Here are some things we did to reduce our footprint:
1. A few weeks before the wedding, Holly and I hit the local Goodwill and bought China, as you saw in the last post. Really nice cake and dinner plates, all a little different but certainly not clashing. The came in around the same price as they would have been to rent them, but now she'll have them on hand for future events.
2. We created a website with ride-share information on it. As a destination wedding, there were a lot of folks who would be arriving and leaving around the same time, so we encouraged people to carpool. It worked! We also hired a shuttle to bring folks to and from the winery from the two main places people stayed in the town of Forest Grove. This had the added benefit of allowing people to celebrate a tiny bit more than they might have if they were driving.
3. We worked really closely with the caterer to ensure we served local, in-season food, including grass-fed beef and wild salmon. And plenty of veggie options, like the mushroom risotto. All the leftovers were boxed up and eaten the next couple days, or given to local guests. Of course, the wine was from the very grounds where we were. Likewise, flowers were from the farmers' market and a roadside sunflower stand.
4. For favors, we didn't want people to end up with junk they didn't care about. So we found a local jam-maker and bought tiny jars for each bag. We also included a wine glass with our wedding logo on it, and a packet of natural Immuni-C (which is like Airborne) -- things they could use immediately or after.
5. As for the dress: I looked on Craigslist, but between Little House on the Prairie and '80s poofy satin numbers, I didn't find anything. I scoured all my regular thrift stores. Finally, I found a wedding dress at a small outlet shop. It was incredibly inexpensive ($300) for such a gorgeous, well-constructed tiered-taffeta number that needed little alteration. The dark side is that it was custom made in Viet Nam for surely a pittance. The sustainable solution? I am wearing my gorgeous dress for every formal occasion here on out until it falls off in shreds, or I hand it over to a step-daughter or daughter.
 |
| The dress for the rehearsal dinner I scored for $6 at the Goodwill the day before. Paired with a pair of Tony Lama boots ($3.49 from Salvation Army five years ago), I was dressed perfectly to boss people around on a farm! |
