Go Vintage for Your Green Wedding
Junkin’ is one of my favorite pastimes. I head out to resale shops once a week looking for vintage treasures. And now that garage sale season is heating up – look out!
I love the idea of giving used items a second life. Besides, I ‘m the sentimental type and I love finding things that bring me back to my childhood. Over the years I’ve collected children’s books, toys( just the other day I got my hands on the original Fashion Plates for $3!), games, linens and cookware – all for nostalgia’s sake.
Resale shops and garage sales are also great places to shop for your wedding – especially if you are going for the shabby chic look. Online stores like Etsy and Ebay are also great sources of previously loved items.
And if you are looking for vintage or used wedding dresses and bridesmaids gowns – there are sites like Vintageous.
Let’s take a look at some of the wonderful ways you can have a green wedding with recycled items.
Katie from A Backyard Wedding used a variety of vintage bedsheets to create napkins for her wedding. And no sewing involved! She simply cut them to size with pinking sheers. This would be perfect for a shabby chic garden wedding. One of my readers also pointed out that she is using vintage bed sheets to create the linens for the reception. (Photos: A Backyard Wedding)
Katie also bought all of the dishes, glassware, flatware – and even teacups second hand. The couple also used Freecycle.com to get some of the dishes for free. (Photo: A Backyard Wedding)
You can create centerpiece vases for your wedding from recycled bottles. Go to $2,000 Wedding to see how. You can also purchases vases and containers second-hand for your centerpieces. (Photo: $2,000 Wedding)
This vintage wedding dress is currently listed on Vintageous for $180. But hurry – they go fast!
I’d love to hear from you. Are you planning to use any vintage or second-hand items in your wedding?
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April 24th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Yay! I am glad I discovered this site, even though I am getting married in a week!
OMGosh heck yeah!
I am getting married next weekend and will have to send you pics! My dress is from eBay circa 1950s, fiance’s suit also vintage and same era, my engagement ring is vintage (1920s) and his wedding band is circa 1930s from Gilt in Portland, OR (http://www.giltjewelry.com/). My ring is new, but very simple and engraved to match my engagement ring.
Our centerpieces are all found items (jars, milk glass, mossy sticks we picked up off the ground, fallen cedar that we sliced up, etc.). The only thing I am really bummed about is that we have to use disposables for our beer/wine.
( But, the rest is all reusable (linens/dinnerware/silverware)…if we were getting married in Portland we would have had other options, but we are getting married in Astoria, which is a very small coastal town. Options are a bit limited. The good news is that they will all be recycled! Whew!
Okay, enough babbling from me! Thanks for the great blog!
May 5th, 2009 at 8:54 am
Thank you for posting something from Vintageous–what a great site! I’ve never been there before.
July 31st, 2009 at 7:24 am
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August 24th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
[...] I love mason jars. They are the unsung heroes of weddingland. Just recently, I purchased a box of vintage jars from a yard sale for $1. I knew from the moment I got them in my hot little hands that they [...]
September 15th, 2009 at 6:55 am
[...] their wishes & blessings for the couple. Instead of a ring pillow, we had the rings tied to a vintage copy of I Married Adventure, an autobiography of a woman who married a travel photograher (which [...]
November 15th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
I am vintage obsessed! I have an Etsy vintage shop, so it only makes sense that I’m incorporating my love for all things vintage into my wedding. My wedding will be an outdoor, autumn, vintage, DIY, completely eco friendly wedding.
Hopefully I’ll be able to find a wonderful vintage dress to match my beautiful authentic 1920′s engagement ring.
All my dinnerware will be from thrift shops (Salvation Army, Goodwill) all mix and match, including flatware and drink ware. Our table cloths will be made of burlap, layered with vintage doilies as the base of our centerpieces, vintage bottles filled with hand picked wild flowers. We’re also reusing old mason jars to make clean burning olive oil “lanterns” for each table. Vintage napkins will also be used at each place setting.
On the eco friendly side, all food will be locally grown and organic, the power will be provided by a solar powered generator. The autumn decor will be local, found and homegrown (gourds and pumpkins, cornstalks, mums).
And lots more… but since we’re having less than 100 people, and everything is completely DIY, and being held on family land (a very large field surrounded by forest) it won’t cost us a fortune! Our wedding registry is also on JustGive.org, where guests can donate to some of our favorite charities instead of buying material gifts. We want the whole world to benefit from our union and love!
November 17th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
Cassandra, this sounds like the ultimate eco-friendly, vintage wedding!!! Thanks for sharing!
November 18th, 2009 at 5:56 am
[...] I go to yard sales. I go to rummage sales and flea markets. I go to second hand stores. I see dishes. Beautiful antique dishes – going for a song. But I don’t buy them because I don’t own a China cabinet and my cupboards are already busting at the seams. But someone could do wonderful things with these lovely old dishes. Like rent them out for vintage weddings. [...]
December 30th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
i love this website ! i am having a garden party wedding in june and there are so many lovely ideas and i am so determined not to skint myself in the process , i love the idea of herbs on the tables it looks lovely ! x
December 31st, 2009 at 5:14 am
[...] and second hand. [...]
January 24th, 2010 at 6:42 am
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January 28th, 2010 at 4:18 am
[...] vintage wedding dress ad is from Mademoiselle, February 1971. Source: Sugarpie [...]
April 19th, 2010 at 11:21 pm
I love the idea of mixing and matching different glassware. It makes for a really unique (AND GREEN) look. A friend of mine used a bunch of bottles she bought in a thrift shop and put daises in them. It made for a beautiful and innovative centerpiece.