Where, oh where, did we go?

Yes, Go Green In Style did drop off the face of the planet for a little while.  With our wedding activities and major activities on the career side of things we have not been sharing our great green expereinces with the same degree of diligence.  

But we are still capturing our expereinces and will bring them to you here on Go Green In Style soon!  

Thank you for your questions, comments, and suggestions.  We are looking forward to sharing more of our journey down the green aisle…

 

Sean and Mandy

Building a better (and greener) site

GGIS is celebrating our 3rd anniversary!  (Sure, it is only our third month in this format, but we’re still celebrating…)  We took a brief break from the usual schedule over the past few days to take a look at where we’ve been and where we’re going.  After a great recharging visit to Serenbe we’re back to work and ready to tackle the next phase of Go Green In Style.

We want to hear from you!  Let us know what you’ve liked and what you would like to see.  As we get closer to our own wedding we will certainly be busy, but we also will have great stories about what we’ve learned that we can share.  Go Green In Style couldn’t work without the help of people like you – we love the feedback we’ve received and look forward to continuing to serve.

What’s hot at GGIS?  Over the past 90 days, these are the articles that you, our readers, indicated were the most interesting – measured by view count:

• Green Wedding Shower Check List
• Bridal Shower – Yankee Edition
• Disposable Plate Dilemma
• Bridesmaid Dress Brew-ha-ha
• Real Green Brides II – Amanda and Daniel
• Tips for Environmentally Sound Wedding Flowers

What sort of things do we have in the pipeline?  Good question.  Here’s a few of the articles to expect in the next few months:

• Transit & transportation guide
• Reduce, reuse and recycling registry packing material
• Green rehearsal dinner venues
• The Green Groom
• Eco couture for your wedding party. Yes, groomsmen too!
• A sommelier’s guide to sustainable wines that won’t break the bank
• Expert wedding planner joins the team to bring you seasoned advice
• 360 Sustainable Invitation Solution
• Featured vendors- insider’s guide to companies that are really walking the walk and not greenwashing
• Serenbe: A behind the scene’s series about the leading internationally renowned green wedding destination.
• Get ideas for your wedding from more real brides
• Farm to table- Meet farmers who grows food and flowers to order for your wedding
• “From scratch”- organic wedding cakes

And on top of that we hope to hear more stories from the front line of the Green Wedding revolution.  Including more from our front line – reflections on the eco wedding from our bridal party.  Knowing our friends as we do you can expect diverse views, probing insights, and a health dose of humor.

We are also making some changes behind the scenes to improve site functionality.  Thank you to all of the folks who have offered assistance with the current layout and suggestions for improvement.  We’d love to hear other requests.  In fact, one of the new functions is already live!  Send us comments directly on our comment form, or add a comment to this post below.

Thanks!

Eco Wedding Resources

Hardly a day goes by that we aren’t asked “what sites do you recommend”.   Well, the obvious first answer is, “Have you checked out Go Green In Style?” (But you probably already knew that…)  There is much more than we can cover here and today we bring you a list of some of the resources we use in the planning of our wedding and the creation of GGIS.

Enjoy!

 

Books

Eco-Chic Weddings: Simple Tips to Plan an Earth-Friendly, Socially Responsible, Affordable Green Wedding by Emily Elizabeth Anderson

The Everything Green Wedding Book: Plan an elegant, affordable, earth-friendly wedding (Everything Series) by Wenona Napolitano

The Green Bride Guide: How to Create an Earth-Friendly Wedding on Any Budget by Kate L. Harrison

Green Wedding: Planning Your Eco-Friendly Celebration by Mireya Navarro

How to Get Married in Green by Suzan St.Maur

Green Weddings That Don’t Cost the Earth by Carol Reed-Jones

The Green Wedding Guide: Creating a Celebration That’s Elegant and Ethical by Valerie Edmunds

Anti-Bride Guide: Tying the Knot Outside of the Box by Carolyn Gerin and Stephanie Rosenbaum

Organic Weddings: Balancing Ecology, Style and Tradition by Michelle Kozin
 

 

Websites & Blogs

Eco Chic Weddings by Emily Anderson, the ultimate blog about eco-chic weddings

Everything Green Weddings by Wenona Napolitano

It’s a Nice Day for a Green Wedding, A blog with suggestions about greening weddings and other events you are planning.

Great Green Wedding

Green Elegance Weddings

Green Bride Guide

 

Articles & TV shows

Altar-native Energy: How to green your wedding, Grist Magazine

Green Weddings, The Knot.com

CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION by Sheryl Eisenberg, NRDC

Planning a Green Wedding, Coop America

It’s not easy going green, Rich Bride, Poor Bride, WE TV

How to Go Green: Weddings, Treehugger.com

Say ‘I do’ Green Wedding, Today Show

Have a Green Wedding, Time Magazine

 

Have other sources that you have found?  Have a recommendation based on your experience?  Let us know!  Add a comment below to help other folks Go Green In Style…

Real Green Brides II – Amanda and Daniel

Green brides are sprouting up all over!  This week we are thrilled to share the story of Daniel and Amanda and the steps they took to green their nuptials.

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The Green Wedding of Amanda Flaim & Daniel Ahlquist

 

Wedding Location: A gorge in Ithaca: Ithaca is gorges after all.
Robert Treman State Park, specifically.

Date: June 17, 2008

In a locally produced, fairly-traded, certifiably organic, recyclable nutshell, our wedding reflected a very united attempt to be as environmentally sustainable as possible. Luckily, this priority merges quite well with our commitments to social justice, supporting local communities and economies, and my affection for all things vintage and home-made. If we couldn’t make it ourselves, to every extent possible, we hired local artists and vendors to do it for us.

