I saw this come through Twitter the other day and wanted to share it with all you vintage brides having a Seattle wedding. 

Gossamer Collective is hosting a Vintage Wedding fair this Saturday, March 20th from 12-6pm. 

“Gossamer is providing an alternative to the overwhelming, overpriced wedding service options:

~ A beautiful afternoon for you to come and meet local vendors that specialize in budget-friendly weddings with a “vintage” flair ~”

This sounds like a great opportunity to meet with local Seattle wedding vendors (photography, make-up, invitations, caterer etc) while sipping on some champagne!  The entry fee is $8 and you can find more information on the event here.  Let us know if you decide to attend!

Today Conde Nast announced the closure of two bridal magazines, Modern Bride and Elegant Bride. The closure of these two magazines, which helped shape the industry standard for weddings in so many ways is highly telling.  With the continued expansion of the internet and social media, DIY projects are becoming more and more accessible and popular for brides.  Given the trend towards DIY projects I thought I would share with you an invitation company, Sweet Penelope that is redesigning the way we think about wedding invitations.

What I love about this company is the ability to combine a DIY project in an environmentally sound way.  They offer a small but chic collection of invitation templates for very reasonable prices (invitation + reply card is $65). Once you select the design you want, you download the template and then take it in to a local printer.  Ask your printer to print the invitations on quality, post consumer recycled paper and voila!  The end result is a chic, inexpensive and environmentally sound wedding invitation.

Images courtsey of Sweet Penelope

As I was scrolling the internet the other day looking at everything wedding related I came across a posting about candy buffets.  First off, just to be clear, I absolutely love candy buffets!  I mean who doesn't love candy?

Images courtesy of Project Wedding

Candy buffets can be a fun and creative favor at a wedding reception.  They can also eco-friendly provided the guests actually eat ALL the candy. However, herein lies the irony and problem with candy buffets.  Does all the candy ever really get eaten?  This posting I read bothered me a little.  I even tweeted about it. 

"This display took about 60 lbs of candy. Don't listen to the advice about 1/4 cup per person. That can end up looking.... well... a little sad. If you want a "WOW" candy buffet, you need to buy candy for how it displays, not for how much people will actually consume."

It really got me thinking about our expectations as wedding guests and brides.  Why do we allow ourselves to succumb to practices that generate over consumption and unnecessary waste? If you don't need all that candy why do you want to waste money, time and resources on it?  

You can still have that candy buffet but why not use your grandmothers mason jars?

 They are smaller, more functional and can can be just as chic. All it takes is a little creativity. In my opinion it is not about style, it is about redesign. All it requires is a new display.

Many of us women are concerned about the environment and want to do our part to protect it for future generations.  However, some of us are not quite ready to forgo our dream Yang wedding gown for a dress made out of recycled fabric.  (I walk by Luly Yang' s shop on 4th Avenue everyday and am obsessed with her dresses).  I think many people have a pre-conceived opinion about what it means to "go green". Often times we can have a big impact by making small changes to our lifestyle.  For example, I rarely turn the light on in my office, and instead use the natural light projected from my window.  And believe it or not, even our Seattle weather provides me with a fully lit office.  In addition, the Starbucks cup that holds my semi-complicated "Grande Americano with light cream, two Splenda and three pumps of sugar-free vanilla syrup" is thrown in our company compost bin instead of the trash.

Making small changes to your wedding ceremony or reception can save you money and impact our environment as well.  Think about how many weddings occur each year and how little changes compile into making a real difference.  Did you know the average wedding emits anywhere from 9-16 tons of Carbon Dioxide into the air on a single day?  That is more CO2 than you or I will emit within an entire year!  One suggestion I have on ways to reduce unnecessary waste is to look to your past for inspiration.  This helps cut costs and adds a personal touch to your celebration. For my wedding, I used my parents wedding glasses for the traditional toast and their knife set to cut our cake. Using these items provided us with a sentimental touch and retro flare, while eliminating our need to buy two new items for one time use.  I know these changes may sound small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but trust me, they really add up.

Monica and I are currently working with a client, Mary in the Washington, DC area.  She is recently engaged and in the beginning planning stages for her June 2010 nuptials. Naturally, one of the first things on her to do list was to announce her engagement and start thinking about sending save the date cards.  After I reviewed her list I realized that many people may not be aware of pingg.com.  It is another great green wedding resource which brides might not think to use. I used them to announce my own engagement back in September 2008 and I highly recommend them.  They have a beautiful wedding section with famous designers contributing to their designs.  In addition, many of the designs are free or available for a small fee of $10.  You can even customize and put your own photo in the card!  Your tree free save the date is then sent out as an email to your guests.  Although I would not recommend this for your wedding invitations it is a great, inexpensive and eco-chic way to communicate with your guests. Once again, going green saves green!

Just look how gorgeous the free ones are.

These ones are available for $10: