Last weekend Benji and I finally tied the knot…and I don’t mean the bowline, zeppelin bend, or square knot. I mean we got married!
We celebrated our wedding at my sister’s home in Northern Michigan. It was a beautiful location with a fish pond, cows, and garden of lilies.
It just so happens that Ben and I chose the most popular summer weekend to wed and now share an anniversary with thousands of other people. But what we didn’t want to share with most of them is the amount of money spent or waste produced. I read in the newspaper yesterday that the average wedding costs 25k dollars and produces 400lbs of waste. It’s easy to lose sight of what we value most and instead get caught up in trying to have the perfect wedding. But Ben and I both wanted to have a beautiful wedding without excessive waste and costs. While some of my family were a little resistant at first, eventually they loved the idea. Everyone pitched in to help pull off a perfect night, with the most important things being the ceremony and the fun!
These are five things we did to try and keep the values of simplicity at our wedding:
1) We delivered our food and compostable dinnerware waste to a local organic farm/composting facility. They were delighted to have our compost. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement.
2) We recycled as much as we could including the centerpieces, which were reused spaghetti sauce and pickle jars.
3) In 2006 the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations released a report that said the meat industry is, “one of the most significant contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems.” I know we can’t do everything to reduce our impact on the environment. But one thing Ben and I can do is think consciously about eating meat. Therefore, we chose to serve only vegetarian fare at our wedding, and commit ourselves to eat consciously, which for us means we currently follow a vegetarian lifestyle.
4) We purchased our wedding bands from Etsy, a website that allows artists to sell their handmade or vintage items. We selected an artist that works with recycled metals and while we did consider a conflict-free diamond, ultimately we chose not to purchase a diamond at all.
5) We supported the local food co-op that stocks food from organic and local farms. The delicious pies we got from Oryana Natural Foods Market were the best part of the meal!
6) We chose to “register” at an alternative gift registry site where our guests could choose to contribute to gifts that complimented our lifestyle, such as solar panels for our future boat or bicycle gear.
I’m sure there are a lot more ways to reduce waste, spend consciously, and still have a beautiful wedding. I’ve heard some wonderful ideas from my readers in the past. Please add your suggestions below!
And, of course, a wedding would not be complete without an effort to air drum to Rush’s “Tom Sawyer.” I’m not a drummer, but I play a mean air drum!
Congratulations.
May you have many years of happiness together.
Have been looking forward to seeing some wedding pictures. Thank you for sharing. Best wishes & happiness as you start your new adventure.
Congrats to you young (crazy) kids. I pray everything works out, and fair winds to you both.
Congrats to you both!
Congratulations to you both. Good for you for doing and enjoying it your way! Good for you, your budget, and the environment!! Win, Win, Win!
Congratulations. You sailed, embraced simplicity, found happiness … may your passage through the seas of life together continue to be full of wonder.
Congratulations you two!
May your happiness and life togeather last for as long as either of you wish it, Congratulations.
Congratulations to you both -- what a wonderful start to your married life! I am so happy for you both.
AH! SO SO happy for you both! Sounds like a fantastic way to celebrate your new life together! Congrats and happy sailing!
Congratulations and fair winds in your sails !
Hey you two, I have been following your blog for a few months now, and I am enjoying it. I clicked on the market you bought pies at and found that the Northern Michigan town you were at is Traverse City, I live in Petoskey
keep you blogs comming !! In 2010 my Wife and I took our 30′ catalina from Petoskey to Florida, lived aboard for a year and loved it.
You can see the whole trip on my you tube channel. just google blowinganddrifting some of the vids should pop up.
Thanks, and enjoy, Dean blowinganddrifting@yahoo.com
grads. on the wedding. may you both have may happy years rocking the boat.
Congratulations, Teresa! Best wishes for a long, happy life together!
Love,
Your old neighbor and baby sitter
Congratulations ya’ll! Looks like a beautiful wedding, and why be wasteful?! It’s funny how at first your loved ones weren’t receptive to the idea of saving money … the sign of the times I guess! You can bet our daughter’s wedding won’t be breaking the bank! Outdoor weddings are the most beautiful .. and inexpensive!
Thank you so much. It was a beautiful wedding. And yes, the setting was perfect. No on was ever really resistant to saving money, I mostly felt some resistance to doing things differently. But like I said, in the end it all worked out to a wonderful day.
Teresa
Congratulation’s to both of you.
You both are so special: I’m really happy of your happiness!
I wish you the greatest adventures — keep sailing and don’t sit back!
Very sweet! Congratulations and may the wind always be at your backs and my you always sail through life with simplicity! Enjoy your journey as husband and wife.
Congratulations from Portugal,we are happy for you and we wish the best for you two
Congratulations!
All the best to you two and the vessel you sail into the sunset with
~Dan
Congratulations, I remember us growing up and how much you love the water. I am so happy that you found someone that shares that love. May you both be happy and safe while you sail into the sunset
Congratulations to you both!
Congratulations! So very happy for your Ben and your wonderful new wife-much happiness-it sounds like you started off your married life together on the right path!!!
Hi Ben&Teresa
Congratulations!!!! Wish you all the best and lot of love 
and one day we will have to celebrate somewhere in Europe on the boat 
Our heartfelt to to you two. It’s always amazing to see two like minded souls find each other in this crazy world and you two definitely seem to have found your match. We hope to cross paths someday and share tales of life, love and sailing.
Katie and Mark
Uhh…add congratulations to that last comment…not sure how that got deleted from the first sentence!
Captain Ben and Skipper Teresa,
Congrats from all your Canadian friends. Happy Beginnings and many more beautiful voyages for you two world travellers.
