Entries Tagged 'Green Wedding' ↓

Looking for an easy and elegant way to add eco-friendly elements to your wedding? Go tree-free for your wedding invitations! Harvesting tree-free fibers does not disrupt natural eco-systems. Also, processing of tree-free fibers to produce pulp for paper-making requires considerably less energy and chemical input than does the processing of wood-based fibers. There are a few different options for tree-free fibers, such as kenaf, hemp, or recycled cotton.

A company called Cast Paper Art offers a unique line of 100% recycled cotton wedding invitations. They are all made by hand as shown in this picture. They are quite unique and elegant! Checkout these other Cast Paper Art 100% recycled cotton invitation options.

Another unique, eco-friendly idea Cast Paper Art offers are these “Blooming Favors” made of 100% recycled cotton fibers, fresh flowers, and wildflower seeds. Your guests bury them in ½ inch of dirt and keep them moist and they will bloom! They come in various shapes and have a personalized verse attached.

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Rhonda
Our Wedding Plus

The many months of planning and stress are behind you and it’s time for your first adventure as man and wife! The honeymoon is typically one of the most anticipated vacations, and for many, one of the most extravagant and expensive trips of their lives.

So, why not make your honeymoon unique? Why should you follow the rest of the lemmings going to standard resorts in Hawaii, the Caribbean or on a cruise. As you know, I try to squeeze in a way to make your wedding a little more eco-friendly. Well, you can do this and also have the most memorable and unique honeymoon on the block. Here are some ideas…

See the pyramids of Egypt, go on an African safari, or have an overnight camel trek in Morocco. These are just a few examples things you can do on an eco-friendly honeymoon. You may be wondering what makes these trips eco-friendly? According to the International Ecotourism Society, ecotourism is the responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well being of local people. When you plan these trips through organizations that specialize in ecotourism you can be guaranteed that your trip will minimize impact on the environment and local people. A few good options to help plan your trip are Green Weddings and Events, Organic Weddings, and Responsible Travel (for people in the UK).

Sound too far from home? REI Adventures has numerous eco-friendly options that allow you to experience the natural beauty of North America and the Caribbean including hiking in the Canadian Rockies, cycling the Blue Ridge Parkway, or hike, bike and snorkel in Trinidad and Tobago. REI even goes the extra mile by offsetting 100% of the climate-altering carbon emissions generated by all aspects of your trip by donating to support solar, wind and other renewable energy projects.

So dare to be different and have the experience of a lifetime, while knowing you are helping keep the environment safe for your future children!

Check back tomorrow for more unique wedding ideas!

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I’d like to thank Webby37 for the African Safari picture at the top of this post and Tallmonkee for the picture of Tobago at the bottom of this post.

To end the week of wedding planning ideas from A Soolip Wedding, I’d like to mention its host, Wanda Wen, the co-founder of Soolip Paperie and Press and the host of the A Soolip Wedding event. It is an understatement to say that Wanda is a gifted woman both creatively and in business. But, I also must say she is a down to earth, very approachable person.

Wanda has appeared on the Today Show and has appeared in numerous magazines. She also has a variety of celebrity clientele including Sandra Bullock, Meg Ryan, and Charlize Theron. So what makes Wanda so special? It is the unique beauty that she creates with “paper, inks, foliage, ribbons and twine.” I believe it would be a rare person that wouldn’t be awed by her wedding invitations. Soolip Paperie and Press custom makes the most unique and elegant wedding invitations you will find, but they also have some products you can buy online.

Wanda made a presentation during the “Conversation with Experts” at A Soolip Wedding at which she gave gift-wrapping tips and also ideas to include in your wedding. One green wedding tip Wanda presented was to “celebrate nature” by using live plants as floral décor. She had this tree clipping on display as a unique idea for displaying seating cards at your reception. It gives your guests something fun to interact with while they look for their seating card. I thought this was a neat idea to integrate nature into your wedding and to also impress you guests with your creativity!

Tomorrow, I’m going take a day off to be with the other man in my life, my horse :-). I’ll see you Monday with some pictures of beautiful wedding dresses from Monique Lhuillier from A Soolip Wedding’s fashion show.

See you next week!

