Amy and Jon’s Boston wedding was gorgeously green! We are so excited to share the various ways they made their special day eco-friendly.
The bride, who is an environmental lawyer, is currently working on developing a practice in climate change law. She blogs about it here: www.lawandenvironment.com.
The ceremony and reception were held at one venue, which was public transportation-friendly, centrally located and in walking distance of the hotels, to cut down on driving by the bridal party, guests, and vendors. The rehearsal dinner and morning-after brunch were also within 1 mile of the hotels. They encouraged their out of town guests to have a car-free weekend.
Jon and Amy honored the earth by getting married outdoors near the river and incorporating nature (trees!) into their ceremony. Plus, the Museum of Science and Wolfgang Puck Catering both have green initiatives, including sustainable, organic ingredients where possible, wind turbines, and renewable energy education outreach programs (including a symposium on wind power a couple days before their wedding).
They carbon-offset the wedding and all of their guests’ travel through carbonfund.org, and told people about this program via organic chocolate favors, a portion of the cost was also donated to protecting endangered species’ habitats by the manufacturer, www.chocolatebar.com.
Jon and Amy rented potted plants and trees (rather than cut flowers for the large arrangements), and minimized their use of cut flowers in the centerpieces by using glass and color instead of more flowers. Flowers were included in small bouquets and were locally sourced where possible, too.
They used many recycled materials; the bridesmaids’ necklaces were made out of seaglass and Amy’s veil was made out of her mom’s dress. Jon’s cufflinks were even eco-friendly, too!
Their invitation suite and paper goods were designed to minimize use of paper and they used partly recycled paper for some. They used postcards for their save the dates, RSVP cards, rehearsal dinner invitation and morning after brunch invitations, and they used their website to spread wedding-related information.
Amy and Jon further cut down on the use of paper by having river rock escort cards, carefully designed programs, a guestbook that doubled as their engagement photo album, and bubbles rather than confetti.
Even guests were in on the green goodness! They received out-of-town bags that were recycled plastic reusable shopping bags!
Lastly, Amy and Jon encouraged post-wedding reuse as much as possible: the reusable shopping bags, the rocks, bridesmaid dresses (which were totally rewearable from J. Crew) and groomsmen ties (Amy designed them on Zazzle.com). Amy is even wearing her dress again at a second reception in Texas, before donating it to Brides Against Breast Cancer, to honor her mother, and so it can continue life and make another bride’s perfect day.
Mazel tov, Amy and Jon and kudos to you on your green wedding!
Venue – Museum of Science, Boston
Photographer – Kate McElwee Photography
Catering – Wolfgang Puck
Florist – Cedar Grove Gardens
Favors – chocolatebar.com
Bridesmaid Dresses – JCrew
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