It all begins with friends sharing their ideas. I met my friend Robert in my first year of University. He told me about his aspirations about working for a green company. He showed off his expensive shirts made of bamboo. He carried empty pop cans around until he could find a recycling bin. I thought he was a cool albeit a little quirky, and I dismissed his ideas as something I was not personally interested in.

However, just a few years later after I grew out of the indifference attitude of youth, I found myself once again thinking about Robert’s ideas. I began to feel guilty when I didn’t recycle, or when I had accumulated too many plastic shopping bags. So I did the small things, and no longer felt guilty. In this same year, my cousin Zay announced to our family that he was putting a boycott on Nike and their products. He also vowed to only buy clothing and shoes that were eco-friendly. Zay was 17 years old. I was so proud and inspired once again to do more.

When Corinne and I set out to start a wedding invitation company, we didn’t intend for it to be green. But because of the influence of friends, we decided that it was important. By making our company eco-friendly, we are sending out a message and helping brides and grooms to spread the same message.

Many people have asked us why we don’t put our logos on our cards. How will you get the word out about your eco-friendly cards, if you don’t put anything on the cards? My answer to that is that it is the brides’ and grooms’ responsibility to tell their guests about their choice about having eco-friendly invitations. It means little when a company tells you that you should be green. But when someone you love and care about tells you about their green initiative it becomes a more powerful message.

It all begins with friends sharing their ideas. Your friends and family, believe it or not, care about what you think. Green thinking does not have to be taking on the responsibility to save the world, it doesn’t mean you devote you life to preaching and nagging about an eco-conscious life. It simply means living by example and inspiring those around you to do the same.

When Corinne and I decided that we would make a wedding card company together we didn’t plan on making it eco-friendly. But after some thought we decided it just makes sense. Invitations are essential to every wedding; however cards are often dressed in multiple layers of papers, ribbons, and even plastic. Though such embelishments make for pretty cards, many of them will end up in a landfill. An eye catching design printed on recycled material can be just as beautiful as their elaborate counter parts. For my wedding I went for an overly dressed card because I thought that was how wedding cards should look like. Thinking back now I realize that the over the top nature of the cards did not justify the potential waste it created. 

So, where do we start? There is a lot of information about how to be green on the Internet. We were overwhelmed. But it’s simpler than we made it out to be. Recycling is a regular habit, so much that we don’t even think about it anymore! Our first goal is to find a local printer that can print our designs on post consumer waste recycled paper. We have some potential printers lined up. Hopefully we will have a decision by next week.

This blog will follow our experiences in creating a company and learning about being environmentally responsible.