Green Wedding Extreme

Wow, green are couples making head lines. On Saturday, July 31 Pete and Andrea are getting married, applauded by the press: they will have paid most of their wedding with 400,000 Aluminium cans they collected over several months. Then later this year, on September 25, 2010 Julia and Andy will celebrate in Maine with local and sustainable food - with the small difference that they grow it all themselves in their rented 7,500-square-foot garden in a peaceful meadow. With all the ups and downs of farming, they most probably will find the Zen approach to life on the way.
Meredith Goad from the Portland Press Herald reports today: "Instead of a wedding cake, they'll have pies baked by their mothers and ice cream from John's Ice Cream Factory in Liberty. Davis' parents, Jane and Stan Davis of Wayne, are growing gourds and sunflowers, globe amaranth, statice and strawflowers for decorations. Appropriately enough, the wedding falls on Common Ground Fair weekend, a popular annual gathering of organic farmers and gardeners. "
Even if most of us don't yearn for a quaker wedding style, the cool thing is that stories like these are inspiring others to find something unique and green for our own celebrations, how fancy they might be.  Life is to short to be boring but too long to add to mountains of waste and rivers of tears.

It's a wrap! Green registries and the other gift wrap

I love my green couples, their requests often kick my creativity and I go beyond bed and bath stores, find the impossible re-recyclables, the total re-use idea and recall whatever I have heard, seen, read or thought to manifest their unique ideas. Shelley and Jason above celebrated their spring wedding in the thriftiest venue in Sierra Madre: Nature Friends, a jump into the thirties, and got me into all things DIY.

With Blake and Stephen who partied with 500 guests at their summer county fair feast in Bel Air we did it all: from email invites and website RSVP's over green hotels to gorgeous veggie-sunflower baskets on wooden picnic tables. In lieu of gifts they offered their guests to donate to their favorite charity, online. (come back for their stories)

Today, Robin, one of my future green brides, asked me about eco cool registries, "You know, something more than just the typical Bed, Bath & Beyond stores." Of course that gets you into the massive waste of opulent gift wraps and their fun and funky alternatives like the fabulous ideas of traceable gift bags from Wrap Sacks. 
Instead of buying recycled wrapping paper it might be a fun project for  guests to come up with their own creative ways to wrap gifts in posters, newspapers, wall paper etc and use interesting "ribbons" from rope to wire or recycle ribbon left overs.
And here is the registry list I put together for Robin and thought is nice to share:
Vivaterra
Branch Home
Green Depot
Gaiam
Re:Modern
3r Living
For couples who are packed with stuff, there is an elegant way to ask for money (mucho verde)
Wishing well
Go Gift
or to ask for a pitch in for the Honeymoon:
Honeymoon Wishes
Honey Fund
Philantropists: Just give...

Green Engagement rings

Time flies, I can't believe that Leonardo's Blood Diamond came out in 2003. How's the situation in Africa? Are the clunkers on many brides beautifully manicured fingers still mined and produced in a river of blood and tears? It seem so but then there are also articles out there that contribute the bloody media hype to the monopolists in the diamond corner like De Beers, arguing that the Kimberley process, implemented to "protect" the miners, really is a trick to keep Africa from independence and finally becoming the ones who profit from their sparkling wealth.
How to get away from all the craziness?

Check into an cornucopia of vintage engagement rings (oh my gosh how amazing are they?) if you can't rely on his or her grandma's sassy sparkler or because it's style is really "oma" and not your taste.
There's is the out-there alternative of (actually rather fancy) wooden rings.

Or go sci-fi, techno cool:
"Gemesis cultured diamonds are at the forefront of a revolution in the diamond jewelry industry. A Gemesis cultured diamond is a diamond, grown under the same conditions as diamonds grow beneath the earth's surface. By applying tremendous heat and pressure, a diamond begins to grow, atom by atom, layer by layer, just as it does in nature. A Gemesis cultured diamond possess the same physical, optical and chemical properties as earth-grown diamonds."
There are also Apollo and Mia Donna to name a few masters in this field.
A jeweler friend of mine mentions amazing gem stones he created engagement rings with : "Tsavorite garnets are one of the most beautiful stones ever and have a similar refractive index to diamonds.  If someone loves ruby or sapphire colors then they should not look at tradition, they should look for something that makes them happy."
And that's what we women really want, a reminder of our love and happiness, not just a status symbol on our finger.

The modern Groom: creative, cool, playful...

Girls naturally savor beauty, design, fashion. It is a pleasure to see guys stepping up to the cool'n cute and playing with handsomeness.

From smart and sexy to country cool and expressing your life style and lineage in organic cotton or kilts, it's just fun to be a guy and love what you see in the mirror.

This jacket from Manuel is certainly unique. When the bride fulfills her princess dreams, why not follow your heart to manly handsomeness...

 

 Don't forget: Shoes can tell a whole story...

Cool accessories anybody?

 More styles to check out:

 

 

 

It's your stage to love who you are...

 Photos: Tec Petaja, Nashville, Josh Goleman, Brooklyn, Amy Caroll, Erin Hearts Court, Los Angeles, Megan Beth, Maryland, Austin Gros, Nashville,  Jagger

Green Wedding somehow

Feathers, flowers, fun... There's always something not so eco at every "green" wedding. It's the nature of the beasty beauty: when we invite 500 guests or must have the dress from designer X or can't live without the cake from that famous bakery, our DIY or organic or redefined luxury wedding will be always just green-ish.
And then there are couples like Daralyn and Joe, who got married yesterday, on July 10, in their own home. They love the planet but they are not labeled green. They hired me as their "day of" wedding planner not because they are so eco but because they naturally vibe with fair and good stuff.

Meaning, Daralyn wanted it all super beautiful but economic and her decisions were in several areas simply naturally eco-friendly: flowers were bought locally and arranged by her bridesmaids: no extra gasoline wasted, no formaldehyde floral foam used and the vases will be re-used for years to come. The local rental company, Smart Party, doesn't care much about recycling so we took care of it ourselves.
Not everybody has the luxury to fit 100 guests into their back yard but them using their own home as the wedding venue gave them another green point: no stoves or kitchen equipment needed to be rented, house decor could be integrated into the design and the DJ didn't need the bio diesel generator.

Their sweet and creative caterer Julie Coomes from just around the corner, provided local goodies in her amazingly tasty buffet, where the huge veggie display was passionately frequented by non-vegetarians and vegetarians alike. I helped serving it, as Daralyn saved on servers, so I know. No red meat, more of an economic decision, totally fit the green bill.
There were barely any left overs, kudos to that!

The marshmallow frosted cake was cute but unfortunately neither tasty not eco, how much do you need to hug a bride whose baker disappoints her? But Daralyn also had sweet bites,  there were so yummy that they were gone in 10 seconds,  so she took the cake disaster the way she is: with a brave smile. (Honestly, I wouldn't have)
My I phone photos will be followed by Cari Hollis professional wedding pics, but then don't these photographers always take sooo long?
Daralyn and Joe are now on their flight to some far away romantic island - I bet they'll find many new ways to be accidentally green.