Seasonal wedding flowers

The church was beautiful, we found a florist who was a friend of my parents, and who was sympathetic to our green ideas.

She sourced flowers and greenery as seasonally as possible, including some raided from my parents’ garden the previous day (!), and also made up some planters of growing flowers and herbs that we took away to keep afterwards.  The results were stunning.

A very personal wedding ceremony

Our church wedding was fantastic too.  As we are both Christians, the spiritual aspect of marriage was really important to us, so getting married in church was particularly special.

The service was wonderful – our friend and university chaplain led the service so he was able to tailor it to us quite a lot (his address to the congregation after the marriage involved Bagpuss!) – and as there is quite a lot of choice about what wording to use for the marriage service, and which readings (Bible or not) and music to use, the whole thing felt very personal.

We entered the church to the Beatles’ ‘Here comes the sun’ in the end, very happy! We involved friends and family in leading the readings, prayers and music too, which was lovely.  We exchanged wedding rings from Cred (who really impressed us), and our little ‘engagement ring’ trees made it along to the church too as decorations.  And we made our own service sheets (using Evolve recycled printer paper), including our story in them.

Snap happy guests

After the ceremony we did a big photo session in the pretty churchyard, with my keen amateur photographer uncle doing the ‘posed’ photos, and the rest of our photos taken by the guests who then posted their digital photos on to us.

It worked out really well, despite what you hear about how you must get in a professional.  With so many people doing your photos you are bound to have a fantastic selection of shots, and they covered different groups of guests, as well as getting some fantastic informal pics to add to the posed ones.

Homemade confetti

We had made our own confetti the previous summer, by drying rose petals in the oven and storing them in warm, dark and dry boxes. We decorated the boxes we stored it in with some shiny red paper from Oxfam (again – they did well out of us!) to make pretty serving boxes to pass round for guests to pick out handfuls from.  And it was so beautiful, the colours were preserved really well.

The cherry tree in the churchyard decided to add to our confetti and showered us with blossom as soon as we stepped out of the church, which was VERY cute.  It made a wonderful backdrop to the photos too.

Love,

Helen and Mike

If so, we’d like to invite you to enter our Eco Chic Wedding & Home Show Photography Competition to see your photographs featured in our 2010 wedding shows.

We loved the look for 2009 (above) but we thought it was time to shake things up a bit for 2010 – which is where you come in!

Live and Let Die ipod How does it work?
We want to see your photos that you feel represent the spirit of a green, ethical and eco chic wedding.

It might be a bride on a bike, a reception in a working windmill, table decorations with plants in pots rather than cut flowers, or just a beautiful unspoilt British beach with the happy couple getting their feet wet… let your imagination run wild!

They could be photos you already have in your collection, ones you know you’ll have soon from an upcoming green wedding, or shots you set up just for this purpose.

What’s the prize?
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The winning photographer(s) will…

Twelve and Holding rip
• see their photos in the Show Guide, on the Show website and potentially in national newspapers (a number of which covered the show in 2009 – see our Press Section)
• be credited in our Show Guide that goes out to every couple who visits the Show
• be credited on the Show website (www.ecochicweddingandhomeshow.com) with your logo and a link back to your website
• get free copies of the Show Guide for their personal use

What do I need to do?

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Breakin’ All the Rules film

• Submit your photos (low resolution – no more than 500kb – high resolution images will be requested if successful) to katie at ethicalweddings.com
• Outline your commitment to green and ethical issues and how this affects your work as a photographer (up to 250 words)
• Confirm that you own the copyright to the photos and may use them as you see fit without restrictions
• Confirm that you are happy for the photos to be uploaded to Flickr, Facebook and/or other online photography display site for judging purposes

The deadline

Freezer Burn: The Invasion of Laxdale ipod

All photos must be submitted by 31 July 2009

Who are the judges?
The winning photos will be selected by the Eco Chic Wedding & Home Show Team with assistance from ethical wedding couples who will vote on their favourites.

