5 Tips for Stylish and Sustainable Green Grooms!

Samantha Abrams is back with part II of her green style blog. In this piece, she tackles eco-friendly choices for green grooms!

Many of the same ideas for repurposing/recycling bridesmaids dresses also work well for recycling tuxedos, vests, and ties—and men’s formal wear tends to be much more “scalable” for other formal and semi-formal occasions.

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Wedding Day Childcare: Keeping Kids Happy

Kids bring so much excitement and fun to a wedding! They hide under tables, dance with abandon, and bring joy to everyone’s hearts with their laughter. If you’re older than 25, chances are good that many of your friends will have children. You may also have a lot of kids in your extended family. Inviting kids to your celebration is a great idea, provided you consider their needs. Kids can be difficult sometimes so try to anticipate potential problems before they arise. Give younger guests some engaging activities or toys to play with and try to arrange the space so they have somewhere to congregate together. A group of happy kids makes any event more fun. If you’re not sure how to handle a particular child (perhaps he has allergies or is very shy) don’t be afraid to consult with the parents. Chances are the parents will have lots of their own ideas for how to keep their youngster happy.

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Going Green is a Picnic in the Park!

Central Park, that is! 

Who says you have to have carefully decorated tables with place cards, favors, centerpieces, napkin rings, and the kitchen sink? While it’s nice to serve food (especially if your wedding is a multi-hour affair) you don’t have to create a restaurant-like atmosphere. Have an eco-chic picnic in beautiful Central Park!

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Outdoor Casual: The Wedding BBQ

Sometimes a casual wedding can make a more lasting impression than a complex, formal affair. When guests are relaxed, they have genuine fun. They can take their shoes off, run on the lawn, eat with their fingers, and celebrate with raucous abandon. If you’re a card-carrying member of a rowdy group of friends that enjoys a good cookout, embrace your true nature with a backyard barbeque! There’s no reason to be formal if you heart is fancy free. Your wedding should reflect your idea of the perfect day. If that means backyard volleyball, a pool party, and a long picnic table packed with every possible variety of pasta salad, go for it! Even the most casual barbeque can be eco-friendly. You don’t need to sacrifice taste and fun for the Earth. Just make a few smart choices and your wedding BBQ will be the highlight of everyone’s summer.

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Eco-Friendly  Pre-Wedding Fitness and Relaxation: Go Yoga!

Yoga is often touted as the cure-all fitness answer. Celebrities are always photographed walking around LA with their rolled-up yoga mats tucked under their arms. Experts make all sorts of claims about its benefits—from weight loss to anxiety reduction to improved focus—but, until recently, I was skeptical. I love exercising and care deeply about fitness but I was suspicious about the claims. I like to see hard, scientific evidence of a practice’s efficacy. I guess I’ve been burned one too many times by the media machine. I just assumed yoga was like diet pills, juice cleanses, or starvation diets: a seductively quick fix designed to make someone money. In the end, quick fixes never really last, and sometimes they do more harm than good. But then, a few months ago, I started having really bad anxiety. It was starting to interfere with my life in profound ways. I wasn’t seeing friends, wasn’t sleeping, and could barely eat. I was almost ready to start taking medication when a friend convinced me to try yoga.

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Rita and Jim Head Celebrate Second Wedding at Green Resort

James Head and his bride, Rita, wanted a simple beachside wedding. “This was a second marriage for both of us,” he said. “We wanted to focus on us, and didn’t want the attention and complexity that comes with an elaborate wedding.” When they couldn’t find a pastor in Antigua who would officiate their dream wedding on the beach, James and Rita decided to double up: The ceremony was held at their local church in Maryland. Six days later, they renewed their vows on the shores of the Caribbean Sea, at the Galley Bay Resort & Spa. “What seemed like a setback or disappointment at first turned out to be a mixed blessing,” James said.

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Eco Honeymoon Highlights: Amazing Green Friendly Adventures

Your honeymoon should be the perfect combination of magic, romance and excitement. It should bring you somewhere you’ve always wanted to go, or somewhere that sets just the right stage for you and your new bride or groom. It doesn’t have to be exotic, but exotic sure is fun! Here are some eco-luxurious honeymoon hotspots to tempt and enthrall. Elevate Destinations, a Green Bride Guide partner, specializes in high quality eco-luxury, from the ocean to the forest and everything in between. We’ve got some custom honeymoons designed to be green and fabulous, no holds barred!

