Vintage Budget Eco Bride

I would always advise buying everything you are able to and can afford from local independent shops, but there are always a few things that you cannot.  The Oriental Trading Company offers a cheaper alternative for those things.

Personalized Cake Serving Set

The Oriental Trading company offers these for $20 to $30-- most that I have seen are around $40 on sale.  Stick with one of the all metal sets or one of the porcelain sets for a more elegant look, as the others have plastic handles.  The all metal sets will likely last the longest-- you want them to last past the reception, right?

Fans

 Give your reception a vintage or oriental feel with fans that can be used as decorations your guests can use!  Let guests take them home with them after the reception so you aren't stuck with a ton afterward.  Don't order one for every guest (not every guest will want one)-- just enough to decorate with.  You can keep a few at the ceremony site just in case any guest wants to use one during the ceremony.  The Oriental Trading Company has a good variety of styles and colors-- a lot more than I have linked to here.

Memorial Vase


If you are planning on displaying flowers in memorial of friends or family members (I am displaying both my grandmothers' favorite flowers), this vase can hold them during the ceremony.  It will be a nice keepsake to have in your home as well.


Wedding Favors or Gifts for the Wedding Party
While the best wedding favor is to donate to a charity in your guests' honor, many couples want to give their guests something to take with them.  Food generally does not go to waste, but there are other options, such as this notepad case that comes with a pen.  Everyone can use a notepad.  The case is plastic, so it is not as durable as a metal case, and I am not sure if it is refillable (these metal case notepads are), but these are a cheaper alternative.  They come in a dozen, so if you want to use them for the wedding party, there should be some left over for anyone else you wish to give a thank you gift to.  Again, the Oriental Trading Company has more variety than what I have linked to.


A mint tin is much like the food favor-- everyone is likely to use it/want it.  The cases can be personalized, and your guests can refill them with whatever they want to.  They come in sets of 24, so you should have enough to give to the whole wedding party, anyone else who helped with the wedding, and immediate family members if you want to use them as wedding party gifts.  Again, they have more variety than what I have linked to.

Lip balm is something that most people use, so your guests or wedding party can think of you and your wedding every time they use it.  A variety of colors is available, and they come in sets of a dozen.


Cookie tins probably work better as wedding party gifts than wedding favors, but they would make really nice gifts.  The receivers can use the tin for whatever they want to afterward.  Again, these can be personalized, and they come in sets of 6 tins (a dozen cookies in each tin).


Things to Avoid

The Oriental Trading Company has a lot more for weddings than what I have listed here.  It can be easy to get carried away, and order things that you do not really need.  Some things that I would try to avoid:

• wedding bottle stickers or can covers (who is going to keep a water bottle or can as a souvenir?) 
• wedding print toilet paper (I know, I know, it's for toilet paper dresses at a bridal shower, but all that paper is just going to thrown away-- is it really worth all that money and energy used to produce it?)
• favor packaging (unless you really need something to put the favors in--less packaging is always better)
• bubbles (I know it is a great thing for people to blow bubbles at you after the wedding, but aside from the few initial blows, the only guests who are going to use those bubbles up are the kids-- my fiance and I are just handing out leftover bubbles from a friend's wedding to the kids for fun)
• card boxes (chances are, you know someone who already has a card box or bird cage they used for their wedding, and now all it is doing is collecting dust--borrow it!)
• flower girl baskets (if you already have a basket with a handle, dress it up with some ribbon in your wedding colors; if not, get a basket that you can use in your home afterward, and again, dress it up with some ribbon)
• confetti (that is just a mess that has to be cleaned up and thrown out)
• favors like candles (these are great for people who like candles, but are you only inviting candle fanatics?)

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We just did this at my shower-- ask the guests to bring a recipe for the bride, which is pretty standard, but also ask them to make the dish the recipe is for so that the bride and groom can taste it before they make it.  Those putting on the shower can scoop out some of the dish into numbered containers, and number the recipe cards with the corresponding container number.  The rest of the dish can be served to the guests as your average pot luck, but the bride and groom will be sure to have a taste of each dish later.

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Just heard this great tip for keeping candles burning longer at a reception.  Put the candles in the freezer for the week before the reception, and they will burn twice as long!

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If you want to put a vintage or DIY twist on your thank you notes, for either the bridal shower or the wedding itself (or both), instead of using a prepackaged set of thank you cards, write thank you letters.  Look for a pretty set of stationary, and make your own envelopes.

 If you have never made envelopes before, you can purchase a template from SpoonSisters.com. You can also find free envelope templates around the web.

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 If you like big napkins, and like colors,  Mayan Cotton Napkins are a good choice for putting on your registry.  Available in green, blue, and yellow, you can mix and match or get all one color.  Use embroidery or fabric paint to decorate if you wish (or ask that whoever purchases them for you to do so), or leave them plain.  The napkins are fairly traded from Guatemala, and available through the Unity Fair Trade Marketplace.  Browse the rest of the website for other great fair trade items to put on your registry.

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Check the makeup you want to try out on the Environmental Working Group's cosmetic database.  Chances are, they have tested it for toxins.  Also check it out on Good Guide, for data not just on the ingredients, but how environmentally friendly the company is when they are making their products.

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Before you go tossing any of the packing material some of your Christmas gifts came in, you may want to keep some of it.  Or, you may have some of these left from previous years, saving them in case you found a use for them.  In particular, a cloth bag that a sheet set or pajamas came in, or a zippered plastic one that a bath kit or a sheet set came in would make a great travel toiletry bag to take on your honeymoon.  It can also double as a bridal emergency bag for the wedding day itself (or, if you have more than one bag, make up one for each).

Hair Accessories Travel Bag

Of course, you can always buy a bag, like this one from the SpoonSisters (it is really cute, and I'd be tempted if I didn't have several bags from sheet sets), but a free bag is always better than one you have to pay for.

If you are looking for a gift for a bride, you can always get a sheet set for her that has a bag, and suggest in the card that she reuse the bag for a wedding emergency kit or honeymoon toiletry bag.


Travel Nail Polish Remover

One of the things that you will want to include in your Bride emergency kit is nail polish remover-- and travel nail polish remover is the least likely to spill (spilled nail polish remover could cause a bigger emergency than your kit could deal with!) and the easiest to fit in your kit.  If your kit is also doubling as your honeymoon toiletry bag, so much the better.

Keep tuned for more bride emergency kit and honeymoon packing ideas.

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