eco tips - paper goods

I know my blog has suffered under me going MIA. In the last two months I have shot in NY, Mexico, Nevada and Oregon. Some has been for weddings and some has been for personal work for my nature portfolio. So yes, there are some blog posts a coming!

As promised, I will be blogging more about the entries I received for the green wedding contest. This one focuses on how they were incorporating paper for invitations or lack there of....

- We will be doing e-vitations – all of our communication, RSVP etc. will be through a website at www.wedsimple.com.

- We are sending out a Save The Date card, but we are buying 100% recycled content “seed paper” in bulk and printing them ourselves using soy-based ink. The SaveTheDate card can be planted and (native only)wildflowers will grow from it.

- We are using American Printing for invitations on recycled paper (one of the first printers in the Bay Area to use recycled paper)

- We will ask our guests to RSVP via a website instead of mailing in a separate card

- Stationary is another potential source of waste and pollution. We’ll use post-consumer recycled and/or tree-free paper for our invitations. We’re using vintage (re-used) California postcards for our Save The Date cards. Most of the information – maps and the like – will go on our wedding website to save paper and mailing costs.

- I will make origami cranes from recycled seeded paper as favors for guests so they can plant them and grow flowers when they get home (we were also thinking of having a fun photo booth and sending guests their photos afterwards as a favor/thank you -- we love the idea of giving memories rather than stuff that people may not use

- For our invitations and response cards, I am planning to design them and have them printed locally on recycled cotton paper. The Mercurio Brothers studio in Berkeley, which is our current top choice for printers, uses Strathmore 100% cotton paper that is manufactured using wind power from recycled materials with no chlorine-bleaching.

- All other paper goods (e.g. envelopes, programs, thank you cards) will be printed or hand-written/calligraphed by me on recycled cotton or part-cotton paper. To reduce waste, we will print fewer programs than the total guest number since many of our guests are coming as couples. Similarly, we will just have one printed menu per table. All paper goods that aren't taken as souvenirs will be collected for recycling after the ceremony and reception are over.

If you are doing something creative and eco-friendly feel free to comment or email me so I can share with the blog-stalkers!

Of course I cant leave the blog without an image so here is a sneak peak from the Mexico shoot. There will be much more where this came from, so stay tuned!