image: Message in a bottle

Here’s a super cute table number idea that was inspired by a restaurant that had something like it on their tables.  All you  need are some tin cans, paint, and a drill… Aren’t they cute? Inexpensive, recycled, and they double as candle holders, too!

Over at 2000 Dollar Budget Wedding, they’ve created vases using recycled wine bottles.  These were inspired, in part, by the transparent, subtle quality of glass and the muted variety of colors found in wine bottles. You can find the how to here! Aren’t they pretty?

Here’s a brilliant idea for a shabby chic garden wedding.  You can create lovely,one-of-a-kind napkins, table linens, and runners using vintage bedsheets!  Cheap, and best part: no sewing involved!  Simply cut them to size with pinking sheers. From A Backyard Wedding, via Intimate Weddings.

More ways of recycling cans… you can paint them or cover them with shiny contact paper, and use them to package edible wedding favors (get the how-to here!). Or you can just clean them thoroughly and leave as they are, tying some ribbon or raffia around the can and filling with flowers for a sweet centerpiece!

If you are truly eco-friendly, you can use your cans as planters, so that they plants can be taken home and re-planted in your (and your guests’) backyards. At Project Wedding, they used these can planters as both centerpieces and favors!

One popular wedding reception decor idea is using old furniture pieces like shuttered windows, antique dressers, and coffee tables as part of a display. Think about the area you want to set out place cards, a buffet table, or vintage photo booth. This white glass window display, trimmed with a little greenery, pulls off the trend magnificently.

A similar idea was used by Candace and Jared, featured on Project Wedding:

Using an old window to display photos of loved ones gives a new meaning to the words “window frame”! Photo from Weddings by Color:

An old door is a rustic choice for posting seating cards(photos from Libby James and Wedding by Color:

Another good use for vintage doors- they’re too pretty not to do something with– is to set them up at entrance to the reception, like this whimsical garden themed wedding, where guests pass through, underneath a swarm of fluttering paper butterflies. Check out the other vintage furniture they used, including an old bed headboard and dresser. Photo from Lang Photographers via Ruffled.

Just as the willingness of a once-small number of consumers to seek out (and occasionally pay a premium for) organic produce is now changing the face of food production and consumption, we believe that we – and more importantly, you – can drive meaningful change in the world’s product-consumption habits, purchase by purchase.

Factors that make a product “sustainable” are assessed as follows:

1. The materials used must be environmentally responsible (recycled and/or recyclable, organic, biodegradable, non-toxic).

2. The manufacturing process must be ecologically sound (efficient use of energy, materials and other resources, such as using a renewable energy source).

3. The labor employed must be treated fairly and provided safe, healthy conditions in which to work. (Must come from fairly-traded sources or low-impact sources such as FSC-certified forests).

Check out some of the beautiful, environmentally responsible objects available at Branch, including furniture, such as this chair made of 100% recycled plastic, and room divider hand-made from FSC-certified wood and cotton rope:

Looking for some pretty objects to liven up your decor? Try these Bubble Pitcher + Cups
made from recycled glass stock, processed using wind power. Or treat your feet to the Seat Slice: Pink rug, handmade from 100% virgin wool felt.

For your kitchen, I love these 100% organically-grown bamboo bowls and serving pieces!

If you are having an event that requires disposable paper goods, try these biodegradable options:

Want some decorative pillows? Here are a few pretty options, made from hand-stitched linen and cotton or 100% reclaimed ultra-suede:

Dress up your bed in a 320 thread count, organically grown, cotton duvet, printed with non-toxic water-based dyes.

What wedding registry would be complete without a few sets of towels? At Branch, you get to wrap yourself in 100% sustainably harvested beech wood fibers! 9 pretty colors to choose from!

Start growing your own plants, spices, and veges! Get started with Branch’s “Egg plants” and “Garden in a Bag” options, including basil, oregano, chives, sage, red pepper, lavender, mint, dill, strawberry, parsley, English Thyme, and cilantro.

Some of the items pictured are pricey, but there is a page for Gifts under $30 and Gifts under $100. Happy Shopping!