Honoring Family Ties

Marika and Saxton incorporated elements from both sides of the family at every turn - which made their wedding more meaningful and more beautiful.

Something Old Marika had three something olds at her wedding - her engagement ring, a 1920's vintage piece, her late mother's wedding ring (which was pinned to the underskirts of her dress), and the ring pillow, which she had "made out of a handkercheif that belonged to Saxton's grandmother who had just passed away." She also wore Saxton's family's lace before the ceremony. She was the 32nd bride in their family to wear it!

Something New + Something Borrowed Marika's something new was this striking purple shawl that matched her bridal party. "My wedding stole/shawl was hand knit by my sister-in-law as my wedding gift. It's absolutely gorgeous!" For her "borrowed" item, she wore drop earrings that belonged to Saxton's cousin.

Charity Registry Creating a charity registry is a wonderful way to raise awareness about and money for causes that are important to you. To honor Marika's father who passed away in 1998, Marika and Saxton selected a charity that is particularly dear to Marika's heart - ZazAngels. " ZazAngles is a foundation that my father, Michael Zaslow, started in 1996, to raise awareness about ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). After my father died, my mother worked tirelessly to keep the foundation going before her death in 2006. ZazAngles is part of the Greater New York Chapter of the ALS Association."

If you want to learn more about ALS, Marika's mother Susan wrote a powerful book about her husband's struggle entitled Not That Man Anymore: (A Message From Michael).

It includes his journal entries along with Susan, Marika's and other friend and family members memories of the experience.

If you would like to donate to ZazAngles in Marika and Saxton's honor click here.

Paper Pleasures

In addition to being a generous spirit, Marika is a talented printmaker. So "after months of looking at 'run of the mill' invitations," Marika and Saxton decided to do something unique and create an invitation featuring one of her pieces. "Our invitations were a labor of love! We designed the invitations and other elements around my print. They were printed by Mr. Boddington's Studio and I would recommend them to anyone and everyone!"

They carried the visual theme over to their favors, which were hand wrapped books. "We [gave] out books for our favors instead of something else disposable (something plastic, glass etc). We figured that people would be more likey to keep/use the wedding favors if they were books. We chose 21 of our favorite authors and named each table after that author. We then gave everyone at that table a book by that author." To make their gifts even greener, thy tucked in a double-duty card, "We wrapped the books ourselves and used the menu card as the place card, elimenating one more piece of paper."

And speaking of books and paper, Marika and Saxton set up a gift registry with the I Do Foundation so that whenever someone purchased a gift 10% was donated Trees for Life, a non-profit that "helps people make connections to tap the latent resources in their own community. This may mean seeking knowledge on farming practices from a nearby university, organizing fruit-tree grafting workshops, or setting up training for teachers or librarians." As explained on the Trees for Life website, " When people set an example by following the process themselves, others come to them to learn...They become a model that others will follow." This statement certainly applies to Marika and Saxton who offer inspiration to us all.

In Lieu of Favors

When Karen Delarios and Brett Delarios got married in April at the Spanish Hills Country Club in Camarillo, CA, they decided to give money to three charities in their guests' honor in lieu of favors. They chose The Ocean Conservancy, The Nature Conservancy, and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Karen got the idea when she and Brett attended the wedding of a friend of theirs. "I had a friend who's mother died of lung cancer and rather than give favors at his wedding, he donated to non-smoking lung cancer research in honor of his mother, and it really touched me. For years I've been donating to various animal charities - mostly at the holidays - and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to send a little more money their way, while at the same time perhaps inspiring our guests to think along the same lines, and to hopefully make them aware of these worthy causes. My husband is a "fish" at heart :) and loves the sea, which is why we chose the Ocean Conservancy. I personally have a passion for animals and preserving the environment and the habitats of so many animals in decline, but also have a passion for helping domestic animals that are so in need of our help - hence the Nature Conservancy and the ASPCA."

To let their guests know about their decision, they put a small note on each table.

UK Utopia

Suzanne Frost, a health librarian, and her fiance Glyn, a freelance graphic designer, are getting married on August 22 in Cornwall, England. (Pictured above with their Springer Spaniel Captain).

Suzanne and Glyn are planning a number of green elements for their wedding. Suzanne writes: "We try to live as ethically as we can, and we've been really interested in trying to make our wedding as green as feasiblily possible (and it's surprisingly hard to do!) We are holding the wedding ceremony, reception and evening disco all in the Seiner's Arm, so we can cut our emissions by not travelling. Most of our guests are staying in the hotel itself, and the rest are camping just a five minute walk away. We've organised car sharing for guests for the initial journey down to Cornwall and back. Our wedding flowers are daisies, and we are giving daisy seeds to out guests as favours. As a honeymoon, we are staying in the UK and will be camping and surfing around the coast of Devon, Cornwall and South Wales."

In addition to the above, Suzanne and Glyn registered with the UK company Our Green Wedding List. "I found this company by accident, but they are fab! You can easily register and once you've registered, you can browse their gift selection and add the gifts you fancy onto your wedding list." The company offers a collection of recycled, craft/artisan, organic, energy efficient, fair trade and Made in the UK gifts and waits until one month after the sate of the wedding to deliver them (to save shipping cost and packing material).

What a great tip for all of the eco-friendly couples living in the UK. For American couples - you can register for art and experiences or charitable donations and traditional gifts that give a percent to charity. You can also register with individual companies that carry a wide array of eco-friendly products.

2 Opportunities

This Blog is dedicated to stories and pictures from real green weddings - so I rarely add in entries that are not directly connected to a couple who has contacted me. However, every once in a while an opportunity or contest comes along that I want to share. Now I offer one of each:

The Opportunity: If you are looking for a recycled dress for either your wedding or the night before, Gems & Jewels is donating 25% of their sales from the Spring 2008 Regal Collection to support Sister Study. The owner's sister has breast cancer and the sister study "is the only long-term study of women aged 35-74 whose sister had breast cancer." Definitely a worthy cause!

The Contest: The workers for Men's Wearhouse (tuxedo rental shop) factory in Canada are trying to keep their jobs. To help get the word out they are having a contest with a $500 prize. To enter you have to "Create a video, song, drawing, essay, or photograph which describes how your wedding will be eco-friendly and fair trade and send it to the Our Jobs Matter Bridal Contest!" The contest runs until July 1 - so start preparing your entries now!