Review summary: There aren’t too many green wedding books on the market. Eco-Chic Weddings is one of the better green wedding books though. There are many pros and very few cons packed into this small, but very useful green wedding manual – although the cover of this book managed to hurl me and my significant other into a massive debate (and by debate I mean argument)… keep reading to learn more.

Product: Eco-Chic Weddings: Simple Tips to Plan an Earth-Friendly, Socially Responsible, Affordable Green Wedding by Emily Elizabeth Anderson; published by Hatherleigh Press, 2007.

Publishers synopsis: “Planning your wedding can be the best time to be eco-friendly. The wedding industry has a huge impact on the global economy and the environment, as wedding parties spend over $125 billion a year in the U.S. alone. Eco-Chic Weddings presents the quick, simple, and easy-to-follow tips you need to make your wedding socially responsible. This indispensable guide gives you the choice, comfort, and chance to share your own unique style for a truly memorable wedding.

Going green doesn’t mean you need to spend the green. Eco-Chic Weddings provides all the resources you need to create your environmentally friendly and fun celebration on a budget. From the location to the dress to the menu, there are dozens of easy ways to make your wedding beautiful and still reflect your personal beliefs in sustainable living. Eco-Chic Weddings will show you how to craft your perfect day.”

Cost: Eco-Chic Weddings will only set you back $10.36 – a bargain compared to the wedding costs

What’s covered in Eco-Chic Weddings:

I’d say the author covers just about everything you need to know in order to have a greener and less expensive wedding. Anderson goes through wedding basics, wedding rings, attire, the registry, wedding invitation and favors, flower choices, transportation, the wedding menu and honeymoon. She also has some excellent extra-type chapters covering health and beauty and married life.

There’s an excellent jam packed eco-resources appendix at the end of the book, and although this book is now 4 years old, most of the resources are still handy and relevant.

Perks of Eco-Chic Weddings:

• Printed on 100% recycled paper and with vegetable-based inks.
• Excellent take on the three Rs. I love how every topic covered has a reduce, reuse and recycle slant. This three Rs slant makes it easy to focus on how you might make the best eco-friendly wedding plans just by asking yourself three questions – can I reduce, can I reuse and can I recycle. It’s a good way to live and plan a wedding.
• I like the cost saving aspects of the book. Not only does the author explain why a choice is greener but also how that choice can save you some cash.
• Flexibility is stressed throughout, which I think is awesome because it makes the planning process more chill.
• Interesting facts pepper this book. For instance, I wouldn’t have guessed that October is the most popular wedding month and there are other cool facts as well such as wedding flowers by season.
• Focus on the little things. Not every choice is huge. For example, the author points out that white is not so eco-chic in a gown (due to chemical processes to make the dress so white). Little and big choices a plenty are offered.
• Easy to skim. Nicely placed headers and top-o-page text make this book an easy read and you can browse it in chunks.
• Affordable and slim so it’s a go-anywhere book – and since it tells you all you need to know, you won’t need other books. There are a few other green wedding books I like, but there’s no need to own them all. This is a good one to get if you’d like to plan a budget green wedding.

The BIG debate:

So, when I first got this book about a year ago, Dave, my significant other and me got into this huge flipping argument about it. He walked past my desk when I was working, saw it, and said, “Hey are you reviewing that?” I said yes, I’m planning to eventually. He picked it up, looked at it and said, “I’d NEVER buy this book!”

I was a little stumped and asked why not. He said, “Anderson took all the fun out of the wedding with the cover!” When asked to explain Dave says, “She’s got too many words on there.” Huh? Let’s see what Dave’s talking about…

Um… ok. Dave launched into a long explanation about how weddings should be fun and all those words makes it seem like a green wedding will be entirely too much work. I disagreed, noting that most wedding books have wording as such on the cover, it’s just that this book has eco-wording. He’s like, “Yeah, it’s too much responsibility and not enough fun.”

He was adamant about this. Dave likes weddings and according to him, this book’s cover was sucking the fun and joy out of weddings.  When I asked what he’d like to see on the cover he said, “How to have an easy and fun green wedding – period.” Being me, I don’t think being socially responsible or eco-friendly sucks the fun out of anything. I don’t get the reasoning. In any case we went 40 rounds of I’m right, you’re wrong and finally agreed to disagree.

