photo provided by naturallyeverafter.comWe all know that regular paper comes from trees and that we want to spare as many tree lives as possible. When you’re planning your wedding, think about which paper products you can cut out:
Will anyone—besides you—keep your wedding program?
Can you send out your invitations in one envelope instead of two?
Could you combine the menu card and program?
Invitations are something that can’t really be avoided, though: you’ve got to let your friends and family know when and where you’ll be getting married.
Consider making a Web site to announce your wedding and convey the details of the ceremony. This can be really fun because you can personalize the Web site more than an invitation. Some newly engaged couples even keep blogs about their wedding planning efforts which double as invitations (you can check out my newly engaged friend Laura’s blog here).
If paper invitations are a must for you, consider using invitations made from recycled paper or other materials. I was surprised to find out the wide range of options available for more eco-friendly invitations. I thought, “Alright, maybe they’re eco-friendly, but are they attractive?” The answer is yes, they are attractive! The picture above features an invitation from Naturallyeverafter.com, a site that sells invitations made from at least 30% recycled fibers.
Cotton is also a great choice of a material for wedding invitations because it’s an easily renewable resource: a cotton crop takes six to eight weeks to mature from planting. Compare that to a tree, which takes at least five years to grow and three to re-harvest. Plus, paper mills are one of the worst polluters according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Act.
I took a trip to Papyrus, a chain of paper stores all over the United States, to find out more about how cotton invitations compare to paper invitations. They’re much nicer. Just check out this amazing 100% cotton invitation made by Crane & Co, a famous supplier of cotton invitations, and the set to the left by William Arthur. One drawback with cotton invitations is that they don’t take dye as well as regular wood-pulp invitations (the dye tends to bleed), so some suppliers, like William Arthur, only offer higher-end printing options, like engraving with ink or using the letterpress method which can be more expensive. However, other companies, like Crane & Co., offer printing with thermographic ink-- the cheapest type of printing. The point here is that you can use cotton invitations, a more ec0-friendly option, for about the same price as regular paper invitations; you just have to shop around.
William Arthur and LCI Paper have great selections of 100% cotton invitations. And, for the bride on a budget, a paper supplier called Birchcraft Studios makes the most affordable cotton invitations that Papyrus sold. And they’re not bad!
The trusty Papyrus employee is a true pro when it comes to wedding invitations. Cathy, at Tucson’s La Encantada mall, pointed out several ways to save money and material when picking wedding invitations. I’ll let her have the last words:
1) Traditionally, invitations are sent with two envelopes, to keep the inside envelope containing the invitation nice and fresh. You can use only one envelope and save the extra paper.
2) Use as little ink as possible because the ink used on wedding invitations is not good for the environment. Looking through the giant books of invitation samples (that's me with a William Arthur book), I noticed plenty which were covered in ink. Sometimes, it’s not noticeable because the ink is a shade which almost matches the color of the paper.
3) Invitations often come with cards containing hotel information and a map of the ceremony location. If you can’t create a wedding Web site to convey this info, make that card double-sided. This is actually more convenient for guests, as when they’re coming into town, they don’t have to carry around several pieces of paper.
4) There’s a type of invitation called seal-and-send which uses a minimal amount of paper. You can get it from many different suppliers.
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