Rhonda
Our Wedding Plus

At this point you may be thinking, is the staff (me) at Our Wedding Plus Blog crazy? One day she’s talking about cupcakes, then next she’s talking about natural disasters! Well, I’m not done yet! Stay tuned, you’ll never know what you’ll find here! So is everyone ready for more green wedding ideas? Here we go…

Do you want to have the perfect wedding? One that everyone will remember as their favorite wedding for years to come? You can do this and still make a big contribution to saving our environment. To find out how, read on. This is part two (to see part one, click here) in my series on how you can have a “green” wedding or eco-friendly wedding while also keeping it an elegant affair everyone will remember! No one is saying you must go 100% green. But, with a little effort you can incorporate some of these ideas in your planning and no one will be the wiser.

Today, I’m going to give you some specific examples of how to find wedding vendors that will help you add classy eco-friendly aspects to your wedding. I found most of these ideas and examples while at A Soolip Wedding, an exclusive bridal show held at Social Hollywood.

Choosing a photographer: You can choose a photographer that utilizes only digital photography. This not only saves paper by allowing you to view wedding images via an online photo lab as opposed to a traditional proof book or proof prints, but also eliminates the use of excess chemicals used during the development process. If you are getting married in the LA area check out Jasmine Star Photography. She is an eco-friendly photographer, digital only, but of course you will get your final photos on paper or in a beautiful album. If you’re not in the LA area, at least check out her website. Her photos are amazing and her website is beautiful!

Choosing a gift registry: Try to choose items that are eco-friendly such as high efficiency appliances, items made of organic fabrics, etc. Checkout ZahZoom Wedding & Parties’ for an article on how to “Create a Sustainable Gift Registry”

Now the really fun part…the last week before your wedding is going to be stressful so take time some time to unwind with your friends at a spa. Yes, even this can be done eco-friendly. There are spas out there that use only organically grown or certified products. I had the pleasure of getting a hand massage from GreenBliss Eco Spa at A Soolip Wedding. GreenBliss Eco Spa is a mobile service traveling all over LA County, and is dedicated to providing eco-friendly complete spa services. GreenBliss Eco Spa has provided spa services for 2006 Emmy Week and 2007 Oscar Week. Checkout their site for information on their spa parties and wedding packages and enjoy the ultimate in luxury! Here is a sample of one of their pampering packages that was created just for the bride, or a weary blog author…The Monsoon Wedding Preparation Ritual…This is a two-hour treatment for $250, based upon the phases of rising and diminishing energy of Yin and Yang. It begins with an exfoliating scrub of the Bamboo and Lemongrass Hawaiian Body Polish, and is followed by a luxurious Green Tea Milk Bath soak for the hands and feet, and an Anti-oxidant hydrating face mask of Seaweed and Honey. The journey is concluded with a full body massage with Hot Herbal Poultices (steam heated cotton pouches of traditional Thai herbs and flowers). The 6 phases of Yin and Yang incorporate acupressure, moist heat, and the healing properties of the plants, which nurture balance and harmony in the individual. This is an excellent way for the bride to obtain peace and calm before her big day, especially because GB Eco Spa comes directly to your doorstep, completely eliminating stressful driving and parking issues.

Finally, for overall great green wedding planning information checkout Green Weddings & Events. Another good resource is Portovert, an online magazine for eco-friendly brides and gooms.

See! Having an eco-friendly wedding can be elegant and fun! Please try to include some of these ideas in your wedding. If everyone does just a little, it will add up to a whole lot and hopefully save our environment for future generations.

See you tomorrow with some Wedding Do’s and Don’ts that I picked up from the Editor of Los Angeles Weddings Magazine, Kathy Nenneker. I took five pages of notes during her 20-minute talk! It was some really great, practical tips that can save you some stress on your big day!

See you tomorrow!

Rhonda
http://www.ourweddingplus.com/

I’d like to thank Grant Matthews for the beautiful photo of the waterfall.
Portovert and ZahZoom Wedding and Parties were not at A Soolip Wedding they are just a couple of my favorite sites.

Okay, let’s get down to business! Today I’m going to start passing on some information I got at A Soolip Wedding, an exclusive bridal show held at Social Hollywood. There sure was a lot of great information to be had but I’m going to focus on what I consider to be the most helpful to those of you currently planning your wedding. I will pick a different topic each day so check back in, save us as a favorite, etc…

I’m going to start off with what I think was the most important part of the whole show, a topic that extends beyond any individual bride or groom’s wedding planning needs. A Soolip Wedding had an entire room dedicated to “Green Wedding” or eco-friendly wedding vendors. Being eco-friendly may seem like the latest fad but in fact I believe it is quickly becoming a necessity. According to many scientists, if we as a world community don’t change the path we are currently on, we will have a world crisis in our lifetime…the polar icecaps will disappear by 2040, the seas will be devoid of fish by 2048, Miami and Manhattan will be flooded by 2050! Watch the trailer to “An Inconvenient Truth” for more details.

