Happy July Guild Members! Today is the perfect day to talk about one specific section of our business that is near and dear to my heart: sustainable weddings. Specifically, creating reusable and heirloom pieces for your wedding or event. I touched on this in our wedding sustainability post, but I chatted with a bride the other day and she brought it to my attention that not a lot of people understand what I mean right away.
So What Do I Mean?
One of the questions we get most often is “What do you ladies do?”. With everything RavenWerks does and offers, it can be a challenge to describe all our hopes and dreams in a few sentences. Partially because we cover a lot, partially because said hopes and dreams are BIG, and partially because we don’t yet have the brick-and-mortar space to be able to showcase everything in one place. What it really boils down to though is that we are in the business of sustainable service to people. That can be hard to define because people are unique, and our approach to each service or event is as unique as the people we serve.
Trying to reduce that down to any one part of the whole is a challenge, especially when we’re the kind of people that believe that what we’re really building is a community and a culture- not a business. Communities are complex and cover a lot of things: so do we.
One of the services we currently offer, will continue to offer as we develop our event venue is helping you design your wedding space. Part of how we do that is by working with couples to create things that can be used as part of your wedding day, but also serve a purpose afterwards. This can be as simple as being home decor you actually like but can also include functional home pieces. It is one of the things I love most about what we do. Sustainable Weddings and events are kind of our thing.
The “Throw Away” Problem: Why Sustainable Weddings Are Important
One great way to reduce the impact of hosting a wedding is to forgo single use culture. The number of friends I knew that had to do the “post-wedding purge” or dump run, genuinely blew my mind. The amount of décor for a wedding day vibe that gets thrown away a day later is just mind boggling. Thus, this part of our event services was born.
The “Heirloom Pieces” Solution
So how do you create an elevated, personalized, intentional setting without all the throw away? By making it truly personal. Make sure that the theme and décor are reflective of you and your partner. Select pieces that have functional longevity. Creating sustainable weddings just requires a bit more intentionality, but it can frequently save you money in addition to helping the planet.
We help couples choose, design, and create things that are functional later in life. This can either be for you and your partner or for your guests depending on your needs. If creativity is not your strong suit- this is where we come in. We talk to you about your theme or style, your budget, lifestyle and living space, and your goals. Then, we design pieces that elevate your wedding day décor with unmatched attention to detail and a focus on sustainability.
Do you want something that can be repurposed into something else? We do that. Maybe you want something that is immediately usable as home décor afterwards. We do that. Maybe you want something that you canpass down to your kids as a family heirloom? No need to pressure them to wear your gown. We do that. Whatever it is- you want it to reflect who you are as a couple. And you certainly want it to be memorable for your guests and look professional.
What does this look like?
If we can’t be involved in curating the sustainable wedding celebration of your dreams, or if you’re more of a DIY’er, we can still help. Below are some ideas of what this can look like so you can get your own creative juices flowing. Some of these require design and crafting, but a number of them just require an intentional vision and a little planning.
Custom Designed Heirloom Frames:
During the wedding, the frames were used for all signage and some photos. The couple later used them to hang their wedding photos around their house since they matched their style of decor.
Custom Heirloom Guest Book
Our couple wanted a guest book that would also be their wedding album. They wanted enough space left in it to become a scrapbook for all the things they would do together in life later. This ensured it didn’t just sit on a shelf somewhere and would instead be looked back on and updated regularly.
The guest book portion we scrapbooked with selected pictures of the couple and on-theme pieces so guests could sign around them. Then they had the remainder of the book to fill out with their lives as they move forward.
Custom Heirloom Lanterns
One of our favorites was an evening wedding in the woods. We designed a set of lanterns spilling with moss, ferns, and mushrooms with little LED candles. The bride’s maids carried these in lieu of flowers. it looked stunning in the ceremony and the bridesmaids got to keep them afterwards (it was a very tight-knit group of friends that all had very similar style).
Garden Centerpieces
One of our couples was really into gardening and they were having an outdoor garden party themed wedding. We sourced local handmade garden stakes shaped like mushrooms and butterflies as part of their centerpieces. The bride now has them in her garden at home. She also requested garden gnomes hidden around the venue that are now in her garden as well.
Thrifted Colored Carnival Glass Pieces
This couple was having a 70’s themed wedding and they wanted LOTS of color. The bride loved antiquing and owned a small collection of colored glass cups that they were using for the head table. We got to enjoy the challenge of finding more pieces exclusively from second hand stores. Pieces ranged from vases and candle holders to serving dishes and trivets. These were used for centerpieces and tableware that fit the couple’s home décor so they could use them afterwards.
Thrifted Period Furniture
One of my favorites was a bride that wanted antique style bridal portraits and a sitting space for her guests to take elegant and elevated photos. Very Edwardian style. We found an amazing settee at a thrift store and were able to design a “private photo area.” It reused a piece of furniture, and the couple now has a permanent piece of their wedding in their living room!
Collectible Cake Toppers
Forget the plastic “I do” word or the generic bride and groom statues. We love when couples request things they collect so they can save them forever. Everything from pez dispensers, pocket dragons, and smurfs, to precious moments statues and Disney collectibles. This is a great subtle way to show style and personality without having to necessarily commit to a full theme.