But in case you, for whatever reason, have the same thoughts as Dave, you should know that being socially responsible and eco-friendly will not take away but add to your wedding day. ALL weddings can be stressful, but honestly by committing to a greener wedding, I think you lower the stress level considerably. Eco-friendly is less in the simplest of terms and less is almost always easier than more.

Dave’s on board with green weddings by the way – I guess he’ll just need another book. Sigh.

Were there any negatives?

• No digital version available from what I can gather.
• Needs images. Eco-friendly books, in my experience, unless about houses and decor, tend to contain few to zero images. What’s up with that? I like images in tip-style books and wish this one in particular had some.
• A little checklist would be useful. I’m a list person, so having a checklist about weddings set up for me would be handy. I didn’t see one in here – although I’ve been known to miss stuff.

Overall score:

4.5 out of 5 little trees. An excellent score for a great little green wedding planner. I’d highly suggest this book if you want to plan an affordable and eco-friendly wedding.

Learn more:

• Buy Eco-Chic Weddings: Simple Tips to Plan an Earth-Friendly, Socially Responsible, Affordable Green Wedding.
• Visit Emily Anderson at her Etsy shop – oh yeah, author and Etsy artist. You can’t beat that!
• Read the Good With Style blog and learn about Anderson’s sweet new book (from the looks of things) Eco-Chic Home.
• Follow Emily Anderson on Twitter.

See my green product rating system and green product rating criteria or read more green product reviews.

My sister has been in oh, about 27 weddings over the last ten or so years (that estimate might be low). She’s recently started complaining about how she’s had to buy all these bridesmaid dresses costing anywhere from $150-$300+, not to mention shoes and worst of all, most of them she’ll NEVER wear again. It sucks when your bride pal picks a dress you hate right?

One might argue that she could simply refuse to be in these weddings, but she’s a good friend and wants to make everyone happy. What her complaining has inspired me to do is to look up this odd tradition because personally, I’ve never understood it and this is one of those old school traditions that’s just not very eco-friendly.

She so won't be wearing this dress again - unless maybe someone asks her to the prom...

At The Knot they note, “Bridesmaids are generally expected to pay for their own wedding-day ensemble (shoes and jewelry included).” Being that the Knot is all things weddings, I expected more. I looked around and The Knot also says, “Your maids will have to pay for their own ensembles — from the dress to the shoes to the jewelry. They’ll pony up for the shower and the bachelorette party, wedding weekend accommodations, and gifts. All in all, their pocketbooks will take a beating. So remember to be nice to them in return.” I’ll say!

At another wedding site it’s noted, “The most traditional approach, approved by etiquette gurus of the 1960s, is that the bride chooses the bridesmaid dresses, and the bridesmaids grit their teeth and wear them without a murmur of protest.”

Hmmm. I looked and looked and basically everywhere I turned it said common etiquette is that bridesmaids pay for their own attire. Finally I found one gal who was questioning this tradition too and who also, was in fact paying for her bridesmaid dresses.

What’s the big deal?

First of all, this whole wacky tradition just goes against common sense. You might throw a party and tell everyone, “Hey, bring a six-pack!” but you don’t ever throw a party and tell only your best pals to bring 40 six packs each. You also don’t tell people what to wear then make them pay for whatever you pick out. WHO does that in real life? Why should your wedding be different? This wedding was presumably your choice, it’s your party, you should pay for the wedding. We’re all adults – admit it, this makes sense.

The most common argument I’ve heard for bridesmaids paying is that, “We picked out an awesome dress that they can wear again and again so they should pay” – this statement usually comes from the bride mind you who means “Me” not “We.” I’ve got a slew of bridesmaids who will argue that they’ve never ever worn that “awesome” dress again.

Another argument for bridesmaids paying I’ve commonly seen is, “I’m having so many bridesmaids that it’d be impossible for me to pay.” Well, in real life if you can’t afford something you find a better way (hopefully). 

