The Eco-Conscious Wedding

I should preface this (and can't remember if I did in the last post) by saying that I want an eco "friendly" wedding is misleading. I mean, I do, but let's face it... the only really ecofriendly wedding option is you and close (in proximity) friends biking to the JP to get hitched. No cross-country travel, no disposable plates, hell, no harmful photo printing processes, and no paper invites. This is one sacrifice I don't really want to make. I do want a semi-traditional wedding, with flowers, and food and dancing, and to fly all the way to Mississippi, and to have our far flung friends join us as we celebrate. However, there's a responsible way to do most of this (as far as the flying... we're pretty much out of luck save for "carbon offsets" which are another post altogether). So, I'm calling it an environmentally conscious wedding, which means, in my mind, that Mark and I look at every aspect of planning with an eye toward sustainability and make environmentally sound choices to every reasonable (and affordable) extent.

Some of this is pretty easy. I got my wedding dress from a consignment store, and second hand is always better than store bought. I intend to sell it after the wedding to extend its usefulness further. If all goes as planned, I will have my reception at a local garden, reducing the need for flowers from Ecuador or God knows where. For what flowers I do use, I will try to use a local and sustainable grower, and findings from my family and friends' gardens. I will try to serve locally-grown food and offer recycled, compostable eating wear (glass/china would be the best choice here, but a little too pricey for my budget, and how would we get them home to clean?? I will try to get mark's ring (and maybe my band?) second hand, and I will pick cocktail dresses, rather than hideous "bridesmaids" dresses for my attendants, which I will ensure are flattering and re-wearable (reaaally re-wearable, I swear). I will use candlelight as much as possible to cut electricity costs, and will use Ipod music rather than an energy zapping band (sadly, mississippi doesn't have a market for solar-powered ipod speakers, though). My wonderful friend Kelly Gilbreath (From Scratch Design) is doing my invites, and helping me find recycled paper to use. All in all, it's not THAT much, but it's something.

So I'll keep you updated on how all of that goes. For now, I have mostly taken a break from wedding planning (except looking at pictures online, which I LOVE to do) to do a little summer research, and to enjoy the weather and the lack of homework. I got a gardening bug after receiving our first two weeks of CSA (community-supported agriculture) produce, and I started a window box herb garden (so far, still alive! I have a black thumb, for those who don't know), and some morning glories and herbs from seed. The morning glories have taken off, and now I'm not sure what to do with them.... Our apartment is old masonry, so an outside windowbox is difficult. Thoughts? I also created a watergarden this weekend, by getting a small decorative pot, putting a 40 gallon-per-hour pump in, and covering with black rocks. I surrounded it with some decorative ferns, which I like so much I'm going to have to get more! Here is a picture of my little Zen garden:

The sound of running water is very soothing to me, so I consider this an invaluable addition to our home. I wish I could do one in every room, but this one is portable enough.

Abbey is also enjoying the sunny weather, though has been depressed for a little while, because we haven't been letting her sit in her favorite sunny window, and the others are overtaken by plants. We've been keeping her away from the window, because it is large, and unscreened, and needs to stay open for cooling purposes. Plus, abbey sits at that window like this:


So we can't have her rolling out. Fortunately, today's garage sale-ing brought a precision fit baby gate to replace the unsecured one we had put up which was all to bulky. So now Abbey has her window back, though I don't know if she's realized this yet.