Trash into Treasure

Happy Earth Day everyone! Okay, so I'm a day late but it still counts.

April turned out to be quit a busy month and I haven't updated the way I should have and many of you have been asking me for more info and photos of my wedding planning. Really, I'm touched :-)

A few weeks back I ran across this photo from a girl on www.offbeatbride.com:



















The ocean of mugs was just one part of their thrift store reception. The couple purchased all the dinnerware from thriftstores to cut down on waste and cost. The tree-hugging hippie in me squealed for joy when I saw this! I knew I just had to figure out how to implement thriftstore dishes into our wedding.

Jake and I had a hard time getting the ball rolling. We had lots of questions like "Is it cost effective?" "Who will wash them?" "What will we do with them afterward?" and "How do we get all the sizes we'll need?"

After we got past the brick wall of questions it all worked out. Our caterer will wash the dishes at his restaurant which is about 500 feet from the reception venue. Plus, we said forget trying to get both dinner AND dessert plates. We're just going to get whatever we can find and call it good.

Two weekends ago Adrienne and I went to Goodwill which was the best idea ever! They were having a sale featuring 50 percent off all yellow tagged items. So, we went through all the dishes and grabbed every yellow tagged plate. At the end of our shopping trip we had accumulated about 70 plates for $20! That's a lot better than spending more than $100 on bio-degradable paper stuff.

In addition to my thriftstore treasure, Jake's cousin and Adrienne both donated a few sets of plates to the cause. In all we have our filthy little mitts on about 140 plates. We figure if we can at least get enough plates (which we're darn close to having) then we can compromise and by bio-degradable cups and eating utensils. Plus, I'm going to buy recycled napkins from Seventh Generation.

After the wedding, we're going to donate the dishes to the thriftstore here in Union City.

Moral of the story? Always think outside the box. Don't let people tell you that you MUST have certain things because it's a wedding. Do whatever you want however you want. If you love it and have fun then your guests will follow suit.