Matt and Susan offered to host our wedding at their home. Of course, we took them up on the offer. A wide open space, cedar grove, historic barn, what’s not to love?

We live rurally, with the closest city two hours out. The idea of renting event tents, tables, chairs, utensils, dishes, etc. wasn’t appealing as it would require a four-hour round trip drive to get one truckload of rentals, and more trips if we didn’t rent a U-Haul. Oh, right, I forgot to mention that a truck rental would be needed too. How else can you transport multiple tables and chairs in one trip? The logistics of scaling up to host an event starts to get overwhelming. We didn’t want to get in over our heads with this wedding.

We didn’t want our wedding to be a huge and extravagant event. I wanted to be intentional about what was used and what would happen with it afterwards. We limited ourselves to 50 guests. Jesse and I made a ceramic cup and dish for every guest, along with dishes for family members who couldn’t make it. Wedding favors are usually dumb trinkets that nobody wants. I figured ceramic dishes were a win on the no waste part, and also with reminding friends and family of us and our union. It took more effort on our part, but side from these dishes and the furniture, there was hardly any event planning, so the wedding was otherwise effortless.

Napkins were cloth and guests took those home too. Well, some did, because I guess I didn’t communicate this part well. I have dozens of cloth napkins now. I have a set of plastic dishware for everyday outdoor use and they were used as serving dishes. Leftover food was composted.

The picnic tables were saw horses with lumber boards laid on top. The weight of the lumber held the table top in place. The benches were nailed and stayed in one piece. The surface was lightly sanded to prevent splinters and clothes from snagging on the wood. After the wedding, these pieces went on to serve as saw horses for another project or seating for another event, they lived to live another life.

At the end of the night, after composting and recycling, the garbage was probably 2-3 gallons in volume. About the size of Matt’s torso, by the way that he motioned it with his hands and arms. I’d say that is a mission accomplished!