Lakeside Eco-Friendly Wedding

We’re loving all the weddings we’re receiving through our submissions form! This one was sent by the bride herself, Kristen. She and her now husband Louie had a vintage-inspired, eco-friendly wedding in the bride’s hometown in Minnesota. Kristen’s wedding dress and all of the retro bridesmaid dresses were made by Kristen and her friend, Erin. We’re so.in.love. with Kristen’s style.

After Louie proposed to me in front of Mr, Lincoln, I of course said “yes” (well actually I believe I said “really???”), and instantly started brainstorming what it would look like, which is very overwhelming without a theme. Louie and I knew that weddings involved throwing a lot of things away and left quite a carbon footprint, so we decided to have a Green/Recycled wedding, with a dash of shopping local. This made it much easier for me to justify sewing a lot of eco-friendly designs for the wedding, and it didn’t take much to get Erin on board, and thus “hand sewn” became a prominent theme as well. The invites were fun, and were made by me and my trusty industrial sewing machine. As my first clue to the guests that this wasn’t going to be a traditional wedding, I ordered clothing labels with “Kristen & Louie May 29th, 2011” printed on them, purchased recycled green paper, and designed the info card and RSVP postcard (no extra envelopes!) to be printed from Greenerprinter.com. Instead of glue, I sewed the papers together with bright colored thread, and topped them off by sewing the clothing label front and center. I knew people would think I was insane for wanting to design and make my own dress, as well as team up with Erin to outfit the wedding party, but it’s a wedding, and you only do it once right?

Louie and I met in Minneapolis, MN — me being the small town farm girl that ventured to the city, and he being the city boy—and due to a crazy turn of events, I chased him all the way to DC with a waitressing job. Louie has always been my biggest support, which goes to show since I started my own tailoring business out of our apartment within 1 month of moving to DC, and within 1 year I opened an eco-friendly design boutique/tailoring shop called Ginger Root Design with one of my best friends, Erin.

View all images from this wedding in the gallery

Wedding Venue and Vendors (Barrett, MN):

Ceremony & Reception: Barrett Lakeside Pavillion / Photographer: Tiffany Bolk Photography / Event Designer, Coordinator, and Bridal and bridesmaid dress maker: Kristen Swenson at Ginger Root / Dessert bars: made by family members / Florist: Downtown Floral Co / Officiant: a friend / Band: bride’s father’s jazz band / Bride’s hat: thrift store find and re-vamped by her / Necklaces: Claranette / Earrings: Metal Musings (a friend of the brides mom) / Shoes: thrift store / Groom’s suit: vintage, thrift store / Groom’s vest and shoes: Rock It Again / Groom’s white shirt: Hugh & Crye / Cuff Links: Betsy Berberian / Stationery: Greener printers / Wedding bands: Conrad Selle / Hard Cider Labels: Elizabeth Graeber / Caterer: Kopel’s Cooker