All the Best and Long May You Big Jibs Draw.
Fred
Ni hao , Mr. Ben & MRS. Teresa wow, I feel so proud to know you two, you are so inspiring people, you have proven to the world that , considerate , right thinking people can live well, and now , I always suspected you two were or would be in love , at some point , I just kep my old guy mouth shut, . I feel so happy for you both . Keep you good ideas in focus , eh?
all the best of luck and joy to you as a laopo and laogong , , that means like spouses forever in Chinese, !
Congratulations! You are a beautiful bride and Ben a handsome groom. Thank you for sharing you pics and story.
May fair, as well as the gale winds, carry you with happiness (stay away from the doldrums).
Greg
Any girl that air drums to Tom Sawyer is a keeper. Congrats you two !!!
IT WAS AWESOME………………..
AND SO CUTE, IF I MAY SAY SO!
Your quite inspiring. I’ll be retiring in the nxt 3 yrs or so. Looking to purchase my first sailboat next year. My goal is a McGreageor 26. The draft is about 12″ (one of the reasons I am pulled toward this boat as well as many others features), and boat is trailerable, though I hope to keep it at a marina and minimize transportation needs.
I live near the delaware river in Bucks County Pa. wich gives me access to the Delaware bay and the Atlantic ocean; cape May and Lewes DE.
I hope to be skilled and confident enough by next spring to enjoy this dream.
How much time do you and Benji spend on the seas per year? I guess you have to plan out for time to come ashore and work, provide supplies.
All the best and good sailing.
Vince
Congratulations!
May you always have fair winds and following seas!
You’ve given me hope that somewhere out there, I will find a women who would literally sail around the world with me!
Big Congrats, to you both. Best wishes for an exciting future. Bill xxx
We’ve been lurking in your lives since Ben bought Chamois (a boat we had considered when Bill K. owned it, got more of a “project” boat instead ). Congratulations to both of you and wishing you many years of partnership and adventure!
Loved your wedding Story and principles. (I so loath OTT celebrations)
ps
had to laugh a bit at the stones you are standing on under the hoopa, makes it look as if you are wearing huge crocs
Congradulations Teresa! Side note, hi Debbie, interesting last name you have.
. Anyway, who’s boat will you two be living on now? Or will you two decide to sail two ships together? Best wishes and I can’t wait for more videos and blogs.
We are actually looking for a boat to purchase together. In the meantime we are living on boat that we take work on as educators or delivery crew and captains.
Teresa
Do you two have Twitter accounts or Facebook’s?
Yes. Both!
http://www.facebook.com/SailingSimplicity
http://www.twitter.com/sailingsimple
Hey T,
Congratulations to you both!! i am happy for you and i wish the best for you two!!
Congrats to you both. Thank you for being such an inspiration to us all.
Congrats ! Sounds like a wonderful wedding~
You are both so very hipocritical…. minimise waste, buy 2 boats, loosers
I met Ben just as I was shopping for my Nor’sea. Two boats and solo sailing was a great learning experience, but its time to reduce to only one. Now we are looking for one shared boat! In fact, I’ve written several posts about it including this one:
http://sailingsimplicity.com/shopping-for-boats/
Teresa
Dear OBVIOUS……you should listen before you speak……..do I detect a note of …..hmmmmmm….jealousy or disappointment in ones self………
I am wondering what is really behind your comment……it is obvious you are trying to find some thing to say that is critical to Teresa and Ben…talk about being hypocritical….I think you are someone with some real issues…..perhaps you should talk to a professional….
Dear OBVIOUS……you should listen before you speak……..do I detect a note of …..hmmmmmm….jealousy or disappointment in ones self………
Congratulations to you two. I hope you find the perfect boat for a crew of two.
Congratulations you two. Wishing you a fun filled life of love. The wedding sounded beautiful!
Belated congratulaitons! Just found your blog through Dan & Jaye…..love that you had Rush playing at your wedding! We, too, had a very economical and environemntal wedding—-7K for 150 people which in our area is good! We did all of the set up ourselves (well, the Gay Husband and his BF actually did most of the set up but we were there helping before the ceremony), used house plants as centerpeices which guest took home--most still have, donated leftover food to a homeless shelter, I wear my mother’s engagement and MIL’s wedding ring--of course, not on the boat!, dress from Nordstroms --a fraction of other wedding dressess cost--(mine was also knee length)—etc…. our familes were resistant becasue it was not the traditional wedding but afterwards LOVED it and many guests said it was the best they had been to. We have a lippincott 30 and hope to be cruising soon!
Hey, I am one with you in spirit, and try my best to be one with the environment and leave as small a footprint as possible. It’s a funny coinsidence that my birthday is Aug. 12th. I have lived aboard my 27ft O’Day for the last 2 1/2 years and was sailing it down to Fl. last fall to do a refit and install an Elco 15 hp electric motor. It’s not going to be cheep when you figure in the cost of the motor, 2 sets of 3 battery banks (and 2 leisure batteries), at least 2 more solar panels as well wind generators, my goal is to become a fossil free self contained boat. Unfortunately I ran into hurricane Sandy and ended up putting into Port Washington Long Island for the winter. By the way Port Washington is a great stop over and cruiser friendly they have town moorings that are free for the 1st 48 hours and I used the pump out station for free, also the town dock is just across the street from 2 grocery stores. I’ve made a short slide show of my trip and the people I’ve met along the way. I don’t have a decent movie camera so it’s mostly still pics but I’ll give you the utube link it’s http://youtu.be/WwpQfvUVkAo have you thought of going with an electric motor? Congrats on your knot tying may you have many happy years sailing together! Jim
hello there and thank you for your info – I have certainly picked up anything new from right here.