When we selected our venue, we were excited about supporting a local, sustainable organic farm that has a community supported agriculture program. In keeping with the theme of staying local, we discovered that our venue had three recommended caterers who are committed to using local ingredients from the Maine coast. After a lot of consideration, we decided to go with Belle Fete Group, whose founder Lori Kinkade has been an absolute pleasure to work with.

While our menu hasn't been finalized, we know that it will include whatever veggies are being harvested at the time of our big day, as well as Maine-brewed beer. In addition to the local ingredients, Belle Fete values providing guests with a taste of Maine. Somehow we will incorporate lobster as well as blueberries, since the lovely Pine Tree state is known for having the largest blueberry and lobster harvests. 

Not only does Belle Fete prefer to keep it local but they are also a green caterer with a green policy that includes:

• Composting their scraps from the kitchen
• Recycling all plastic, metal and cardboard containers
• Using biodegradable plastic at their events
• Using Bamboo plates
• Donating leftovers to the Mid-Coast Hunger Prevention Program

For more info see: Belle Fete Events & Catering

I'm excited to be working with such a lovely catering company that not only provides excellent customer services but is also eco-friendly.

Last month I got engaged. (Thank you! Thank you!)

The past month has probably been the most exciting time of my life filled with love, joy and a lot of planning. Initially I had the mindset that I was going to enjoy our engagement for a while and wait to begin planning our big day. But when husband-to-be began the conversations about picking a wedding date before my head even hit the pillow the night we got engaged, I knew I was in for it.

Luckily, we have the same vision for a theme for “the” day - rustic, barn wedding. I had spent a significant portion of my life on a dairy farm that not only had cows but also raised chickens, pigs, produce and hay. Most of my adult life has been spent living an urban lifestyle in Boston, MA but I have always held a special place in my heart for country living.

The day after he proposed, Chris began scouring the web for weddings on farms, trying to find any place in the northeast that was a barn venue and wasn’t outrageously priced.

One place we considered was the Peabody Historical Society’s Smith Barn - a venue located in Peabody, MA that is surrounded by 250 acres of orchards and conservation land. Rental fees support the mission of the Society in preserving and promoting Peabody’s history.

Photo courtesy of Geneve Rege

Another place we considered was Wells Reserve at Laudholm in Wells, Maine.

Located on coastal Maine, Wells Reserve at Laudholm is an estuary research reserve that is listed on the historic places register and offers its land and barn as a wedding venue.

Photo Courtesy of C.A. Smith Photography

While these venues are beautiful and met our vision of getting married outside and in/near a barn, what we really wanted was a D-I-Y type of venue.

Chris went back to the web, scouring it for hours until he finally found it: Broadturn Farm.

Photo Courtesy of Broadturn Farm

Located in Scarborough, ME, Broadturn Farm is a community supported agriculture farm that grows organic vegetables, strawberries, some poultry, turkey, lamb and pork. They also grow flowers - one of the more exciting crops for me since Stacy, who runs the farm with her husband John, will use the  flowers from the farm's gardens for beautiful wedding flower arrangements.  

 Photo Courtesy of Broadturn Farm

Along with including the farm’s own cut flowers on the wedding day, there are three recommended caterers that use local ingredients in preparing the food for the event. The companies ensure that when possible, they use ingredients from Broadturn Farm. Next on our list to do is taste all the yummy food these caterers have to offer, and then make our selection!

Wedding planning is so fun! I’ll be sure to keep you updated as our plans evolve...

Emily - Guest Blogger

Emily lives in Boston, MA with her fiance Chris and their furry child, Stoli. Newly engaged, Emily is planning her wedding on an organic farm with the goal of making as many eco-friendly decisions as possible. Besides wedding planning, Emily enjoys working out, reading, and blogging.

