recycled was recycled.  Also, the cupcakes from Swirlz were made with all local, all natural ingredients.  Quite a few were vegan too (and no one could tell!).

The Extras

The place cards were made of wildflower seed paper from Beaucoup and displayed on beds of wheatgrass (the wheatgrass was saved to be juiced by my family).  The majority of our lighting (and air purifying) consisted of Big Dipper Works’ beeswax candles.  We also placed organic mints and organic personal care products in the bathrooms.  Soap dispensers were replaced with Shaklee’s biodegradable Basic H foaming hand wash (all of Shaklee's organic, biodegradable products are part of our new green home as well). Also, in lieu of a favor, a donation to the Chicago Gateway Green was made (helping them plant 15,000 trees by 2015).

And due to the blustery weather, we had to get some last-minute umbrellas.... made from bamboo and recycled materials, of course. J

A greener way to keepsake the memories... instantly.

At any wedding or special event there's that standard group picture that must get taken.

And taken again and taken again and taken ten more times because every person needs a copy on every camera.  And then it gets emailed another twenty times.  Before you know it, your email inbox has lost 10% of space because of these pictures.  Or each person sends a link to his favorite "photo sharing" album so the pictures are scattered all over the internet.

Well, how about creating one digital photo album for all of your event's pictures that guests can instantly email pictures to?  Sound good?

Knotpic.com is where it's at.  This website is an online photo-sharing tool that allows guests to upload pictures from their phones or computers to your event's knotpic email address.  Once the pictures are emailed, they are instantly transferred to your event's customized photo-website-- a truly efficient way for every guest to see and share the day's memorable moments from start to finish.

photo credit: www.knotpic.com

It's a time solution, clutter solution, and  (you guessed it!)  eco-solution by saving photo paper and keeping your guests from purchasing *insert cringe here* disposable cameras.

A big thanks to my friend Amanda for sharing this with me!   I can't wait to try it out!  :-)

My Green "Dream Come Shoe"

You know the wedding is getting close when the blogs get further and further apart...

But the important thing is that I've learned (and accomplished) quite a bit in the last month that I am happy to pass along.... starting with my perfect pair of vegan heels.

As some of you know, my shoe search was a bit of a process.  I honestly didn't know which direction I wanted to take.  One of my bridesmaids warned me about the many shades of ivory shoes out there... and, oh boy, that may be an understatement. Trying to find a matching pair of shoes for the dress (that have eco-friendly elements) induces an urge to kick the computer.

So, I decided to forgo the ivory... and incorporate my "something blue" with a little sparkle too.  I splurged a little, saved myself a boat-load of time/stress/sanity, and designed my own vegan wedding shoes with Milk and Honey.

Ginnifer Goodwin in
Milk and Honey vegan heels

(photo compliments of
www.milkandhoneyshoes.com)

What began as designing a pair of vegan shoes for friend and actress, Ginnifer Goodwin, has now grown into a full-time business for other vegan "sole-seekers." Dori and Ilissa (the founders of Milk and Honey) are sisters with incredible talent.

I was fortunate enough to meet with Dori, who maintains her end of the business here in Los Angeles.  She helped me find the shoe design I had envisioned and also determined my ideal heel-height.  She even shared some of her eco-friendly shoe creations: transforming a 1960's wedding dress and even a bridesmaid dress into fabulous shoes.

"Sparkle" Bridal Shoe
by Milk and Honey
(photo compliments of Milk and Honey)

To see their creations, you can visit the website.  And if you don't see a style that suits your tastes or needs, you can design your own "Dream Come Shoe" as well.