Dress trimmings
This sounds weird. But, almost all wedding gowns need to be altered to fit properly and that almost always involves a hem. Don’t throw your fabric away. Partner with a seamstress to have scrunchies or bows made so you can keep a usable piece of your dress even if you don’t keep your gown.
If you are a Washington local- especially in the Skagit Valley area, we highly recommend the team at The Town Seamstress. This is something Kristin and her team offer as part of their regular services.
Custom Shoes
There are a number of ways to do this, and it may sound out of place on a decor list. But working in bridal alterations, I learned some things. It shocked me the number of ladies that go out and buy “bridal shoes” that aren’t particularly comfortable, or close to their usualy style just to fit a perfect vibe the day of, and then never wear them again.
We have now helped two brides take plain elegant white/ ivory shoes and add a little pizzaz too them so that they showed some personality. My favorite pair was a set of white ballet flats that we embroidered little vines and wild flowers along the edges of.
Decorative Fabric Recycled Clothing
This was by far one of the most abstract and cool things we’ve ever had a couple request. They had fabric draped in trees with flower garlands and they didn’t want to throw away the fabric afterwards. We turned the fabric into a skirt and matching vest for the couple that they can wear whenever they want (they wanted to be able to wear them for anniversaries and we think this is just adorable).
Heriloom Guestbook Ornaments
We had a couple that really loved Christmas. They planned a winter wedding, and wanted to keep everything in natural woods and deep ever greens; as rustic and woody as possible (very Scandanavian/ Nordic style). Instead of a guestbook we placed little flat wooden ornaments at each place setting with the request that each guest sign one and write a little blessing or piece of advice for the couple. At the end of the night we collected them and now the bride and groom have fun looking at them every year when they put up their tree.
Silk Flower Chandeliers
While we prefer realy flowers 90% of the time, silk flowers have a time and a place when used correctly. We’ve had several brides request fake flowers for ceiling décor day of. This prevents all chances of wilting and falling apart, and they make great “chandeliers” as decor at home afterwards.
Custom Candle Centerpieces
You can go any direction or theme with these. We’ve both seen and done them many ways. White candles with flowers, colored candles, carved candles. tapers, pillars, a mix of both. When the day is done- blow them out, take them home, and burn through them slowly. I’ve even seen them used as party favors afterwards.
Quirky planters
The couple really loved house plants because they didn’t have a yard. Their venue was a ballroom with minimal décor and they didn’t want to have cut flowers that would wilt and need to be thrown away. We sourced a mix of thrifted planters from small businesses in their wedding colors and filled them with a variety of cat-safe houseplants (which was very important to them). These became centerpieces and décor around the ballroom, making for an unconventional but much more “alive” space than before; and the couple got to take their plants home at the end of the day.
Curated China
Have a micro wedding? One couple asked us to help them find a specific aesthetic of china for a tiny but luxurious evening dinner wedding so that they could keep the dishes and make that their nice set that they could eventually pass down to their children since neither of them had any family that they would inherit that kind of thing from. The phrase the couple used to describe what they were looking for was ‘old money mobster’, and honestly- it was kind of perfect.
Harry Potter themed hanging chandeliers/ mobiles.
One for each guest table hung from the ceiling. The couple wanted to match the theme of their wedding but have something they could hang in the children’s bedroom someday as they knew they wanted kids. It was important to them to design them to be more like fine-art as a way to elevate their wedding. No one could possibly ever call their day juvenile. This event was honestly a fantasy lovers gothic evening dream- not a party city vibe anywhere in site.
Crystalized book art
At the groom’s request, we crystalized a hardcover, thrifted copy of his favorite book, in borax; and then turned it into a centerpiece for the head table. He’d seen the idea on Pinterest and thought it looked really cool but didn’t have time to try and create one himself. He wanted to keep it as art for the shelf in his study after their wedding. This project always makes me smile because I felt a bit like I was creating real magic at the time- my inner alchemist had a blast.
The Point
The possibilities are endless, and these are just some of our favorite requests, ideas, and previous projects. The overarching important thing is how possible it is to create a memorable day and experience, while still minimizing the impact on the planet and reducing how much you throw away as a by-product of your celebration in a way that allows you to hold on to the magic of the day for a long time afterwards.
There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with creating a stunning, intentional, visually magical experience for your wedding day. You can have beautiful decor and add personal touches and little flourishes. We want you too. That’s what weddings are supposed to be: intentional, meaningful, personal, reflective of your relationship.
Designing sustainable weddings doesn’t mean you have to forgo all of the little extras and details. What’s important is to make sure that things aren’t done needlessly or wastefully, and doesn’t add to the “single use” problem. Go for things that have overlapping or adaptable uses, and things that you will cherish for the rest of your life, or at least the rest of the objects life if it’s something that can wear out.
Reach Out About Designing Sustainable Weddings
Have ideas or inquiries? Leave a comment, visit our services page, or us the “contact us” page to reach out! If you are trying to plan sustainable weddings nd are a washington resident we also always highly recommend looking into or working with a company like Emerald Hour to find other vendors that commit to eco-friendly practices.
All the best,
Mikaela