I wanted to share with you a new site that launched today, NEWLYMAID.com. They offer a unique way to trade up a bridesmaid dress after a wedding for a new little black dress that can be worn for any occasion. NEWLYMAID is the first service of its kind to offer women a way to enjoy savings, reduce their carbon footprint, help others in need, and get a fabulous dress they can wear for any occasion.

NEWLYMAID accepts bridesmaid dresses and special occasion dresses from ANY designer brand. In return, you get a special 30 - 50% credit value towards a new 'any occasion' black dress. The little black dresses can be styled to work for many occasions from a sophisticated office look to flirty looks fit for a night on the town.

The gently worn bridesmaid and special occasion dresses will either be donated to charity or recycled. Dresses which are suitable for reuse will be donated to Clothes4Souls. Clothes4Souls brings shoes and apparel to people in need around the world. NEWLYMAID will also work with UNIFI to recycle qualifying dresses that are 100% polyester. And, future NEWLYMAID styles offered will include REPREVE (R)- recycled fibers made by Unifi.

If you have an old bridesmaid or special occasion dresses just hanging around in your closet, visit NEWLYMAID and send in your old dress for credit towards a new little black dress perfect for work, brunch, or girl's night out.

While browsing Etsy for some handcrafted goodies I decided to try out creating a Treasury List for you all, and opted for a theme of Vintage Inspired Weddings because there are just so many amazing vintage and handmade wedding dresses and accessories to choose from. Enjoy!

Twigs & Honey - Handcrafted wedding hair accessories, veils, tiaras and garters.

Chloe & Maddie - Vintage inspired wedding hair accessories, shoe clips and other wedding accessories.

Isadora Clothing - Convertible dresses, for brides and bridesmaids, available in Eco Jersey (organic cotton and bamboo blends).

Primitive Pin Cushion - Antique jewelry and vintage inspired jewelry created with vintage beads and findings.

View all these vintage and vintage inspired wedding dresses and accessories on Etsy.

Are you interested in planning a green wedding? If so, The Green Bride Guide is a great resource for finding green wedding vendors and creating a green wedding gift registry.

Their green wedding directory allows you to search your area for green wedding venues, bakeries, florists, photographers and more. And their online shop offers hundreds of green gifts that you can easily save to your gift registry including green goodies for your kitchen, garden, dining, decorating and even your pets. And if you already have everything you need, you can even register for carbon offsets.

Also, if you're in need of some green wedding inspiration check out the real green weddings at the green Bride Guide. And browse their eco chic style blog.

Why spend hundreds of dollars on a dress that you will most likely only wear once? Now you can wear styles straight off the runway, save loads of money and be green.

From summer weddings and garden parties to cocktail parties to girl's night out, Rent the Runway has the perfect designer dress and matching accessories for any devoted fashionista. And the best part is, you can wear the new Proenza Schouler or Vena Cava cocktail dress to your next special event for as little as $50. Rent the Runway rents designer dresses from over 50 high-fashion designers for a 4 day stretch or, for an extra fee, 8 days. You can reserve your designer dress and accessories up to 6 months in advance, and Rent the Runway will even send you a second size for free, just to be safe.

Using Rent the Runway is easy - Just find a dress you love, select your sizes, select when you’d like it delivered, and it’ll appear on your doorstep. When you're done, you mail it back in a pre-paid envelope and they take care of the dry cleaning at an eco-friendly cleaner. You must become a member for which there is a waiting list, but Ecomodish readers can cut the line here.

Speesees - Free Shipping

A mix of fun colors, animals and organic materials serve as the foundation for all Speesees products – from their fair trade and organic baby clothing and accessories to their cuddly animal friends made from organic sherpa cotton and stuffed with lavender + lentils.

Free Shipping (domestic usps) thru 04/22 on orders over $75! Code: earthship

Nubius Organics - 10% Off

Want to minimize your impact on the planet? Nubius Organics is the perfect place to start – with hundreds of ideas from reusable bags, bottles, and lunch kits to green jewelry to eco baby toys.