We can’t wait to see your ethical wedding photos!

Katie & Kate
Eco Chic Wedding & Home Show Team

This week we are joined by Andrew Sansom – ethical wedding photographer extraordinaire.

As well as being on top of the ethical and green issues related to photography, Andrew has a handle on all the usual stresses and strains of planning a wedding – including (rather topically given the recent downpours) what to do in wet weather!

For more wedding tips and stories, over to Andrew…

Your name: Andrew Sansom
Location: Reading, Berkshire

Tell us a bit about yourself and your business
I became a photographer after 15 years as an accountant. I decided if I was going to work for another 30 years it should be at something I enjoy.

I enjoy each wedding I photograph and this is reflected in the quality of the photos and the level of customer service I provide.

What or who inspires you?
Growing up in New Zealand a lot of inspiration came from national heroes such as the late Sir Edmund Hillary.

Although most famous for climbing Mount Everest, Hillary was quoted as taking more pride from the projects he became involved with in Nepal, building schools, medical centres and similar in deprived areas.

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As I get older, issues such as equality, peace, poverty, conservation and the environment have become very important to me, so anyone past or present working as selflessly as possible in those areas is inspirational.

What do you enjoy most about running your business?
Waking up in the morning looking forward to work is a special feeling, and is a result of the variety of experiences from the different types of photography I do.

The Ambushers release

I enjoy being able to make a difference through my photography. This can be anything from capturing the emotions of a wedding, to memories of other events, to being able to help charities through photographing their work.

What is the most challenging aspect?
Even when you enjoy your work, self-discipline can still be a challenge, and I still find “selling myself” quite difficult at times.

What do you feel you bring to an ethical wedding?
When you are self employed there is often little distinction between the business person and the private person. “Ethical” for me therefore includes:

• treating every customer, supplier and other business contacts as I would want to be treated
• using work practices and suppliers that are as ethical as possible
• considering the importance of fairness, green/environmental issues, equality, respect, and general ethics in all my business and personal behaviour

Ethical means different things to different people, and sometimes we have to be pragmatic about it, but the key is acting on as many of our “good intentions” as we can.

How do you see the wedding industry changing over the next five years (if at all)?
Scarecrow ipod 2012 prophecy
The industry has changed almost beyond recognition in the past five years mainly due to digital technology.

Irrespective of economic conditions, there is far more competition, particularly from part-time photographers, and as a result there is considerable downward pressure on prices.

As professionals we have to educate couples as to the importance of using a professional, and concentrate even harder on “over-delivering” both in terms of quality of work, and in customer service.

It isn’t enough just to be an excellent photographer. We must have excellent people skills as well.

Whatever happens in the industry, the ideal for any photographer is having happy couples recommending you to their friends, families and colleagues.

• Poster Boy dvd

You can also find Andrew in the photography section of the recently released book, ‘How to get married in green’

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Find out more about Andrew Sansom – ethical wedding photography

• purpendicular deep purple mp3 download

To close this challenge I thought it was appropriate to search for fair trade photograph albums and frames…

Albums
Rose Petal Album from Myakka

Wedding Album from Fairly Goods

Mother of Pearl Album (also in red) from Ganesha

Handmade paper Album from Shared Earth

Gold blockprint Album from People Tree

Satin & Bamboo Album from Sunlover

Indian; Nepalese; Sri Lankan albums from Paper High

Photo Frames

Mackintosh Photo frame from Fairly Goods

Mother of Pearl Photo frame from Ganesha

Wooden photo frames from Shared Earth

Double flowers frame from Shared Earth

Batik Photo Frames from Anjuna

and that’s the end… of my Fairtrade Fortnight Fair Trade Wedding Challenge!

See you here a little later for a few closing thoughts, but in the meantime please forward this link to spread the ‘fair trade wedding’ word!

Alex