Green weddings

Some of you may already know that I am getting married next spring.  Though May 27th, 2012 seems like a long ways off, I've been going full-bore with wedding planning.  (Yes, I'm a girl.)  The venue has been booked, the dress bought, general theme figured out, and most guests (informally) informed.  There's a lot more to do and figure out, but I'm really enjoying it.

When we first got engaged, I decided to make my wedding as "green" as possible.  Large, extravagant events like this can become really wasteful and ridiculous, which I want to avoid.  I want to make it really DIY, with as many of the elements created or provided by myself or my many talented friends and family.  This not only allows for the cash saved to go to important things like food and drinks and such, but also adds a bit of a personal touch to an event that can also become stale and stuffy.

However, I have a feeling as time goes on, I'm going to find it hard to keep all elements sustainable while also keeping my sanity.  A good example of this is my dress.  I really wanted to buy something used, but after going to three different stores and realizing how hard it is to find the right one, I just bought the first one that I really liked just so I could be done with the process.  I'm really happy with it, and I don't know if I would have been able to find it used.  That's ok, I'll just sell it and someone else can be the one who buys a used dress.

But so far, that is the only thing I've done that has gone against my green wedding dreams.  (And honestly, I don't really feel bad about it.)  Everything else is going pretty well.  Just today, I went to three different Goodwill stores in the greater Seattle area, looking for elements that are needed for the favors for my guests.  I'm making the save the dates and invitations myself, and even making some of the paper that will be used in those out of old bank statements that are sitting in my shredder.

All in all, the biggest lesson learned so far is that I need to be flexible with my wedding wishes and be ok with not having everything exactly as I hoped.  Being sustainable is really important to me, but sustaining my sanity is important too.  Gee, I wonder what other lessons I'll learn in the next 9 months?

This little guy helps me stay grounded.