Not just your average salad servers, these adorable bamboo spoons and service wear come with sweet motifs of swallows, branches and hearts. These would make the perfect eco-wedding gift– unique, usable, and made from a super renewable resource!

You can check out the full bamboo range on the dandi website.

inspiration and images via: re-nest

The recent New York drama around some wedding photographer’s gone bankrupt, leaving many couples left in the dark with their wedding photo’s and albums, is so concerning.

I’m happy to see that the Attorney General of NYC is following up on the case, and has issued the following great advice for couples about hiring a wedding photographer.

1. Insist the company identify the photographer who will be at your wedding, and make sure they are listed on the contract you sign

2. Check at least 3 references for weddings that took place within the last 3 months

3. Never pre-pay in full

4. Discuss and decide on due dates for each task and make sure the contract contains that information (ie, proofs are ready for you to view by a certain date)

5. Check to see if the vendor belongs to a wedding photographer’s association

The 2nd annual Boston Elegantly Green Weddings Showcase is coming up, so if you live in the area, SAVE THE DATE – May 15th!

Location: Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel, Boston, MA
Time: 12:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Cost: $5.00 per person $8.00 per couple
Reservations and Information: Contact Holly Fawcett @ begreen@inthepinkink.com, 781-314-6461
Show website: www.elegantlygreenweddingshowcase.com

Like any good wedding fair, there will be a fashion show featuring the finest in Eco-Chic Wedding Fashion will happen throughout the day. Guests will learn about making green choices in many different wedding categories like venue, catering, flowers, lighting, etc., and will be entered to win a romantic weekend get a way and many other services. All of the give a ways have a value that exceeds $300. Eco-Gift Bags will be given to the first 50 guests.

Sounds like a great event!

Spring weddings are a great time to integrate the color green. It signifies “fresh” and “new”… and against white can make for a crisp modern look, or a classic feel.

This green and white wedding style shoot featured on Green Wedding Shoes is one of their most popular pages, and for good reason!

Check out the subtle use of baby’s breath in the bouquet (it’s so sweet!), and the integration of antique lace as the “something old” is quite eco-fabulous!

Photo: Barnaby Draper Studios

I love to follow trends.. what woman doesn’t?! But more than that I love to follow eco-fabulous fashion and wedding trends. Of course, no eco-wedding trend should have a shelf life, expiring at the end of the year…after all they are all great, green practices for any green event!

The Recycled Bride, which also has a fabulous real weddings section of their blog, publishes their take each year on the years great eco-wedding trends.

This year’s report says that the eco-savvy brides and grooms are…

1. still into chalkboards, be it for menu’s, seating charts, or programs they cut down on unnecessary paper waste, and just plane look cool

2. staying away from diamonds by either opting for colored gems or (my favorite) buying man-made stones, which are naturally conflict free

3. staying home for their honeymoons, seeking out romantic hometown adventures (hmmmm? if you lived in San Francisco maybe…)

4. sourcing local food, inspired by Chelsea Clinton’s wedding (of course)

5. opting for a smaller guest list, making for more intimate weddings (and more affordable)

6. recycling, by reusing gowns, party decor, and wedding accessories (though technically, this is called “reuse”)

7. shortening wedding dresses, so they can wear them again (very practical!)

8. registering green to support the sustainable economy (yayyy!)

9. love vintage bird cage veils, opting out of long veiled accessories

10. And last… featuring a more vegetable based dinner, reducing the meat at each plate! (victory for the vegetarians)

The trends are posted at Project Wedding now.. and the photo’s are just adorable, courtesy of Catie Ronquillo (I love the photo shoot!).

Every city loves community spirit, and San Antonio is no stranger to street celebrations with the spring and summer Fiesta’s that bring thousands of participants. But along with the people, comes trash…roughly 80 to 100 tons of trash collected from it’s two biggest parades alone. This is why the city adopted a new “Don’t Trash Fiesta” recycling initiative!

Like any good green-minded organization, the City Council put on it’s green cap and passed a new law requiring city events attended by more than 1,000 people, must get Green Event Certification. In past years, about 7 tons of recyclables have been collected at “green” Fiesta’s.

As part of the green event initiative, event volunteers will enroll the support of parade-goers to help collect recyclables. Officials are urging Fiesta participants to designate one person in their group as the designated recycler (kinda like the designated driver). The city will help collection by providing yellow mesh bags to the “green guru” in the group.

Once the event is over, the bags full of recylables, can be handed to an event volunteer.

What a great idea, and a great way to enroll the audience to support green event initiatives!

British students at Shefield Hallam University in England wanted to challenge the notion that a wedding dress should only be used once, so they designed six sustainable wedding gowns which are made to breakdown in water after the wedding. The dress fabric is weaved with polyvinyl alcohol, a non-toxic adhesive which dissolves in water. Once dissolved away, the gown fabric is left, and can be sewn into five new reusable garments.

Fashion lecturer Jane Blohm said it a press release “In order to reduce fashion’s impact on the environment, the fashion industry must begin to challenge conventional attitudes and practices…The project is a union between art and technology which explores the possibilities of using alternative materials for our clothing.”

While this student project may yet still be years away from being a consumer reality, there are plenty of ways the eco-bride and groom can reduce the impact their wedding fashion choices will have. Consider buying reused, vintage, or having an old family dress or suit re-purposed.

So for now, here are some great green wedding fashion resources…

Reconstructing Clothes for Dummies is like the beginning of a whole new way to look at your unwanted clothes

You can find your dream wedding gown and save some cash by buying pre-owned wedding dresses

Gently used wedding gowns in good condition and like new veils, and other recycled bridal dresses and accessories

You can always find the best recycled, re-purposed, offbeat items for your eclectic wedding taste on Etsy Wedding