I happened upon alee & press after I discovered that I couldn’t seem to let go of the idea of a wedding invitation. Not to give up on eco-awesomeness entirely, I had the following requirements:

• Tree free. I was looking specifically for cotton paper invitations since cotton paper is made from the remnants of the garment industry.
• Letterpress. Ok ok. This isn’t eco-friendly. This is what I just wanted.  I’m a font nerd and all.
• RSVP postcards. A lot of extra paper is taken up by RSVPs because of the reply envelopes. A more eco-friendly option is to have a postcard. Plus it cuts down on postage!

alee & press does all of this and more! They use an old vintage press for all of their printing (a Vandercook SP-15 that they’ve named “Vandy”) and have made it a company priority to protect the environment by using cotton paper, soy-based inks, re-using packaging and donating 1% of their sales towards environmental causes.

Amanda even worked with me to get a bit of customization to one of their invitation suites so I could have my own personal touch. I can’t wait to see them in person!!

The Hilton Garden Inn and Omni hotels both have no availability during the weekend (at this time).  Your best bet for getting a room close to the Clifton in is now the Comfort Inn Monticello.  The Inn itself is even booked Friday night (by other people, not me!).  My sister also managed to get two rooms at the Fairfield Inn North.  I’ve listed a bunch of hotels below that are within a 20 minute drive of Clifton.  DoubleTree is the farther (18 min according to Google) but it’s pretty convenient for anyone coming from Northern VA because it is right on Rt 29 N.

Comfort Inn Monticello

2097 Inn Drive
Charlottesville, VA, US, 22911
(434) 977-3300

Hampton Inn Charlottesville

2035 India Rd
Charlottesville, VA 22901
(434) 978-7888

Doubletree Hotel Charlottesville

990 Hilton Heights Road
Charlottesville, VA 22901
(434) 973-2121

The entire Inn is still reserved for my wedding the night of Saturday, Nov 6th.  If you’re looking for a great place to stay that includes things like … afternoon tea … full breakfast … Blue Ridge mountain views … classic country charm, then YES, stay at the Clifton Inn!  For Saturday night, all rooms are a single flat rate (don’t pay attention to the prices listed on the website).  So, it might be better for out-of-town folk to show up Sat afternoon, stay a night at the Inn, and wake up refreshed and pampered on Sunday! Think of it as a mini stay-cation.

Since that point I think I spend a good amount of my internet browsing time on that site. I’m not sure why. It’s fascinating. The finds that are displayed on the home page change frequently throughout the day. They have unique and interesting ways to browse the various shops, from color & category to “Pouncing” on shops that recently had sales or who have not yet had one.

Etsy has helped a ton in the eco-friendly wedding department as well. I love that idea of supporting artists who make things by hand! Here are a few of the artists that I’ve utilized for my wedding.

BeSomethingNew – I’ve decided for the “no veil” approach so I was looking for an eye catching and unique headpiece. BeSomethingNew uses a variety of materials (some vintage, some new) in their pieces. This particular headpiece uses re purposed chandelier crystals. If you look closely, you can see where the crystals have two sets of holes, most likely for dangling other crystals. This isn’t the exact one I ordered since she was kind enough to use cream / ivory colored pearls to match the necklace I’m borrowing from Becky!

alexkeller – Alex also makes jewelry from old jewelry and other materials. Coincidentally, she had a pair of earrings using the same shaped chandalier crystals from the headpiece, so I bought a pair to match!

VerdeStudio – She specializes in old stamps (pre sticker adhesive area). She claims she’s not a big stamp collector, but instead is fascinated by the various colors. I don’t blame her! This is where I bought old postage stamps to put on my invitations.  For a uinque twist, I am going with two versions of the “Love” stamp along with Mr. Jeffferson himself.

I will continue to browse Etsy for the remaining items on my list as well as to get inspiration for favors, seating charts, menus, and programs.

Cynical types would argue that to be the most environmentally friendly I should just elope and spare everyone the pain and inconvenience of travel. In reality, weddings are just too much of a part of the culture to dismiss altogether. Plus, I like the idea of hosting one big cool party for my family and friends.

Anyway, I am determined to keep the environment in mind at every turn! No matter how much Sherry makes fun of me for it…

What I know them for is delicious cupcakes that have sweet (but not to sweet) icing that is always embellished with glitter (yes, glitter).  They were the first place that came to mind for wedding day sweets and I’m happy to say we’ve officially booked them to deliver 135 cupcakes in November.  This is what you have to look forward too:

• Double Chocolate (Chocolate cake with Chocolate buttercream icing)
• Pound Cake w/ Vanilla buttercream icing
• Pound Cake w/ Raspberry buttercream icing
• 5-spice (ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, cloves)  with sweet cream cheese icing

If you want to sample any of these, all but the 5-spice are currently available at Cappellino’s. 5-spice is a fall seasonal flavor, so I guess we’ll all be in anticipation til then.  If you want to see pictures of them, check out Cappllino’s Flickr photostream.

I got the idea to use old unused postage stamps from A Green Bride Guide. It’s a small way to make sure that old things aren’t going to waste and to also make an eco-friendly statement. All of the new stamps issued today from the USPS are adhesive, which, while convenient, are made of non-biodegradable plastics.

I did toy for a little bit with designing custom stamps on Zazzle.com. But once I found the stamp set shown above (LOVE and Thomas Jefferson!), I couldn’t resist. The TJ stamp was sort of icing on the cake considering the wedding will be in Charlottesville.

Virginia has been playing harp for over 30 years. She has also owned her own company and used to design theme parks and similar attractions with her husband, who worked directly with Walt Disney as one of the original Imagineers. He and his team worked on the animatronics that controlled the birds in Mary Poppins. How cool is that???

You can follow @kathyandaaron to hear our wedding-related tweets. This is purely a social experiment. I seriously doubt either of us will be able to sustain it for long.

http://twitter.com/kathyandaaron

Claire runs Sacred Ground Ceremonies in Charlottesville, VA.  She is also the main blogger and creator of the Charlottesville Wedding Blog.  If anyone reading this blog is looking for a free wedding, the site is currently holding a contest to give away just that! I think you may have to write an essay or something.  The details for a free Charlottesville-based wedding can be found here.

Claire has agreed to be our officiant in November. We look forward to working with her!