In this day and age when we are becoming more and more environmentally conscious, many brides and grooms have chosen to have an “ eco friendly” or “green” wedding, but they still wish to send their guests a formal wedding invitation. There are many different options that can be used. It is, however, very important to know what to ask for when searching as not every invitation designer is aware of the many beautiful environmentally friendly paper and accessory options that are available.
For the paper/cardstock used for the invitation, a wide variety of Post Consumer Waste (PCW) Papers, recycled or tree free papers such as 100% cotton and Bamboo papers can be used. Many of these papers are white, ivory or beige in colour, but you can always accessorize the invitation by using a variety of ink colours (regular or soy based) and also accessorize with ribbons or dried flowers.There are many recycled paper options that come in a variety of colours and textures both in matte and metallic finishes. However, you should be aware that the percent of recyclable materials in these papers is only between 20-30% and the processes used to create/coat these papers/cardstocks release many waste products into our environment.
Another very unique and interesting option is to use seeded papers. These papers are typically made of 100% PCW papers and are embedded with wildflower seeds. The paper is planted under a thin layer of soil and after about 4-6 weeks of watering, beautiful wildflowers will bloom! The important thing to remember when printing on these papers is to never use printers with high heat such as laser printers because the heat will destroy the seeds.
A beautiful option when using 100% cotton papers is letterpress. The paper/cardstock is usually nice and thick and the letterpress beautifully imprints your designs and text onto the paper.
Accessorizing with ribbon also adds a touch of colour and elegance to your invitation. In addition to the usual satin, gros grain and chiffon ribbons there are also some very pretty eco friendly options such as cotton twill ribbon , cotton tape, raffia recycled paper ribbon and cotton cords.
If you have any further questions or need some help with your environmentally friendly invitation options, please feel free to contact me at 450-458-9509 or
Absolutely amazing and quite informative as well as useful piece. I was looking for ideas on eco-friendly invitation cards for the opening of our bamboo/ cane based ethnic restaurant when I found this post. Thanks for the idea. I would really want to know if u can share some more related ideas.
ReplyDeleteregards n wishes
Sorry that I haven't responded sooner. I just noticed the comments in my blog today....
ReplyDeleteIf I can still be of assistance for eco-friendly ideas, just let me know.
Anita
Would any of these have a parchment/vellum option? Also, I thought about making seed paper but all of the homemade end results I see are lumpy and not pretty enough for invitations. Any suggestions?
ReplyDeleteAll of my invitations are custom design and therefore parchment/vellum can be added. For seeded paper I would recommend purchasing it from suppliers. Although many suppliers only sell to the industry. There is one supplier in Canada called Botanical Paperworks that has beautiful seeded papers in a variety of colours and you can order them online.
DeleteI hope this helps.
Anita