Free Garden Catalogs - A hippie/nature themed wedding?!?

A hippie/nature themed wedding?!?

We're going to get married by church on sept 19 and we already have the church and place paid but everything is so formal and I feel like it's not me. I love animals and nature, i care for the environment and I 'm vegetarian. I was thinking that it would be cool to rent a garden (i know of a beautiful one) and have the civil ceremony a week before. Here's what I was thinking *Everybody dresses in white/loose clothing, preferably 60's style. *We don't rent chair, we use big mats.. (beautiful of course) *Get a lady to play the guitar and sing *We all have flowers and other things.. (ideas?? please!?) We have the ceremony (2hrs), take pictures and then we go to my house or my uncles house for dinner. http://www.condenast.co.uk/imagelib/320x480/a_c/Brides_JPackham2008_7_BB.jpg This is the style that i want for my dress. How should my fiance dress? Ideas for the invitation!? Food??? THANKS! I SAID FOR THE CIVIL CEREMONY THE ACTUAL WEDDING IS A WEEK AFTER THAT! DUHHH In our "traditions" we have the civil ceremony a before the actual wedding. The civil ceremony is usually a very informal celebration to get to know the family and prepare for the religious ceremony. Very few people are invitated to the civil ceremony (15-30) and if you want you can have both celebrations at the same time.