Most of all though, this just isn’t a very eco-friendly practice. If you seriously aren’t going to wear a dress but once, it’s such a waste of energy, materials and the money is like the cherry on the cake. I don’t think you can honestly have a green wedding and know that a bulk of the clothing in said wedding is one-time fare only. 

For my wedding, I’d likely one, not have an actual wedding party set-up anyhow – the day should be more about you and your partner, and two, if I did happen to have a wedding party, I’d just say, wear something nice sure, but but that’s as far as I’d go. People will be more comfortable and happy if they can wear what they like – and on your wedding day don’t you want happy guests?

Sigh. Maybe I’m missing something… Still, if you want to balk tradition and some heavy costs you could go sans bridesmaids or you could choose some eco-friendly dresses that aren’t so overly fancy so that people will really be able to use them again. I’d gather some ideas (just ideas) but then have your bridesmaids choose and then I’d pay. If my bridesmaids didn’t want to keep their dress I’d just make sure they were donated to a decent cause.

Later I’ll be back with some $100 (or less) dresses that are eco-friendly and still nice enough for a wedding.

What do you think? Is it really in green wedding style to choose one-time dresses? AND what do you think about making bridesmaids pay for their own dresses – good idea or not so much?

There is an amazing older, but perfect for the season series at Telegraph.co.uk about growing your own wedding. From the flowers to the food, if you’ve already got a small plot of land, you can grow it all organically and save BIG bucks while keeping your wedding eco-friendly.

The series from start to finish looks at how to plan and manage growing your own DIY green wedding.

Some of the many wonderful ideas offered include:

• Peach or raspberry Bellinis for guests, made with some fruit picked from the garden.
• For canapés with the early drinks, lots of different bruschettas made with garden tomatoes, garlic, and plenty of home-grown basil and a minty bean humus as well.
• Plates of just-picked baby vegetables – radish, mini carrots, peas, purple-podded mange touts, and the late, mini broad bean ‘Stereo’ – on plates covered in ice.
• Crisp courgette wedges with anchovy mayonnaise and stuffed courgette flowers with goat’s cheese and honey.
• Fresh salads and new potatoes served with dinner.
• Lebanese tahini salad, home-made mint jelly and platters of salad scattered with blue borage and orange marigold flowers included with the main wedding meal.
• Flowers such as, Cosmos ‘Purity’ and dill flowers for decor, table centres of potted acidanthera, and a bouquet of roses, alchemilla and sweet peas.

I LOVE this great green DIY wedding idea!

Read the series:

• Grow your own wedding: part 1
• Grow your own wedding: part 2

See more DIY green wedding ideas.

The super talented and crafty Jeanne Winters made this sweet little pyramid box for her hubs on Valentine’s day, but it would also make a fantastic small wedding favor box, wedding card, or wedding table place marker.

Winters’ notes that it was really easy to make with a simple template. You could hand write the words or a phrase of your choosing on the box or use the computer to print out some text. These are also made so that you can tuck a little gift or other treasure neatly away inside.

A beautiful idea and one you could easily use recycled paper and scrap paper for. In fact this would be a cool project to do with leftover wall paper samples you can get at places like Home Depot.

Visit Jeanne Winters for many more awesome DIY projects – you won’t believe your eyes.

If you want a unique decor item, are short on cash, or just want to use resources responsibly for your green wedding, one of the best ways to do all three is to do some of your wedding yourself. Here are five DIY decor ideas that aren’t too hard, and all would work well for a green wedding…

If you’re handy with the cutting, this crafty project from Craft Stylish is such a pretty ideas for simple wedding cake decor. Use recycled paper!

Need place card holders that will totally biodegrade after the big event? Try sugar cube place holders! An excellent idea from Weddingbee. I don’t know if it’s possible, because of the softness factor, but I think these would look amazing with Brown European-Style Sugar Cubes too.

A beautiful DIY wheatgrass centerpiece from DIY Wedding. Get some organic flowers and go nuts!

Make adorable little gum paste strawberries with an amazing tutorial from Cake Journal, which really you can use for cakes and cupcakes or as part of a decor effort, say on the wine table. If you got good you could make all sorts of cute stuff with gum paste – other berries, little flowers, leaves, etc.