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Repurposed Jewelry for Your Big Day

I had no idea what jewelry to wear for my wedding. I don’t wear jewelry very often and when I do it’s usually something simple like a thin gold chain or an antique silver bracelet. Before my wedding, I was getting suggestions from all sides. My mother wanted me to wear her favorite necklace, my best friend wanted to put me in costume jewelry, and my fiancé was pushing for no jewelry at all. In my confusion I turned to Etsy, the Internet’s treasure trove of originality, cleverness, and style. I wanted something recycled, something that represented our eco-friendly theme, but it also had to be beautiful. I wanted my jewelry to have a story and I wanted it to be something unexpected. During my search I came across so many incredible pieces. I had a tricky color scheme and an antique dress so, while a lot of my finds were spectacular, they weren’t right for my wedding. That doesn’t mean they won’t be right for yours! Here are some of my favorite repurposed Etsy baubles.

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Getting started: Early Planning for the Perfect Green Wedding

Getting married is one of the most wonderful things in the world but it can also be one of the most stressful. On top of dealing with the multitudes of people who all have to coordinate their efforts—the caterers, florists, venue managers, musicians, officiant, photographers, etc.—there are the financial concerns. Unless you have the good fortune to have help (or are financially comfortable yourself) you may be wondering how you’re going to pay for everything. Your guests may also present some logistical hurdles: your sister hates her bridesmaid dress, your mom hates your prospective mother-in-law, and your aunt is allergic to everything. The headaches may seem endless but take heart! If you plan carefully at the beginning, your choices later will be much easier. Here are some early planning tips for your big day.

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Eco-Friendly Atheism: A Skeptic’s Wedding

Most people in the United States associate the traditional wedding with church. The movies are full of couples walking down an aisle with pews on either side. Stained glass colors the sunlight as a priest performs the ceremony. After the “I Do’s” the couple walks out the massive doors, hand-in-hand, while guests throw rice and snap photographs. It’s the quintessential American wedding and yet, an increasing number of Americans will never set foot inside a church. Atheism is on the rise and with it, Atheist couples: people who want to divorce religion from marriage entirely (so to speak). My husband and I are Atheists and we’re also self-identified skeptics. This is another growing movement of people who value critical thinking, logic, and fact-based reasoning over superstition, hearsay, mysticism, and bad science.

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You’ll find an array of wooden wedding invitations, place cards, signs, wedding favors and more in our Wedding Shop! Each item is 100% biodegradable and offered in a variety of wood choices including recycled Blue Stain Pine. Choose your text and wood at checkout. Take a look!

Totally Non-Traditional and Totally You: Eco-Friendly Alternatives

Tradition is great. It gives us a sense of history and provides guidelines for planning. But sometimes traditions just get in the way of a couple making their wedding their own. They may feel beholden to tradition and afraid their families or guests won’t understand their alternative ceremony, decorations, or theme. Some families are pretty extreme: my friend’s mom wasn’t involved in her daughter’s planning and she actually hired a private investigator to make sure the wedding plans were acceptable (seriously). It’s so sad when a couple gives up on their dreams for their wedding because of what other people will think. Instead, consider modifying traditions or do away with them all together! Your wedding should reflect just exactly what you want.

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Dress Name: Madison Collection 4313 Wedding Dress Size 6

Dress Description: For a fun, eye-catching dress, with a flattering cut and sparkling crystal embellishments, consider this used Madison Collection 4313 wedding dress.  The light organza fabric is a perfect choice for a spring, summer, or fall wedding.  Save 45% on this beautiful ruffled wedding dress.  

Original Price: $1,200

SmartBride Price: $650

For more information, click here!

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Get everyone involved in your upcoming nuptials with a new app from Capsule Media-CapsuleCam; a cost effective and green way to capture your wedding day through the eyes of your guests! The app converts all wedding guests into photographers… all angles are instantly captured and streamed to a central, private, group album.

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Organic Make-up for Darker Skin

It can be challenging finding products that accommodate the various hues in darker skin. Throw in the concern for organic ingredients and the search could become a full time mission. The following are a few products that I felt address the need beautifully. Don’t get discouraged—eco-friendly choices are out there!

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