Before everyone gets too depressed…we can do something about this, you as a bride and groom can also play a big part. I’m going to pass on some ideas I picked up from A Soolip Wedding that can help make your wedding eco-friendly while also keeping it an elegant affair to remember!

These ideas are just a few from the program given out at A Soolip Wedding, you can find a lot more at the A Soolip Wedding website.

Donate to a wind-energy farm to offset the carbon dioxide emissions created by the energy used at your event. See http://www.renewablechoice.com/ for details.

My personal favorite: Re-use or donate the flower décor after your event to hospitals, convalescent homes, schools, and shelters to brighten someone else’s day.

Find an invitation vendor that offers paper comprised of post-consumer, or recycled waste.

Find an organization that will pick-up your left-over food and beverages and deliver it to homeless shelters.

Send an important message to your guests by giving gifts of tree starts or other plants as party favors.

These are just small things you can do that add up to a positive impact on our environment. Tomorrow I’m going to give you examples of specific wedding vendors that you can use to help you have an eco-friendly wedding.

See you tomorrow!

Rhonda
www.ourweddingplus.com

I’m back from LA!! What a great “business trip.” Getting involved in the wedding industry is exciting. It’s great being involved with people at such a joyous time in their lives! It’s very uplifting just being surrounded by it. I definitely felt that uplifting feeling when we attended A Soolip Wedding, (our weekends main mission) which by the way was spectacular, more about that later. But, like I said the other day in my posting “Cupcakes – They’re not just for kids anymore!”, I was going to sacrifice myself and try the famous Sprinkles Cupcakes and report back to all of you. Well, I went above and beyond the call of duty and tried five flavors! I’ll have you know this sacrifice is going to cause me to skip my Weight Watchers meeting this week to avoid embarrassment!

As you can see in the picture (it’s the brown building), I wasn’t the only one who wanted to have some Sprinkles Cupcakes! We waited about 25 minutes to get in the door but the wait was worth it. My husband and I tried several flavors. Here they are…

Black and White
Dark Chocolate
Peanut Butter Chocolate
Milk Chocolate
St Patrick’s Day Special – Baileys Irish Cream frosting on chocolate cake.

First let me say, they were all magnificent. The icing is beyond description and not for the faint of heart! But the results are in…my favorite was the black and white and my husbands favorite was the peanut butter chocolate (he loved the chocolate chips in the peanut butter flavored cake). Oprah really does know what she’s talking about! Try them if you get the chance.

As for A Soolip Wedding, I have a lot to write about this week! This show was packed with a lot of good, unique information that I’m going to try to pass on to you. Topics will include, eco-friendly wedding ideas, unique gift registry ideas, some wedding do’s and don’ts from LA Wedding Magazine’s editor, I’ll give you a peak into A Soolip Wedding’s very exclusive bridal fashion show, plus a lot more!

Stay tuned!

Don’t forget to check out my post on cupcakes and ideas how to incorporate cupcakes in your wedding!

Cupcakes - They’re just for kids anymore

Here’s the latest on A Soolip Wedding:

Found out on Wedding Bee that you can save $30 on tickets for A Soolip Wedding. Check out the link!

Rhonda
Our Wedding Plus

Just made our reservations for Saturday night in West Hollywood! We are getting ready to go to A Soolip Wedding this weekend. I’ve seen this event on blogs from the United Kingdom, Canada, and the US over the past week.
Check out…

ethicalweddings.com

Lana Stewart

Zahzoom Weddings and Parties

Oh Joy!

Not only is it a very prestigious upscale event filled with inspiration, it is also going to present a collection of ecologically conscious resources in The Green Wedding. I’ll be devoting next week’s topics to things I find out, so stay tuned.

In the mean time, I’d like to say I was inspired by the comment made by “soontobmrsg” on my last topic “Go beyond the standard bar!” Chocolate! You know you love it! So do your guests. I’m going to take the next few days to talk about unique ways to incorporate chocolate into your wedding. We aren’t talking about your standard chocolate fountain. Don’t read this blog over the next few days if you’re on a diet! See you tomorrow!Rhonda
http://www.ourweddingplus.com/