I had visions of a small party type thing at my parents house in Pittsburgh to celebrate our wedding (which will take place in Nevis with no guests). This has quickly changed, and we are now having a full blown wedding celebration in Pittsburgh, PA at the Phipps Conservatory. Being a green / eco nut, this venue is just about as perfect as it can get. They are LEED certified, compost everything on site and even have bamboo floors. It’s perfect! (now I just have to convince my dad to rent the Tropical Forest Conservatory in addition to the Special Events Hall).
So anyways, for the last two days I have set out to find every detail of this thing as eco friendly as possible. Phipps is starting a green wedding package and our reception would be their first green wedding, if I meet certain requirements. Well this sounded like a challenge, so I am, of course, all about it!
I had originally wanted to send evites, customized to match our soon to be wedding website, but this didn’t go over with the parents. So in search of something eco friendly but still printed, I stumbled upon a million bamboo or hand made paper sites but nothing local. Then I decided that I really wanted letterpressed invitations (why not?!) and searched for a local place that would do this work. That is how I found Railway Station Press.
Stuart Bradley’s basement has been converted into a classroom / workshop space for letterpressing. He uses a hundred year old machine and creates absolutely amazing work. In his workshops you can learn to create your own letterpressed stationary, invitations, place cards, business cards…you name it! It doesn’t get any greener than hand made! I am so excited that our invites will be made locally (literally within ten blocks of our house) and by hand, not machine. My hour long meeting with Stuart was like going back in time and a true lesson in typeface. (he sent me home with over thirty types to choose from).
Now it is officially a wedding, I suppose. Next project..make my own jewelry to match the dress…good thing we have an amazing local bead store too.