Going green

from Weddings - Spring/Summer 2021

Tuxedos

GREEN SHOOT MEDIA

Your wedding can be green without a single splash of the color appearing. Making your big day sustainable and eco-friendly gets easier every year as the wedding industry hops on board the green trend.

Here are some tips for having a big day with a little carbon footprint.

RESPONSIBLE RINGS

Well before getting to the details of your wedding day, you can make sure your engagement and wedding bands are sourced responsibly. Use the Kimberly Process Certifi cation Scheme to track your stones and ask your jeweler if they’re committed to using confl ict-free stones. Lab-created stones may have a bad rap, but they’ve got a lower impact on the environment. And recycling isn’t just for the empty bottles of bubbly. Reusing estate jewelry is an environmentally responsible choice with great vintage vibes.

RECYCLABLE INVITATIONS

Pick wedding stationery that’s printed on recycled paper or uses alternatives like upcycled fabrics

for your wedding

or even wood. Seed paper, a biodegradable material that sprouts into fl owers when planted in a pot of soil, is a great and whimsical choice for your wedding invitations, RSVP cards, thank-you notes and more. CHOOSE AN ECO-FRIENDLY VENUE

Look for hotels and event spaces

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that are LEED certifi ed and have Energy Star ratings. LEED means Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and it’s an independent verifi cation that a venue was designed and built using strategies that try to improve energy savings, water e ciency, carbon emissions reduction, indoor environmen-

Your Vision. Your Style.Your Day. We Make It Happen.

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tal quality and stewardship of resources.

DON’T TRASH YOUR DECOR

Find ways to reuse, recycle or donate the decorations you use in your wedding. Send the flowers to local hospitals, senior centers and homeless shelters. Gift food and favors to your venue’s service staff, family or guests. For things like lanterns or mirrors, send them to local thrift stores.

RENT, DON’T BUY

Look into renting items instead of buying single-use disposables. Some of the things you can rent are glassware, linens and more. If you do have to use disposables, try to choose paper things that you can recycle or will biodegrade instead of plastics.

MAKE A GREEN EXIT

Instead of tossing rice or confetti, have your guests use lavender, rose petals, fresh herbs or micro flowers. These items are biodegradable and colorful, giving a pop of color to your grand exit. Put them in paper bags for guests to grab.

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Commons Slife Ballroom

Reception seating up to 220 guests

Jordan Grant Grant&

TEXT | MELODY PARKER Weddings Editor

STEPHANIE BECKMAN PHOTO

B

eneath a blue Iowa sky, a rustic arch set in a clearing near a small copse of trees created the sanctuary where Jordan Weichers and Grant Grabinoski pledged their love to each other on Sept. 5.

The natural surroundings on her grandmother’s Cedar Falls horse farm were ideal for the simple, beautiful wedding ceremony and reception the bride envisioned for that special day.

“I’m totally not the girl who wanted a huge, super-formal wedding. A smaller outdoor farm wedding in the front yard made it more casual and more fun,” said Jordan. “I wanted it to be super-fun and laidback.”

Originally the wedding was planned for May 23, but the COVID-19 pandemic created uncertainty. “There were a lot of unknowns, so we decided to move the date. It wasn’t hard to change everything. We just had to worry about the food, making sure the band could play and renting tables and chairs.

“With the pandemic, it was so much better to have something outdoors so it was comfortable for everyone and guests didn’t feel overcrowded. Some wore masks, and we had masks and hand sanitizers,” Jordan explained.

There was plenty of open space to accommodate the 125 guests at the late afternoon event. The couple also set up a small table where guests could select a red or green wristband – red for no hugs, green for hugs OK.

The couple, who live in Houston, Texas, planned their wedding long-distance with help from their families and family friend, wedding planner Joan Ney. Grant and Jordan met at a gym in Iowa City in 2014 and after completing their college degrees, moved to Houston. She is a personal trainer at a fitness center, and her husband is a Mako product specialist for Stryker Orthopedics, both in Houston.

Jordan confessed she’s “horrible with colors – thank goodness I’m required to wear all black at work!” at the Houston fitness center

STEPHANIE BECKMAN PHOTOS

A real wedding

Jordan Weichers & Grant Grabinoski 4 to 9 p.m. September 5, 2020 An outdoor country wedding, Cedar Falls Photography by Stephanie Beckman

where she works. Her sisterin-law sent her a Pinterest post featuring a naturalistic color scheme with neutral shades, dusky blue and green. “With all the trees and natural greenery, those colors were perfect.” They each had one attendant, and the men’s tuxes were deep, rich blue.

The bride refitted her mother’s wedding gown from 1993. “It had big sleeves and a big bow on the butt, so we modernized it a little bit. My mom’s friend did the alterations. The really cool thing is, everyone involved in putting the wedding together was someone we knew or was related. Somebody got the yard ready, someone sprayed for mosquitoes. Everyone got involved, and I want to give them all credit.”

She carried a bouquet of blue, white and cream flowers, including roses.

Her grandfather built the wedding arch from posts, which was draped with fabric and

STEPHANIE BECKMAN PHOTO

flowers. Friends Brenda Ceilley and Stephanie Beckman gathered pampas grasses and other dried foliage from ditches near the farm, and Ceilley created naturalistic arrangements to flank the arch.

Guests were seated at long tables for the brief ceremony, and the same tables were used for the reception. Crystals dangled from the trees that were strung with Edison lights that created a canopy of light over the area. Sunset bathed the farm in shades of pink, orange and yellow, and as dusk fell, lighted copper torches added to the romantic ambiance.

The six-inch wedding cake for cutting and cupcakes were displayed on thick wood slabs cut from tree stumps and arranged on a stone wall. Barbecue and side dishes were catered by Nana and Papas Catering, family friends. Dani Lynn Howe Band of Bettendorf, Jordan’s aunt, provided the music that kept guests on the dance floor for three hours.

The newlyweds did some hiking in Colorado before heading home to Texas. “It was fun to getaway and feel like we did something, but we’re saving our big honeymoon for 2021,” Jordan added.