The Recycled Wedding Market Was The Perfect Event For the DIY Bride

By Janecia Britt

Planning a wedding is expensive. In fact, the cost of weddings is at an all time high. The Knot’s annual survey of couples put the average cost of a wedding in 2016 at $35,329.

With that said, doing parts of your wedding yourself is becoming more than just a trend. It has become a way to not only cut costs but to also reduce the environmental impact of a wedding. It’s averaged that during a six hour wedding, you can produce roughly 400-600 lbs. of waste and that’s based on a guest list of roughly 100-120 people.

The Recycled Wedding market is here to help fix that. The market which calls itself a flea market, of sorts, for all things wedding and event related, was held at the Aveda Institute in Tallahassee, FL on Feb. 25. While it was located in the capital city it attracted soon-to-be brides from all over Northwest Florida, from Quincy to Destin.

The event housed a mix of private vendors selling products like votivers and tablecloths they used at their own wedding and local professional vendors like calligraphers and florists who want to offer their services.

Niki Gandy of Selfietally, one of the profesional vendors, owns a photo booth company than can share photos instantly on Facebook or twitter and has a green screen or many background fabrics of your choosing. Her company provides photo booth rentals and selfie stations for weddings and other special events. She told us a little bit about their business and what they could offer brides at the event.

“We use green screen technology in open air. You can get custom overlays, we bring all the props and you get prints. We now do a drop off booth featuring digital props and filters as well as boomerangs and bursts as an economical option. We offer an online digital album and overall, we offer lasting memories to couples and families” said Gandy.

The event was a project of Sustainable Tallahassee, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting environmental, economic, and social sustainability in the Tallahassee regional area through education and collaboration.

Director of the Aveda Institute Julie Todd as well as member of Sustainable Tallahassee shared with us a little bit about the motivations behind the market.

“It helps keep things out of the landfill, it’s paying it forward and the beautiful thing is that brides and grooms that have had their wedding but will never use these items again pay it forward to brides and grooms that want these kinds of things but don’t want to pay full price” Todd said.  “It’s really a win win for everybody. Hopefully, this years buyers will be next years sellers.”

The success of the event is so great they already have a date for next year. The event is set to be held at a yet to be determined location on February 24, 2019.

So, if you’re getting married this year don’t throw away your decorations and handmade pieces. You might just be a seller at the Recycled Wedding Market 2019.