Make Green a Part of Your Wedding

We're not talking about the color green - although I once attended a green & white wedding that just looked so fresh - we're talking about having a Green mindset! A hot topic for today's bride is how to have an eco-friendly wedding without busting your budget. With that in mind, here are a few easy ways for you to save two kinds of Green!

-Use postcards as RSVP reply cards in your invitations, instead of a card that goes into an envelope. Less paper used and less money spent! And be sure to check out our past blog post on wedding invitations made from recycled materials.

-At your rehearsal dinner and wedding reception, make sure guests can put empty bottles in recyclable containers instead of in the trash.

-Make a statement by honeymooning at a solar powered resort.

-Consider having your wedding and reception at one venue. You won't have to worry about (or pay for) transportation for your wedding party, and think of the carbon emissions saved if your guests aren't driving their cars from one place to another.

Case in point: Last summer I attended the wedding of two college friends at the Metropolis Ballroom in Arlington Heights, IL. It was a gorgeous-beyond-belief wedding, and the transformation of the event space from ceremony to reception was incredible.


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-Flowers are pretty much a given in any wedding, but consider flower-free centerpieces for your reception. We did a blog post on centerpieces a while back that might help you brainstorm. I also love the idea of filling apothecary vases with colorful stones, mirror balls, or even tissue paper (which you can recycle later). And if you have to purchase centerpieces, you can sell them on e-bay or craigslist.

Do you have any other Green wedding ideas we haven't mentioned? Tell us below in the comments!

What to Wear to a Wedding: Decoding Dress Codes

The appropriate outfit to wear to a wedding can be a confusing issue. While many wedding invitations don't specify the attire of their guests, some do. With anything from "cocktail attire" to "black tie optional" penned on the invitation (or implied by the bride), it's sometimes hard to know what the fashion expectations are for a wedding. So, here are some suggestions to make your decision a little easier.

If the invitation says...

Business Attire: Another way to say this is Smart Casual. For men, this would mean slacks and a sport coat with a collared shirt and tie. Suits are fine as well. For women, a sheath dress is ideal, and you could liven it up with some fun accessories. These types of outfits are great for a wedding in the late morning or early afternoon.

Cocktail Attire: For men, a dark suit. For women, a short (think knee, not thigh) but formal dress is appropriate. Basically the same as Semi-Formal Attire, this is for a wedding occurring after 5 PM.
Black Tie: Other forms of this might say Black Tie Optional or Black Tie Invited. If it's optional, this gives men the opportunity to wear tuxedos (or formal suits), while women wear anything from cocktail dresses to evening gowns. If "optional" isn't part of the dress code, it's best to be overdressed rather than undressed in my opinion.
Do you have any dress code questions that we haven't answered? Let us know in the comments!

{Special thanks to Polyvore for helping me create the looks you see here.}

Save the world, one invitation at a time

Here's a wedding trend I can totally get behind: wedding invitations made from recycled paper! Admittedly, I've saved the majority of wedding invitations I've received over the past several years....call me nostalgic. But sadly, many people toss their invitation into the trash or recycling bin - usually after finding it somewhere in their car, weeks after the wedding. Here are some wedding invites that stay on trend while saving trees.

1- Very cool modern invitations from Naturally Ever After. These invitations contain at least 30% post-consumer fibers.

2- From Botanical Paperworks, your guests can literally plant these invitations in the ground and grow their own wildflowers. Now that's earth friendly!

3- Using recycled cardstock, this invitation from Foosie Design is created carefully by hand, and it shows.

4- Invitations from Earthly Affair use 100% recycled paper, are shipped carbon-free, and more. An eco-friendly product from an eco-friendly company.

5- Gorgeous invites from Obligation Papers & Press. They create 100% cotton paper by hand and produce custom invitations on an old fashioned letterpress. Amazing.

Most of these companies also design Save the Date cards, table cards, wedding programs, and more. Have you seen or sent any cool recycled invitations? Tell us about it in the comments!

Photofetti!!

This idea from Martha Stewart makes me so happy (as do most of her ideas). Photofetti! It's circular confetti with pictures on both sides, mixed in with colored confetti in the colors of your choice. Martha suggests sprinkling the confetti on reception tables to act as conversation-starters for your guests...





The Photofetti website also lists some other creative uses such as:

• Sprinkled in invitations (engagement or baby photo confetti!)
• Sprinkled in thank yous (wedding photo confetti!)
• Included in scrapbooks
• Tossed on the bride & groom

I'd like to add that this type of decorative accent would be perfect for bridal showers, too!

You can upload your photos on the Photofetti website and they are currently offering free shipping on certain quantities. I'm definitely bookmarking this site!

Re-Cap: Invitations

Yep, that's right - another re-cap post! But this time I'm re-capping my posts about invitations! I love paper and subscribe to one of the coolest "all-things-paper" blogs - Oh So Beautiful Paper. You, too, should check out this blog if you're a paper-lover like me!


