Real Green Wedding: A Future By Design

Laura Sargent and Matt Duquette were married on August 1, 2009 at the Spring Lake Winery in Lockport, NY.

About the Couple

Laura could not help but look in Matt's direction during her Design 101 class; he was her instructor! Though Matt says he'll remember that first day of school forever, their story did not really begin until four years down the road, when they met by chance at a coffee shop in Buffalo. The two fell in love immediately. A year later they were living together and publishing an online arts magazine, The Artery, which focuses on the local arts scene that brought them together. Two years after that coffee date, Laura and Matt founded a creative studio called 12 Grain, where they design, animate, illustrate, and write.

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Real Green Wedding: Where The Heart Is

This week's real green wedding features a couple from Canada who got married in a yurt!

About the Couple

For Anastasia and Scott, getting married at home was an easy decision. They held their wedding at their home "because we love it!" They live by the ocean, and spend their time in their organic garden or at the beach. Their elegant, peaceful ceremony in the home they love reflected their life together.

The Decision to Go Green

After the choice to wed at home, the green decisions were simply an extension of their eco-friendly lifestyle. Buying organic, locally grown food for their wedding feast was their top green priority.

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New Real Green Wedding: Camp Chic!

Rachel and Will were married on June 15, 2009 in South Casco, ME.

The Decision to Go Green

Rachel and Will, who met in college eight years ago, were committed to minimizing the footprint of their wedding while still sharing a wonderful celebration with friends and family. The bride explained that wedding planning is "essentially a series of product choices," and she and her fiance wanted to ensure that their choices made the least impact, from the rings to the food served.

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Real Green Wedding: Vegan Vogue

Kim DeFeo and Brian Cook were married on June 6, 2009 on Neverland Farms in Cleveland, GA.

About the Couple

Some couples start out red-hot before deciding on an eco-friendly wedding, but Kim and Brian’s love has always been a beautiful shade of green. These nature enthusiasts met online and dated for more than five years before tying the knot. When they met, Kim was working as the co-director of the Sierra Club’s Environmental Justice Program, while Brian was busy doing environmental work for the Center for Disease Control. The two shared a passion for politics, environmental issues, and animal welfare, which obviously left them without any shortage of conversation. According to the bride, their first date lasted "a whopping eight hours! We have been joined at the hip ever since,” says Kim.

Currently, Brian runs the environmental compliance and sustainability programs for the southeast region of the National Park Service, and Kim works on environmental health issues for the Center for Disease Control. “We both have a Masters of Public Health in environmental health. We are two peas in a pod!” Kim says.

The Decision to Go Green

“Being environmentally conscious is the essence of who we are,” the bride tells us. “We wanted to have an outdoor wedding where we could express our values in a beautiful and understated way while giving our guests a feast to remember!”

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Real Green Wedding: Personal Choices, Perfect Celebration

Rebecca Rice and Greg Brensilver were married May 9, 2009 at a private residence in Carmichael, CA.

About the Couple
Both social workers, the bride and groom were introduced by a professor of social work who accurately suspected they would be a perfect match. They maintained a long distance relationship for two years, Greg in Los Angeles and Rebecca in San Francisco. Instead of letting this interfere with their romance, the couple instead used it as a way to share their mutual love of the outdoors. They met every two weeks at a campground or hiking destination somewhere in between their two homes. Rebecca says their "first night together was spent in a tent at 9,000 feet in the Eastern Sierras."

The Decision to Go Green
Rebecca put it simply: "We wanted our wedding to reflect who we are and the lives we lead. We wanted our celebration to be a relatively accurate representation of [our life together]." Like so many eco-friendly couples, Greg and Rebecca realized that a wasteful celebration was not the way to begin a sustainable marriage. They also made other choices that were meaningful to them but might have broken with more traditional wedding practices. The result was a very special event for all who attended.

Continue reading this real green wedding story here!

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Real Green Wedding: Lakefront Love Story

Stephanie Calhoun and Shane Guitar were married on May 8, 2009 at the Killarney Lake Lodge in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.

About the Couple
Stephanie and Shane's wedding has been a long time coming. They met in high school, when they were introduced by Stephanie's best friend, and were friends for three years before they started dating in University. All told, the couple was together for seventeen years before they finally decided to make it official! "The wedding was truly a celebration of our friendship, our love, and all of those people who supported us along the way, and continue to support us now," says the bride.

The Decision to Go Green
The couple decided on a "semi-small" wedding to minimize their celebration's footprint as much as possible. Since both the bride and groom have always been concerned about the environment, they opted for a simpler wedding and made eco-friendly choices. With several family members traveling to the wedding from out of town, Stephanie and Shane were also committed to neutralizing the impact as best they could.

Click here to read more about Stephanie and Shane's Real Green Wedding!

Real Green Wedding: Love on The Lawn

Hedda Burnett and Ben Schippers were married on July 5, 2008 in Greenport, NY.

About the Couple

Hedda, who is from New Hampshire, and Ben, from Brooklyn, met in Anthropology class at Bates College. Now, Hedda is studying to be a veterinarian and Ben has started his own software company, Workstreamer.

The Decision to Go Green
As a couple, Hedda and Ben are inherently mindful of their impact on the environment. Hedda attributes that largely to the proactive and progressive attitude at Bates, which promotes recycling, and urges students to have a “green conscience.” Because of this, the bride and groom made their wedding day choices carefully. As Hedda says, “We mostly did only the things we REALLY wanted. I think our attempts to be green were driven by our attempts to not be wasteful.”

Photography
Ben and Hedda chose Amanda Herzberger, from Orchard Cove Photography. The bride raves, "Amanda is the best EVER! I cannot emphasize this enough!"

Read the rest of this real green wedding story and see all the pictures by clicking here!

Woodland Wedding, DIY Charm

New Real Green Wedding up at The Green Bride Guide: Woodland Wedding, DIY Charm.

Excerpt: 

Nathalie Wilson and Cory Cone were married on Sunday April 26, 2009 in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

About the Couple

Cory and Nathalie met in 2004 through mutual friends while they were both students at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Nathalie, a graphic designer, and Cory, a painter, fell in love almost immediately. As Nathalie tells us, after that, they were “together for so long, everyone always joked that we were practically married anyway and that we should just make it official...and so we did!”

The Decision to Go Green

Nathalie and Cory shared their artists’ appreciation for nature and the environment, so having a green wedding was important to them. They also wanted to incorporate as many personal, DIY touches as they could not only to go green, but also to keep to their budget.

New Real Green Wedding: Home Brewed!

Jackie Schwartz and Peter Czerpak were married on August 10, 2008 in Healdburg, California.

About the Couple
Jackie and Peter met when they both joined a backcountry ski group in Lake Tahoe. As Jackie recalls, “Pete was cranky when we met, but quickly made up for it over the extended season of day and multi-day ski trips (snowfall that year was epic).”

Besides their shared passion for skiing, Jackie and Pete feed their relationship with their “dueling” careers; Jackie works in public health, researching the impacts of exposure to chemicals, while Pete is a chemical engineer. “We keep each other in business, so to speak,” jokes the couple.

Click here to read their real green wedding story!

Green Wedding in Winter

See the pictures and read the story of Hank and Miri's real green winter wedding at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. Log in to the site to save your favorite pictures from the real green wedding gallery.

Real Green Weddings

If you are interested in seeing pictures and reading stories from almost 100 green weddings, check out my real green weddings blog.


Image: Gene Higa Photography