This cute garden minded project is meant to hold garden seed packets, but I think they’d be cute as food markers – i.e. salad, fruit salad, apple tarts, etc. They project here is from Sculpey, but if you wanted to you could make your own natural play clay for this project or get some organic clay.

Also learn how to make your own sugar crystallized wedding flowers!

Today a product review of Scandle Candles for you – this could make a great wedding shower favor and it’d be excellent as a honeymoon gift.

PRODUCT: Scandle Essentials 4oz Travel Tin in Uplifting Blend – Pink grapefruit & spearmint essential oils create the uplifting blend – this Scandle comes in a square lightweight travel tin for easy application.

INGREDIENTS: According to Scandle, these candles are “Made from 100% natural ingredients” – the label on the candle says “This product contains soy and other nut products, if you are allergic to these products, please do not use. (May contain soy butter, shea butter, aloe vera, jojoba oil, and fragrance or essential oils).”

USE: The Scandle Candle burns at 2 degrees above body temperature to produce a soothing oil for massage, manicures, pedicures, or as a daily moisturizer. Or of course, you can use it as purely a candle to light up your space. (including soy), The Scandle emits less soot and toxins into the environment than traditional paraffin candles. Scandles feature refillable/reusable canisters and sustainable packaging options. Burn time 15-30 hours.

COST: $12.95

ECO-PERKS & OTHER GOOD STUFF:

• Soy is an eco-friendly candle option when compared to paraffin candles, emitting less soot and toxins. They’re not 100% safer if you have allergies or are sick, but way better than wax candles. Soy is also biodegradable.
• I think they’re made with fairly natural ingredients, but if you look below in cons, you’ll see that I can’t 100% guarantee it. They don’t smell fake though, they smell as if they were scented with essential oils vs a fake fragrance.
• Feel great on your body. You can pour or dip into the candle and use it for massage, cuticle rub, or to smooth dry skin. Not oily or too hot on your skin, and the scent is subtle, not obnoxious. I also like the scent that fills your room when you burn this candle – very nice and yes, uplifting as the product notes.
• VERY long lasting. I’ve burned and burned this candle and it just keeps going and going.
• The candles are multi-use and long lasting.
• Candles come in great little reusable tins that can be used for any number of small objects; rings, beads, etc. If you buy their larger candles they offer refills which is excellent and saves on packaging.
• 100% Vegan.
• Cruelty free – member of PETA’s Caring Consumer Program.
• Zero petroleum or mineral oils added.

PRODUCT CONS:

The ingredient listings are sketchy. The website does not list a full ingredient list and neither does the packaging. Some terms used to explain the ingredients at the website include…

• Scandles are made with FDA approved ingredients.
• Hypo-Allergenic.
• Cosmetic grade soy oil.
• Those allergic to nut based products should not use Scandle, because the Scandle contains soy, jojoba, and shea oils.
• And as noted above my packaging says, “May contain soy butter, shea butter, aloe vera, jojoba oil, and fragrance or essential oils.”

So basically, I’m not sure what exactly is in this candle. It’d be easy to include an actual ingredient list and I wish the company  would have. I was able to find more info when I looked up the fragrance mixes, because it noted that my blend is pink grapefruit & spearmint essential oils.

According to Skin Deep, this company has not signed the Compact for Safe Cosmetics and there’s no info on their product ingredients listed there.

Not made with organic soy or organic essential oils as far as I can tell.

OVERALL SCORE:

Three out of five little trees. Because I can’t find a full ingredient list anywhere and because this product is not organic so far as I can tell, it loses some point. The cost is fairly comparable to other soy candle companies; maybe a little less on some products, and I’m guessing you might be able to work out a bulk buy situation with them if you wanted these for a green wedding favor. Overall, I’d recommend Scandle Candles because they smell great and work well as both candles and a moisturizing + massage tool. Plus they have nice reusable containers – a great green choice.

However, if you want a totally green candle, I’d suggest Evergreen Candleworks – an organic soy candle company who also makes a soy massage candle but they use organic soy.

