Edge of the World Cliff Wedding: Katie and Ben’s Northen Ireland Elopement at the Giant’s Causeway
THESE EARTH WARRIORS PROVED WEDDINGS DON’T HAVE TO BE WASTEFUL
As a project for Earth Day this year, Elizabeth’s friend introduced her to the “22 Day Earth Warriors Series”. Committed to making a difference, Elizabeth was determined that sustainability was going to be top of her list when it came to making choices about her wedding. Nick-named the ‘Eco-Bridezilla’ early in the planning process, she made sure to express the importance of sustainability to each of her vendors.
“When we asked our bridal party to stand up with us on the wedding day, we made the request that they wear something they already own.” Elizabeth began.
The groomsmen did much better than the bridal party… but, I couldn’t give them too much of a hard time knowing that I was going to be purchasing a new dress for myself.” She laughed.
“I stumbled upon Leanne Marshall while searching PoshMark. After a bit of research, I was impressed with her sustainable practices and recycled dresses! I was lucky enough to catch a rare sample sale on the Leanne Marshall website and snagged my perfect dress in a unique champagne color. The dress already existed so I didn’t have the long wait time to receive the dress nor did I have the guilt of the waste from a custom wedding dress. Rob wore a dark grey suit that he already had in his closet. He purchased a new button up shirt, to fit the floral theme, and a navy tie to bring it all together!” Elizabeth told us.
“Speaking of the floral theme, I love flowers! I specifically love flowers that support our native species of pollinators. My mom got into a local butterfly conservation group a few years ago and now the whole family is involved! When selecting a florist, I knew I wanted someone that would use the flowers I love in my own garden. Lindsay Hufford, the owner of Peck & Petal Farm, is a local flower farmer whose vision for her purpose, met my own “spreading joy and connection in our local community through the beauty of locally grown, sustainable flowers”. Keeping my flowers locally grown and supporting a farmer kept my soul happy!”
“As for the vases, I wanted the tables to look like a garden so a collection of small vases made the most sense to me. I was able to collect spice, baby food, mustard, and salad dressing jars, on their way to the recycling bin, from friends and family to use as tiny vases on my tablescape. The secret recipe for removing the label glue: baking soda and olive oil! My parents spent a whole day helping me remove the labels from over 150 recycled jars.”
“When it came to the invitations, my experience as a corporate event planner has shown me that electronic invitations make the most sense. I found a website, Appy Couple, that could manage the RSVPs, wedding website, and invitations. Planning a Covid-wedding meant multiple guest communications were necessary to keep everyone up to speed on the latest guidelines and expectations for the day. Starting with an email invite kept them expecting to see me in their email inbox instead of the mailbox.” She added.
“For the day of, I wanted to keep the collateral to a minimum. The seating chart was one poster, affixed to a recycled cardboard box. The table numbers were made from extra thank you cards, why waste good cardstock!? For the guest favors, we knew early on that we wanted to make donations in the names of our guests in lieu of a physical favor. It would have been much easier to print a card for everyone (which I thought many times during the creation process), instead we went eco! My fellow flower lover and good friend, Lindsey Tennant, helped me collect leaves from my garden a few days before the wedding. We wrote each guest name on their own leaf in gold or silver sharpie, being sure to select the milkweed leaves for my fellow Monarch conservation friends! We stored them in a tupperware container with damp towels to keep them fresh and green until the wedding. My parents used the existing decor items to make the leaf boards for the guests to find their names on (in no particular order, sorry everyone!) and chose the charity they wanted to support: Humane Society of Huron Valley or Monarch Watch.”
“The next guest interaction was with the food, and they LOVED the food!! Chef Randy is a close friend of the FOG, Bob Rykalsky, and the inhouse chef at our local HQ for the food distributor US Foods. I knew he would keep my guest safe, he was on the cutting edge of all the latest F&B service regulations from the CDC. While Rob and I eat mostly a plant based diet, I knew many of our guests would be looking for some traditional proteins. We asked Chef Randy to avoid beef and pork while focusing on only organic and sustainably sourced ingredients, across the whole menu. He created a unique and adaptable menu that was delicious while taking all of our guests dietary restrictions into consideration.”
Dress Designer: Leanne Marshall I Floral Designer: Peck and Petal Farm I Reception Venue: Brick Walker Tavern I Photographer: Yana Benjamin | Boutique Weddings + Adventure Elopements I Submitted via Two Bright Lights I
I know that weddings are typically all about the ceremony but I bet those two couldn’t wait to cut into that cake!
Loved it!!!! Great idea.
Absolutely love weddings like this. Reuse whatever you can, wherever you can.