We will not lie and say this was a super easy undertaking. Even in eco-magical Ithaca, New York where local foods and alternatives abound, planning an event like your wedding is never easy. Moreover, the bridal industry is a well-oiled machine, geared to make your wedding day vision a reality with a few visits to the nearest bridal shop or brides-are-us website. In your exhaustion, you will be tempted. But we swear it’s worth it to RESIST! In the end, our wedding was entirely ours. As an added bonus, we saved a lot of money-we were $1000 under budget and we honestly don’t feel like we missed out on anything! We could have done a lot of things better, but here’re a few ideas and lessons learned!

Invitations:

Designed by Amanda with the help of a local artist we hired who formatted and printed them on recycled paper.

Rings:

Made from recycled gold, and made by a local artist!

Canvas bags:

Given to all of the guests to use at the Ithaca farmer’s market.

Dress:

I initially wanted to turn my favorite French nightgown into a wedding dress. After my mother protested, I resigned myself to something new.  I designed it, bought the fabric at a local fabric store (fabric not made locally, however!), and hired a family friend to make it. It was amazing and no one else has it.  I also wore the veil that nearly every woman in my family as worn in her family since the 1950s. In many ways traditional = sustainable.

Cake:

Our friends made the wedding cake from as many local ingredients as possible. It was DELICIOUS and really beautiful. It was so special to see what tremendous effort and love was put into making our cake. I can’t think of a better first meal to eat as a couple. Also, I made the wedding topper out of scraps from my wedding dress. 

Flowers:

Our flowers were spectacular. They were organically grown and best of all, they traveled a total of 5 miles to the wedding site. Our favorite florist at the Ithaca farmer’s market made the bouquets and flowers for the bridal party, and provided us with four buckets of flowers. Our friends came early and placed the flowers in baskets and tin cans collected over the year from various flea markets and yard sales. At the end of the wedding, we gave the flowers to all of our local guests and the band to spread the love.

 

Chuppah:

The Chuppah is the four-posted canopy used in a Jewish wedding that represents the house that the couple will build together. A local artist who makes simple and exquisite structures from fallen wood constructed our Chuppah, which was absolutely perfect. We decorated it with Daniel’s grandfather’s prayer shawl. We couldn’t believe how beautiful it was. We rented it so that other people can use it and enjoy it!

Decorations:

We rented things that could be washed and reused, and bought vintage table cloths to decorate the tables at the wedding. For gifts, we gave them away at the end of the wedding. They were spectacular and so original!

Music:

We hired a local bluegrass band that plays regularly at the local farmer’s market (our favorite hangout). They powered the speakers with a solar panel. It was totally rockin.

Food:

We hired all local vendors, who used as many organic, locally-produced, in season products as possible. We wanted to serve the food family-style, but we opted for the buffet because less food is wasted this way. While we would have preferred to use washable dishes, after lots of debating, we ended up using compostable plates, cups and cutlery. The caterer made sure everything was composted. Because the Finger Lakes produce a lot of local white wines, we used all local wine.

Activities:

For the weekend, many guests stayed in local bed and breakfasts. We took them to the farmer’s market for lunch and perusing, the local museum (rehearsal dinner), and hiking at the state park (wedding venue).

Registry:

We registered with the Nature Conservancy and some friends also gave us fabulous gifts from Heifer, one of our favorite NGOs. We registered at local shops and even registered for our dinnerware from a local potter (who lives entirely off the grid). Because so many of our guests live far away, we asked that they call in their gifts to local shops so we’d have less shipping and packaging.

Tales from another Green Bride!

We are happy to feature a fellow green bride this week.  Enjoy Erin’s story! – Sean and Mandy

Erin Oxford & Charlie Clark
Isle of Palms, South Carolina

April 19, 2008

 

Our wedding was held on the breathtaking Isle of Palms. Isle of Palms is located just north of Charleston on the beautiful South Carolina coast.  My wedding and reception were held outdoors. I took this as an opportunity to show respect for the environment and encourage my guests to appreciate our surroundings as well. 

Isle of Palms is a nesting ground for loggerhead sea turtles.  Loggerheads and all species of sea turtles are in danger of extinction due to humans.  One common cause of death to sea turtles is that they eat plastic bags in the ocean because they mistake the bags for jellyfish.  The bags are deadly because it suffocates them.  

I wanted to bring awareness to the plight of these magnificent creatures on our wedding weekend and ensure we didn’t contribute to the problem.  My solution was to provide all of our guests with a reusable tote bag as their out-of-town guest gift bag. I knew from past experience that the paper out-of-town guest bags were ultimately thrown in the trash.

 

I purchased reusable cloth tote bags as our out-of-town gift bags.  I was fortunate to find some great totes in our wedding colors at Garden Ridge for only $1 each.  So instead of having guests throw away their paper bags, they acquired a bag that they could use after the wedding weekend.  I spotted a guest utilizing the tote as a beach bag during the wedding weekend and I encouraged everyone to try using them at the grocery store.

In addition to providing reusable tote bags, I required recycling by the vendors at both the rehearsal dinner and reception.  To my pleasant surprise, neither vendor added an extra charge. 

I have always been an environmental advocate. I believe it is partially due to being raised in the country and enjoying untouched parts of our earth.  I knew that utilizing a weekend where I was the center of attention offered me a stronger voice for environmental awareness.  I will continue to try to educate my friends and family on the needs of protecting our earth.