Visit Scandle Candles to learn more.

See my green product rating system and green product rating criteria.

I’ve been a fan of candied flowers since the third grade when my teacher (who btw was never nice) did one nice thing – she held a candied flower workshop. We made candied lilacs, and ever since I’ve been into them. Candied flowers are perfect for a green wedding too; with many uses and eco-perks…

Crystallized Roses by Meadowsweets

• Edible candied flowers can be used as toppers for cakes, pies, sorbet, ice cream, truffles, and cupcakes.
• Bag them up and give as sweet wedding guest gifts.
• Add them atop beverages.
• Decor for many dishes such as fruit salad or around a holiday wedding table.
• They’re an inexpensive decor item and edible treat.
• They don’t create waste – they vanish into bellies and if not eaten of course they completely biodegrade.
• They taste fabulous.

Excellent flowers to crystallize for green weddings: Lilacs, violets, rose petals, cowslip, angelica, rosemary, sage, pinks, borage, primroses, and lavender. Leaves such as lemon balm, lemon verbena, mint, and bergmot can also be coated with sugar. Really, any edible plant can be crystallized. Just make sure you research which flowers and leaves are safe to eat before using them to make candied flowers.

Health matters: Flowers used for candied flowers need to be home grown or purchased from a reliable organic flower source. Flowers laced with sugar are cool – flowers laced with pesticides don’t belong at your green wedding.

My favorite flower for candied flowers.

How to make candied flowers and candied leaves:

1. Pick flowers on a sunny dry day – you don’t want wet petals.
2. Remove all stalks and white bases from petals, also remove any sharp edges, thorns, and petals that look icky. Once you coat a flower with sugar it’ll make any problems stand out.
3. Lightly beat an egg white until just foamy.
4. Dip each flower into the egg white to coat. Make sure to use plastic tweezers if holding by the petals (metal will bruise petals).
5. Dip into organic caster sugar.
6. Place on wax paper atop a wire cooling rack.
7. Place in your extremely low heated oven with the door slightly open. You can also dry flowers in a well enclosed solar oven or a hot greenhouse but note, small flowers are delicate and will blow away.
8. Once your flowers are nicely dry in the oven (not sticky or dusty to the touch) they’re done.

Candied flower storage and handling:

• If you store your candied flowers in a moisture-free, air-tight containers, at room temperature (no direct sunlight) they should last a good long while. If you’re making these for a wedding, I’d make them no more than a month in advance.
• Place your candied flowers your cake or other food item about 24-48 hours prior to the event; note – you can store these in the fridge or freezer once on a cake but store your cake uncovered. Placing a cover over may create too much moisture for the flowers.
• To attach flowers to a wedding cake use a tiny drop of icing and be careful, as your flowers are delicate.

Carrot Cake with Crystallized Pansies - for a birthday, not wedding but would be oh so cute for little wedding cakes!

More resources:

• Meadowsweets sells a Flower Crystallization Kit which includes directions, sample crystallized flower, plus the ingredients and tools needed to crystallize approximately 75 flowers.
• Edible Flowers: Desserts & Drinks
• Edible Flowers: From garden to kitchen: growing flowers you can eat, with a directory of 40 edible varieties and 25 recipes, with 350 glorious colour photographs.

Buy ready made crystallized flowers & organic edible flowers:

• Meadowsweets – offers Pansy, Viola, Johnny-jump-up, Lavender, Daisy, Cornflower, Roses and Scented Geranium Blossom.
• India Tree Candied Rose Petals
• Edible Dried Flower Petals and Fresh Edible Flowers from Langford Foods.
• India Tree Candied Violets
• Organic Edible Flower Mix – to make your candied flowers with.
• Crystallized Flower Company
• Search at Local Harvest for a nearby organic flower retailer – it’s much better and fresher to purchase local organic flowers when possible.

Pretty recipe ideas:

• Tea Cake with Candied Flowers
• A Spring Trifle – with candied lilacs
• Orange Blossom Cake with Candied Orchids
• White Cake, Orange Zest, & Crystallized Flowers

[Carrot Cake image via: http://www.flickr.com/photos/probonobaker/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0]