What I Wish I Would Have Known #1 (September 2008)

Wax Seals (December 2008)

ellothere Invitations (December 2008)

Etsy Invitations! (January 2009)

Minted.com Save the Dates (February 2009)

Paper Source Wedding Invitations (March 2009)

Cheree Berry Invitation Designs (May 2009)



I am totally loving EvaPaul's black & white designs (check out their Etsy shop!):






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Cheree Berry Invitation Designs

While flipping through my "starred" items in my Google Reader, I came across Style Me Pretty's post on Cheree Berry Invitations. What a breath of wedding-invitation-fresh-air! Simple, nostalgic, classic... I love these invitations! Here are some of my faves:






{Clockwise from top-left: Key to My Heart, XOXO, Raleigh Days, Blooming Border, (unnamed - number "09" when you click on "larger view" underneath any picture in the Wedding section), Blossom Deary}


Cheree Berry's Save-the-Dates are amazing, as well! Might be worthy of a separate post in the near future... :)

Paper Source Wedding Invitations

When I received the latest Paper Source catalog in the mail, it showcased wedding invitations. I. was. drooling. They were adorable, fresh, lovely... and NOT SHOWN ON THEIR WEBSITE! I wanted to share the pictures with you so badly, but with no photos to link to on the blog, I couldn't do that.

But!

Today I received an e-mail from Paper Source and they now have their wedding invitation suite available to view and purchase online!!

There are four categories of wedding invitations: Whites, Flourish, Elegant & Fresh. I normally find all-white invitations boring and sometimes too elegant-looking, but I really love the embossed cherry blossom collection (see mosaic below). And, like I expected, I loved just about all of the "Fresh" designs (see three of them below).

Here's a little sample of what's available (click to view larger picture):

{Top Row: Cherry Branch Embossed with Unryu + Trellis... Middle Row: Beaded Oval Embossed with Chocolate + Playbill... Bottom Row: Initials + Serif and Script Type with Curry}

Minted.com Save the Dates

Minted.com is a great website to find both modern & classic wedding stationery (save-the-dates, invites, personal stationery).

Check out some of the most popular Save-the-Date designs:

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Sneaky, Sneaky: Tips on Reducing Your Guest List

I laughed out loud when I read Planning... Forever Events' blog post about reducing your guest list.




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Funny, yes, but a very valid post (sometimes you just have to make it more difficult for people to RSVP "yes").

Saundra's tips are excellent (and the comments below the post are hilarious)!!!

Here's the link to her blog post: http://planningforever.com/blog/2009/01/26/easy-tips-on-reducing-your-guest-list/.

Enjoy!!

Etsy Invitations!!

Why, oh why did I decide to go hunting around on Etsy this morning for invitations?! I've been looking for at least two hours and have found so. many. amazing. invitations. It's insane the talent you find on Etsy!

Here are some flipping awesome invitations I discovered...

{Clockwise from top-left: A D E L I N E by EvaPaul; Brocade by Maida Vale; Bold & Modern Red & Chocolate by April Ink; Spring Daisy by Beyond Design}

{Clockwise from top-left: Concert Poster Invitation by Rasideas; Evangeline II by Mew Paper Arts; Fern Eco-Friendly Invitation by Kiss and Tell Cards; Chartreuse Poppies by Michelle Brusegaard}

Wax Seals

When I was younger, I loved to write letters to people. One Christmas, all I really wanted was a calligraphy set and a wax seal kit, so I could make my letters really nice and antique-looking. My ambition to teach myself calligraphy waned soon thereafter, but my affinity for wax seals still runs strong!

I was so happy to see these images on WeddingbeePRO's blog (posted by Flush Designs):

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Using wax (in your wedding colors!) & and a monogrammed seal in place of a knot or bow to hold programs/favors/invitations together adds an extra touch of personalization!

You can buy wax & monogrammed seal kits here for $34.

ellothere Invitations

I haven't been on Etsy in a while, so I happily spent my down-time perusing some paper shops this morning. I came across ellothere's store and was delighted to see such simple & sweet wedding invitations.

Here's my fave: WINNIE and JAMES:

And some more invitation eye candy to enjoy...


ERIC and JESSICA





HAROLD and ELAINE:

ERIC and EMELIE:

What I Wish I Would Have Known #1

You can easily make your own invitations

When I started looking online for invitation options, I knew I wanted a few things in particular:

• I wanted (my now-husband, then-fiance) TR to design the entire invitation (he's an amazing graphic designer)
• I wanted our invitation to be completely one-of-a-kind
• I wanted the contents of our invitation to be neatly contained within the invitation (the invitation should act as the holder for all of the inserts)

We decided to purchase our invitations through a small boutique. TR designed everything and the end result was pretty stellar, in my opinion. We received TONS of compliments on them.

Here are some pics of our invitations (photos courtesy of Lemongrass Photography):

Now, even though our invitations turned out great, I kept having this sneaking suspicion that we definitely didn't take the cheapest route. In fact, I kinda knew that we didn't even take the moderately cheap route. In reality, we downright took the EXPENSIVE-EST (if that was a word) route.

Here are two solutions I wish we'd thought of:

A) Buying the paper and doing the cutting ourselves. Paper Source has an excellent selection of paper, which we could have ordered directly from their website. After printing (the only part of the process I would NOT want to do myself), we could have had everything cut to size at Kinkos. I don't even want to know how much money we could have saved going this route!

B) Working with an artist on Etsy.com. I love Etsy! Just check out this amazing pocketfold invitation (below) from Crescent Moon Paper. For 125 invitations, this would have cost us $867.50 ~ more than $1,000 less than what we spent! This invitation looks sooooooo similar to our invitations ~ it's frustrating to think we could have had the same result for so much cheaper.

Readers, if you take anything away from this post, it should be that there is ALWAYS a cheaper way to get things done. You just have to be creative and willing to do a little extra legwork.