10% off your order thru 5/1! Coupon Code: EARTHDAY

Gaiam - 10% Off or .99 cent Shipping

Discover tools and products for health & wellness and green living at Gaiam. They have thousands of green products including organic fair trade apparel, beauty and fitness products as well as natural products for your entire home, including the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and garden.



10% off any order thru 4/22! Code: AFGREEN1.
.99 cent shipping any order over $75 thru 4/22! Code: AFEARTHD.

Dream Green Weddings - Save 10%

In celebration of Greener Weddings Awareness month and Earth day, all Dream Green Weddings' eco-friendly wedding favors, organic wedding decorations and earth friendly invitations are eligible for their 10% off promotion.



SAVE 10% on your order thru 4/23! Coupon Code: EarthDay10.
Enter to win 40 free seeded wedding favors. Entries will be accepted until midnight 4/22.

Numi Organic Tea - Save 20%

Numi partners with tea growers around the world to create high quality, premium organic and fair trade tea with no artificial oils or flavorings. Numi's assortment includes teabags, tea gift sets, iced tea, bottled tea, loose tea, and teaware.



Save 20% on your order 4/22! Coupon code: EDay40.

It's exciting to see so many eco friendly wedding invitations available in beautiful designs and colors. With the choice of paper going beyond seed-embedded handcrafted sheets to reclaimed cotton, bamboo and 100% post consumer recycled premium stock. Choosing eco wedding invitations is an easy decision for all brides. Below are some of my favorites from Jayda Wedding, Minted and Bella Figura:

All wedding invitations are digitally printed on 100% post consumer recycled stock:
1} Corner Blooms, 2} Star Fish, 3} Damask, and 4} Deco from Jayda Wedding

All wedding invitations are digitally printed on 100% recycled stock:
1} Fling, 2} Destination, 3} Pocket Full Of Posies, and 4} Winter Birch from Minted.com

All wedding invitations are letterpress printed on reclaimed fiber cotton paper:
1} Mimosa, 2} Joy, and 3} Barcelona from Bella Figura

If you are getting married and are in the process of planning your wedding, then you have to check out a great wedding planning tool from The Dessy Group & PANTONE. You can create inspiration styleboards, like the ones shown here, using a free wedding plannning tool on the dessy.com website. Its easy to pull together your favorite colors and inspirational photos to create styleboards that represent the desired look-n-feel for your wedding.

You can mix-n-match colors to easily create wedding palettes, browse hundreds of photos from real weddings to get great ideas and color inspiration or upload your own photos to use in your inspiration styleboards. Then, its easy to share your wedding ideas with your friends and family just by sending them a link to your boards.

You'll also want to stop by the inspiration gallery where you can view styleboards created by other brides. And if you are looking for some more feedback on your wedding inspiration boards, you can post yours in the gallery for others to view, comment on and vote for. It's totally fun and addictive!

I recently was introduced to Blumebox on twitter and and wanted to share their unique alternative to glass vases that are perfect for wedding reception flower arrangements.

Blumebox offers a greener option to the ususal glass vase that will reflect your personal style, complement your flowers and is environmentally friendly. Their green design allows the blumebox to be shipped and stored flat, easily snapped together for assembly, and folded back down to be stored between uses. And the eco friendly materials used to make the blumeboxes is 100% recyclable.

Blumeboxes come in 16 colors and 4 different shapes/sizes making them perfect for green-ing weddings, baby showers, birthday parties, everyday bouquets and even your houseplants. The 4" cube is a great option for traditional wedding centerpieces as well as living plant centerpieces. The 6" blumebox is the perfect height for below eye-level centerpieces. The 8" blumebox makes a stylish holder for bridesmaid and bridal bouquets at the reception. And blumebuds double as place card holders / bud vases.

And if you are the DIY type, blumebox also offers coordinating ribbons and boas to spice things up. Check out their blog for fun, creative design ideas.

The blume box featured above was used in a real wedding - check out the amazing photos by photographer Christina Carroll.