An Eco-Friendly Garden Wedding
I don’t get the opportunity to post many Canadian weddings on Once Wed, so I was thrilled when Jess and Mark sent in their beautiful wedding for a feature on the site…
My partner (now husband) Mark and I got married this past august in Beamsville, Ontario, Canada. I am a teacher and Mark is a musician and entrepreneur. He runs a super cool vintage guitar shop and together we also run a record shop (all vinyl by amazing new artists). We are a fairly non-traditional couple with firm environmental ethics, and did not want the usual cookie-cutter wedding, so from our own inspiration and reading Once Wed, we threw the perfect little Sunday afternoon garden wedding at the good earth, a cooking school/orchard/vineyard.
Certain things are extremely important to us, so we offered a completely vegetarian menu, fresh with local ingredients. We had locally grown flowers, a vegan cake and we also had our rings and my dress made by local artisans. We didn’t have a wedding party – though we did ask our best friends to be our official witnesses. The day of we had rain, rolling thunder and then a whole lotta sun! It was glorious…
P.S. – How much do you love Mark’s shirt/tie? I don’t see many grooms pull off pink without it becoming too saccharine feeling, but his suit is awesome and definitely one of my recent favorites.
Photography by Fresh!Carlson
I love these pictures and they both look adorable together. My favorite is the one where they’re jumping :) Too cute! And I adore the bride’s dress. Thanks for sharing.
AWESOME. Jess and Mark, you guys are so inspiring!! Thank you for sharing some of the details of how you kept your wedding eco friendly. My fiance and I are planning a Sept. wedding and trying to do many of the same things to reduce waste & impact…it’s not easy- especially when it comes to feeding 230 people! Thankfully we found a local farmer who raises free-range chickens, and he is going to provide our caterer with all the meat for the reception. Thanks for being green, and for sharing your day with us, and congratulations! :)
Beautiful and inspiring!!! We had a small eco friendly wedding with a vegetarian menu as well. As favors, we made small donations on behalf of the guests to various causes. I’m so grateful to see there are other people out there who make kindness to the earth and animals a priority. Congratulations on your marriage :0)
This is truly inspiring. Thank you for sharing.
Ouaouh !!! Ces photos sont juste MAGNIFIQUES ! C’est frais, simple, poétique et moderne à la fois.
I LOVE your earrings! Where are they from or what is the name/contact info of the designer? My wedding is in August and those are the first earrings I’ve seen that I love!
Please help :)
I love the little green flowers in her hair…
i adore her dress! and love that they used locally grown flowers too.
I love the bride’s dress! Could you tell us where it’s from?
They look so sweet together-and that cake too! Talk about sweet!
Oh so fresh and simple! Love the photography!
Thank you so much for featuring a Canadian wedding! Although I am a long way off from marriage, it’s so cool to see a wedding close to home :)
I love these pictures
Great wedding ideas! I love the eco-friendly vibe throughout the wedding details, especially the cake.
Thanks for sharing!!!
Beautiful! I would love to know where the dress is from!!
Oh wow – chiming in on the where is it from train – the shoes! Beautiful Jess, where did you get your shoes?
I agree with Elizabeth @ Dapper Paper – so timeless! The vinyl cover is really cool.
wow, what a lovely response everyone… a sincere thank you all, and especially to emily for featuring us!
for those you were wondering about the dress, it is a pam chorley design from a little boutique called fashion crimes and my shoes are anne klein.
Wow, you two look like you had a blast and your wedding was Gorgeous! I just love the shot of you two jumping. Thanks for sharing.
Great to see the photos on Once Wed! Before the wedding, we were both checking out this website a lot. I had a great time attending and shooting your wedding, Jess! Everything was truly beautiful, from the location, to the changing weather, right down to your shoes! Thanks again!
Jess,
I have to know where you got those beautiful earrings!
I absolutely ADORE his shirt and tie
I think they are perfect!
xoxo
B’s
yes, gina – the earrings! i actually found them at h&m… they were much bigger and too heavy, so i took them apart and rebuilt them! i bought them way back last summer, so don’t know that you’ll still find them, but if you’d like i can mail them to you to borrow?
I love the photos, it’s like a photo taken 4 decades ago. I was really impressed with the groom’s pink shirt and tie. That was really awesome, it’s a modern type of style.
Hope they had a really good time coz they looks good together.
I love this bride’s beautiful hair!
Props for the vegan cake/veggie menu shout-out! Nothing like a cruelty-free wedding!
oh my the pictures are so beautiful. They really touched me. Not too sure about the green cake though :p xo
I like the cake!!! And everything.
yeah Canada!!! i love once wed…and it’s great to see a Canadian wedding on here! love the pics!
gaaaaaaah this is the best thing you’ve ever featured on this here lovely site. omg love!
LOVE this! beautiful couple, so stylish, so easy and carefree! Tweeted on @chattybrides!
Hi Jess – it’s been a hundred years! Congratulations! Nadia stumbled upon this while reading oncewed and passed it along – great photos and it sounds like a fabulous day..
all the best
Almost all the groom’s suit are white/black but with your husband’s pink shirt that is really stunning I had an idea of having a violet suit for my hubby..Don’t know if it looks great..
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SO pretty! some of these shots look so timeless-like they could have been taken 50 years ago!
And loving the monochrome greens, such a pretty natural palette!