Public Comments

ick ick ick. Dont specify clothing, by definition it's anti-environmental to make people buy new outfits for your whim. Big mats kill grass, what's wrong with renting chairs? Rental is totally recycling. Note the origin of any flowers you use. Colombia? Jet fuel? Artificial fertilizer? A 2 hour ceremony?
I would have a wedding that you feel is you. Love the garden idea. Beautiful place to have a wedding. Your fiance could wear khaki pants and a nice white top, with flip flops. I would have some chairs for the older people. For invitations you could use those recycled paper invitations.can get some here at: http://www.invitationconsultants.com Food keep it simple. You could serve some great finger foods and have a veggie and fruit tray. Best of luck!
Sounds like a fun wedding! I agree with TB For the invitation you could use a recycled paper (pretty of course) with flower petals embedded inside or glued onto the paper...just an idea! How should your fiance dress? Suit or whatever you bout agree is suitable. Food...a vegetarian meal maybe? Or you could have a self serve kind of thing going on where you have a set time to start dinner (all food would either be inside cooking or something...depends if you want to eat right away or not) and you could have say you ate hot dogs (just an example) you'd have hot dogs on one side and veggie dogs on the other side...and people would get what they wanted. if you don't like this response or you want some help from someone online email my friend and I (Cassy and Nicole) at winglow.fontaine@yahoo.ca If you'd like. Good luckk!!!!
I think it would be nice to ask everyone to bring a blanket to sit on rather than have giant mats. Ask them to keep with the theme of 60s/hippie and let them choose their attire. Use wild flowers that are in season in your area.
I think for a civil ceremony that it sounds good. It sounds like you need something that's a little more you. I wouldn't require people to wear white flowing clothes but suggest the theme, people might be angered if they have to go out and by something because they are probably spending money on a wedding gift, shower gifts, etc. I would suggest keeping in mind that not everyone views sitting on the floor an idea of a good time at a party so maybe give the option of both. But in the end it's your day and it should be about you and your fiance.
Wooow ! that's very ORIGINAL, it was kind of wierd when i first read the question but know i kind of like the idea. the dress goes really well with the "hippie" theme, also ! maybe you can wear a white hippie head band with your dress. they only cost $3.50 and they look like this : http://www.fash-eccentric.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/hippie-headband-rumi-2.jpg http://blog.pricegrabber.com/chicshopper/files/2008/07/hippieheadbands.jpg
The civil ceremony sounds amazing. Honestly, I wouldn't get too specific on clothing, nature itself is such a beautiful backdrop, what's the point in trying to create something "perfect" when the day will be perfect as is? Probably a little more "hippyish" too if you just roll with the natural beauty and enjoy the ceremony and setting. It's about you and your partner baby, don't get bogged down in details. And on that note, why not just do this for your actually "big day"? Unless the church event you have planned suits your partner to a tee, then why do something that just isn't you? Just a thought to roll around... anyway, since you are asking specifics for this gorgeous naturalistic ceremony... leave the clothes up to your fiance. I'm sure something made of a fine quality pure cotton would be amazingly comfortable and very suting for the day. Check out some weddings on offbeatbride.com, tons of wonderful ideas for wedding (including those along the hippie/nature theme) that couples put togetehr to suit them perfectly. For food, keep it simple- Sandwiches, squares, kabobs, just nice light finger foods. And if you want to do guest favors too think about perhaps giving out seedlings, keep the nature theme rolling. Enjoy, congrats!
To be honest I'm all up for hippie/natural themes especially if that suits you. However also be considerate of your guests. I know I could not imagine my wedding without my parents and grandparents. If I'd made any of them sit on a mat in a field, they'd still be there now. No one expects to not have any seats and to have to lay on the ground in a skirt. The bride does not get to dictate what people wear though. You can control what you wear and what the bridal party wears, but not the guests. That's a bit bridezilla. I'm also not sure what you mean about a civil wedding then the actual wedding. Why go to that expense? If you have a civil wedding, that is your real wedding. If you are having a church wedding, that's a real wedding so why pay extra for the civil as well. It's just a waste of an extra couple hundred dollars which isn't very hippie concept at all. You only get one wedding. Don't pay for an officiant twice and most importantly guests don't like being deceived. If they are invited to the wedding they need to be invited to the real wedding, not a fake one a week later just for gifts. As for getting married outside instead of in the church, how bout keep the church for backup, but if it's beautiful get married in the church's yard underneath a big tree. If it rains, you have the church reserved. Have a flower wreath in your hair. Have a hippie dress. Use daisies and sunflowers for your flowers. For music, have someone play the guitar. There are some BEAUTIFUL guitar arrangements. You want the wedding to suit you. That is a gorgeous dress. Why not have your man either in a pirate type flowy white shirt and khakis or like a beach wedding in a Cubana shirt? Have the flower girl carry a lei instead of a basket. As for invites, Invitations By Dawn has lots of suggestions. http://www.invitationsbydawn.com/We_ViewEns.cfm?sItemCode=WedEns8438&sCatalogCode=WedEnsDD&iStartRow=1&format=WedEnsDDa&lCriteria=4500,4856,3515,4855&strcontinue=yes&strsearch=yes http://www.invitationsbydawn.com/We_ViewEns.cfm?sItemCode=WedEns6951&sCatalogCode=WedEnsDD&iStartRow=1&format=WedEnsDDa&lCriteria=4500,4856,3515,4855&strcontinue=yes&strsearch=yes http://www.invitationsbydawn.com/We_ViewEns.cfm?sItemCode=WedEns8828&sCatalogCode=WedEnsDD&iStartRow=1&format=WedEnsDDa&lCriteria=4874&strcontinue=yes&strsearch=yes http://www.invitationsbydawn.com/We_ViewEns.cfm?sItemCode=WedEns7206&sCatalogCode=WedEnsDD&iStartRow=33&format=WedEnsDDa&lCriteria=4874&strcontinue=yes&strsearch=yes http://www.invitationsbydawn.com/We_ViewEns.cfm?sItemCode=WedEns8185&sCatalogCode=WedEnsDD&iStartRow=1&format=WedEnsDDa&lCriteria=4875&strcontinue=yes&strsearch=yes http://www.invitationsbydawn.com/We_ViewEns.cfm?sItemCode=WedEns7205&sCatalogCode=WedEnsDD&iStartRow=33&format=WedEnsDDa&lCriteria=4875&strcontinue=yes&strsearch=yes Many are offered on recycled paper.
OK.....clue us Americans in on this.... First you have a civil wedding with a dress, suit, invites, food, etc. THEN you have a church wedding too??? I'm not trying to sound flip....I'm just confused. I know the brits do things different than us who live in the U.S., but this seems like a lot of cost and duplication. Do you invite the same people to the civil ceremony and the church ceremony? Isn't a civil ceremony considered to BE a "wedding?" Here in the U.S., a civil ceremony simply means it IS a wedding, but one that is not inside of a church. BUT....I do love your idea. EDIT: Oh, OK. Thanks for the clarification. As others have said, I like your ideas, but I would not dictate to others what they should wear. Personally, I own 2 things that are white because I do not look good in white, so I would have to go out a buy something. Not great if you are environmentally minded. Just let them wear what they want. Sorry, but I do like the idea of renting chairs. It's not like you are purchasing these. They are being recycled. And a mat? I would have a hard time getting down and up. LOVE the idea of the guitar and singing. Pick wildflowers if they are available to you or take some from someone's garden. A 2-hour ceremony? That is super, super long. I have never heard of that (maybe a UK thing?)
Food= tofu, natural fruit juices, hummus w/crackers, veggie burgers, fresh veggies and veggie dip, coffee, water, fruit, mint tea Your fiance's clothing= maybe khaki pants and a tye-dyed shirt? Or browse a vintage store and see if you find something that "goes" with your dress. Invitations= could be printed on recycled paper; if there aren't a whole lot of them, you could hand-write some part of them (or all of them, if you are patient)- calligraphy could be cool