Lately I have been obsessing over succulent plants.  They seem to be becoming more of a trend within the wedding industry as they are so versatile.  They can be used in bouquets, boutonnieres, and even in your centerpieces.  They are also extremely eco-friendly as they absorb water and therefore require minimal maintenance.  Unlike cut flowers, they last forever as well so you can enjoy them year round!

Images courtsey of Project Wedding

Have any of you brides thought about doing something other than wedding cake for dessert?  I came across this article the other day on Twitter and absolutely fell in love with the idea.  Here is a step by step on how to make mini pie desserts in mason jars!  This would be such a great favor or parting gift for your guests!  I also think this would be a great way to reduce your wedding costs as you can have a small wedding cake for you and your husband to cut and then provide each of your guests with their own personal dessert!  I hope one of you decides to do this for your own wedding!

Step by Step Process in photos:

Images courtsey of Our Best Bites

When planning a wedding many couples choose to have their wedding during the summer months.  The summer is especially enticing because of the warm days, long nights and beautiful vibrant colors.  Although many of us enjoy the those sky-rocketing temperatures summer often delivers, the heat can often leave wedding attendants and attendees overheated and uncomfortable.  This got me thinking about clever ways of keeping your guests cool while still mainting the theme and styles of your wedding. 

Providing guests with decorative fans is a creative and inexpensive way to keep your guests comfortable during the festivities. I am absolutely in love with the idea of using fans as the foundation of your ceremony programs or primarily as wedding favors.   Instead of leaving your wedding favors on reception tables, why not give your guests something that will come in handy at the ceremony.  You can order pre-printed fans made from recycled material, or try making this a fun DIY project!  Here are just a few examples of super cute ways to mix and match fans with various colors and styles into your wedding programs or favors.  

Images courtesy of Hanson Ellis

Images courtesy of Hanson Ellis and  Daisy Days

Images courtesy of Etsy

One of our readers, Aileen was kind enough to share some beautiful photos from her eco-friendly wedding in Connecticut this past August.  They were married at Castle Craig in a lovely outdoor reception, which required no decorating due to the natural beauty of the grounds.  Aileen is a highly creative and talented individual and therefore was able to incorporate a lot of DIY projects that not only reduced the environmental impact of her wedding but also kept her overall wedding expenses down.  I was blown away when I saw all that she did!  Through her creativity and design she was able to incorporate her Japanese heritage and I must say her work paid off, as her wedding was absolutely stunning.

Cermony Location: Castle Craig

Not only were the flowers and decor eco-friendly but they also provided their guests with local, edible candies from Lamothe's Sugar House and kept their guests informed through their wedding website.  You can check out more photos on our facebook page but I thought I would leave you with a little advice from Aileen:

"It's your day. Do as you want and envision. Don't worry about breaking traditions or doing something new or unusual. The most important thing, in the end, is that you are married to the man you love and everything else is just window dressing. If you are having fun and enjoying yourself so will everyone else. And being different is fun! :) "

 I read on twitter this morning that it was National Chocolate Chip Day today! I briefly got excited but once I googled it I found out that National Chocolate Chip Day is actually May 15th! Ha ha.  It made me smile but also inspired me to write about this posting I found on The Wedding Bee awhile ago. I have been meaning to write about it but just have not gotten around to it yet.  I guess we can thank pseudo National Chocolate Chip Day for this one!

A blogger on the wedding bee who lives in San Francisco, used a local and organic chocolate company, Recchiuti for her wedding favors.  They have tons of flavors some images below are of Fleur de sel and Chocolate Smore.

While these are lovely the true genius in my opinion is the end result:

Images courtesy of weddingbee

 
Quote on outside: "Save the Earth. It's the only planet with chocoloate"
Quote on inside:
Reduce what you can.
Offset what you can’t.
In honor of our time together,
we have offset the weekend
through a donation to carbon fund.org
I absolutely love, love, love this favor!