EcoChic Competition Winner April 2009

 

by Deborah Miarkowska

We are delighted to announce our latest competition winner Sharon Stone, for writing her feature and  revealing her story of her very own fair trade wedding.

For those of you who missed it, here it is again…

I recently got married and like lots of brides to be sought help from external sources. I especially enjoyed ‘Perfect Wedding’ Magazine which surprisingly contained lots of tips, ideas and contacts to help make the wedding a much more Green and eco celebration.I especially found ‘Ethicalwedding.com’ helpful as there were loads of tips and advice on all things green and ethical ranging from confetti to cars fahionable dresses to favours and invitations to ice-cream!

With a lot of imagination but not a vast amount of finances we were able to plan, organise and enjoy the best day ever using lots of Fairtrade and ethical products and concepts. This included the following:

We made our own invitations and orders of service using recycled card and envelopes. We bought our wedding rings from ‘EcoChic’ and ‘Shared Earth’. Our necklaces,bracelets and earrings for myself and bridesmaids were from ‘Tearcraft’ and ‘Shared Earth’. The bridesmaids carried matching purses from ‘Oxfam’ I couldn’t find a ‘recycled’ dress and would have to had one made using organic cotton was beyond the budget, so I found a gorgeous one in the sale for only £200 and gave it to a charity shop afterwards (this was a lot harder to do than I thought it would be!)

 
Our bouquets were made by friends using local florists and using some Fairtrade Roses. We used ‘Traidcraft and ‘Green and Blacks’ chocolate as favours and put them in small gift bags purchased from ‘Shared Earth’… these were so funny as they were made from recycled elephant dung and had pictures of elephants bottoms on. They also doubled up as place settings.

We also managed to find a matching visitors book from ‘Shared Earth’. We made our own wedding cake using organic and Fairtrade ingredients for a fraction of what a shop bought one cost. We also ensured that we used local people to provide the balloon table decorations, disco, photography and that the reception was in walking distance from the local church. We used Fairtrade wine and juices from ‘Co-op’ and ‘Traidcraft’ Afterdinner mints from ‘Traidcraft’ and used crisps from ‘Yorkshire Crisps Company’ Word of warning though, even being Fairtrade and ‘Green’ it’s so easy to get carried way and spend more than you have budgeted for which really isn’t very ethical!! Sharon Stone

Congratulations Sharon, put your feet up and enjoy spending you winnings with us.

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