Meet Dana aka Thomasina, a lovely lass who DIYed her own real, live eco-friendly handmade wedding. We want more green stories for our Handmade Wedding Series, so post in the comments below!

When my husband John proposed to me, besides being absolutely sure he was “the one,” I was also sure our wedding needed to incorporate our eco-friendly values and reflect our admittedly hodgepodge sense of style.
 

Using a papermaking kit found at a local thrift store for $4, we handmade paper for the invitations and, after getting into rhythm, finished the whole batch in just one afternoon.  The important details were printed on vellum paper and machine-stitched to the recycled paper.  Then we created envelopes by stitching old magazine pages together and, as a finishing touch, affixed cool vintage postage stamps from my grandmother’s stamp collection, resulting in one-of-a-kind invites!  Our friend Travis kindly described the invitations as “tiny pieces of art” and even planned to frame his.

While I’m reluctant to admit this, my wedding dress cost only $1!  Found at Pinkies Thrift Store, the 1950’s pale seafoam green prom dress was described by the clerk who checked me out as “an ugly thing” which she was “sick of looking at.”  The dress fit perfectly (with a little help from a padded strapless bra), but had a tear near the bottom, so I had it shortened and cleaned, which cost around $40.  To complement the dress, I found a gorgeous mini-veilette on Etsy from Kisscurl.etsy.com, who was wonderful to work with on a custom order. It also cost around $40.

[lovely veilette by Kisscurl. For custom orders, check out her Alchemy page here]

Breaking the recycled rules slightly, John purchased a new suit for the occasion. He’d tried to find a vintage suit online and in thrift stores, but it had proved too difficult due to his height and lean frame. He did, though, accompany the suit with a vintage skinny tie that matched the seafoam of my dress ($2) and old Florsheim wingtips (also $2) both found at another local thrift store.

Searching around for wedding rings turned out to be easier than we thought.  Most antique stores have a sizeable estate jewelry collection, and my ring was literally the very first I tried on, in the very first shop we went into.  It is white gold from the 1940’s and, like the dress, fit perfectly as soon as I slipped it on. We found John’s ring, also white gold, nearly as easily.  It was in the second shop we went into!  For both unique rings we spent less than $200.

To complete my ensemble, I made my own earrings by clustering vintage chains with antique pearls and aqua stones salvaged from a broken pair of earrings found at the local flea market.

For our venue, we chose Caffe da Vinci (www.caffedavinci.net), a bar located inside the same building as its sister business, Florida Architectural Antiques (www.floridavictorian.com), which salvages historic pieces from soon to be demolished buildings.  Most important to us, Caffe da Vinci has a large courtyard furnished and decorated with architectural salvage.  The courtyard’s mélange of old elements in an urban surrounding reminded us of our former home, New Orleans, where we’d met and lived for several years.  As our first guests filtered in, they asked the question we’d hear over and over again throughout the evening: “How did you find this amazing place?”

Our caterer, Hari Pulapaka, who happens to be both a culinary genius and university Math professor, served an international organic feast featuring produce from locally grown vendors, such as Planted Earth Vegetables.  The food was dished out on Bambu disposable and biodegradable plates and utensils.  This excellent dinnerware is made from organically grown bamboo with no bleaches or dyes and promises to decompose within 4-6 months. We also used recycled paper napkins which we rolled up around the utensils and tied with strips of vintage fabric scraps inherited from my great grandmother. 

The fabric scraps were one of the most commented on (and collected) recycled details.  Several guests admitted later that they took home their used utensils as a keepsake!

In lieu of the traditional gift registry, we registered on the AlternativeGiftRegistry.org for gifts such as family recipes, photos taken at the wedding, compact fluorescent light bulbs, eco-friendly cleaning products, handmade art, and donations to the Heifer Project  (www.heifer.org) in our honor.  Our flower arrangements were, in fact, one of these gifts. 

A talented friend used locally grown flowers and tastefully arranged them in recycled tin cans decorated with a simple raffia tie.  As my new sister-and-law put it, “the wedding proved that handmade and eco-friendly can still be totally progressive and edgy.” 

The sharply dressed Cook Trio (www.thecooktrio.com), a gypsy jazz band from the Orlando area, provided amazing music for us throughout the evening.  They were a big hit with the Django Reinhardt fans in the crowd and, as you can see in the photo, with the children.  Mae, my adorable niece and impromptu flower girl, is pictured wearing a recycled vintage tablecloth dress created by fellow Etsier, PockaBooka.etsy.com.

Finally, perhaps the biggest hit of the wedding was our preacher, another great find from the Orlando area: www.floridarobotics.com. While not necessarily recycled, this robot was definitely handmade!


Comment below if you have any eco-friendly tips to share!

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