Sustainable and Community Conscious Weddings | Feel Good Five Series
Today we’re celebrating Earth Day by telling you some of the ways you can have an eco-conscious wedding you and your guests can feel good about for years to come!
At Eisley Images we fully back the notion that we should be actively leaving this world better than we found it. You can participate in this mindset even at your wedding! One day of celebrating can result in 100+ wedding guests making a positive impact in the world. How amazing is that?
One of our past Eisley Couples, Olivia + Tyler, incorporated a few really incredible sustainable & community conscious things at their wedding.
Let’s throw it back to November 2017: Olivia & Tyler’s Provdience, Rhode Island Wedding Day…
1. Room for Growth: Their place cards were recycled papered layered with seeds. After the wedding, the guests were encouraged to place their card in the earth, water it and watch it grow. There is something beautiful and poetic about this - new life blossoming from a new beginning.
2. Reuse & Recyle: Their floral center pieces were "upcycled" glass wares from thrift shops and recycling bins. At the end of the wedding they gave their guests (including us!) the opportunity to take them home. We still use ours as vases (with dried flowers from their wedding) and the prettiest one of all holds our toothbrushes. I'm serious! haha
3. Community Conscious: This animal loving couple collected canned foods for dogs & cats! As instructed by their wedding invitation, Olive & Tyler encouraged the guests to bring food for the shelter. It turned it into a competition with their guests!
4. Clothing to Last: The wedding party all chose dresses and wedding attire that could easily be re-worn and re-loved! The bridesmaids wore flirty & fun, yet perfectly twirl-able skirts, paired with a navy blue top that could become an everyday staple in their daily wardrobe. The groom & groomsmen wedding day attire consisted of fun, color-popping, floral ties that paired with traditional suspenders, the staple white dress shirt, and navy & black chino pants. Wrapping up the look: a sharp, honey-brown pair of dress shoes that could easily pair with an endless combination of outfits. The most personal touch of all was Olivia’s wedding dress, which was hand-made by a friend.
And, last but not least, the 5th way you can feel good about having a sustainable, eco-friendly & societal conscious wedding: exploring “value-based” wedding planning. This starts with hiring wedding vendors who share these same values with you. Ideally, if you find one they will guide you to fellow vendors who built their business mirroring their conscious hearts too. In our experience, this is something you want to find out before you hire anyone. (Read our blog post here to find out how to do this)
Vendor Highlight: All Aboard Event Planning - A Charitable Company
All Aboard Event Planning is an Eisley Images Certified Vendor (meaning we believe in their mission full heartedly, and know every Eisley Couple’s wedding day would be better by having the AAEP there every step of the way). We have had the privilege of getting to know this team and seeing what they are capable of. Each event leaves us more and more impressed! The heart behind their mission is simply the icing on the cake.
To find a list of some of the charities All Aboard Event Planning has donated to, visit their donation page.
Extra eco-friendly education for the couple planning a wedding with heart
To find more ideas, we found a few blog posts that we think you’ll enjoy!
- BRIDES wrote an excellent blog post with a list of environmentally friendly alternatives you can use at your wedding! Read all about it here.
- The Good Trade wrote a blog post about 15 Sustainable & Eco-friendly wedding dresses Read all about it here.
Eisley Images is a husband and wife wedding photography serving an exceptional wedding experience for joyful couples who laugh loudly and love deeply. Christy and George live in Providence, Rhode Island with their half blind pug, Artie, and their hilarious and wickedly smart four year old, Emerson Eisley. When Christy isn’t photographing once-in-a-lifetime-loves, she can be found reading all the non-fiction books, listening to all the business podcasts, leading a group of creative entrepreneurs in the Rising Tide Society or dancing around her kitchen to songs she made up to tunes that already exist (the subjects of the songs are usually about Artie & Emmy).
Based out of Rhode Island, originally from New Hampshire and ready to travel to wherever you two wander.