There are a few eco-friendly wedding trends that just seem to grow more fashionable and exciting with time. Mason jars are one famous example. At first, creative couples used them as drinking cups and flower vases but today they’re featured in chandeliers, elaborate dessert displays, and hanging sculptures. Burlap is experiencing a similar rejuvenation. Burlap, once the purview of the farmer’s market is now a hot eco-friendly fashion statement. Burlap is a coarse fabric woven from biodegradable vegetable fibers like flax, hemp, and jute. It’s commonly used to make packaging for the shipment of food and other goods but it is also used for clothing and for making a stretchable canvas-like surface for painting. Un-dyed burlap is a lovely earthy beige, an easy color to incorporate into many different wedding palettes. Burlap is 100% sustainable, made from renewable plant materials that grow quickly, and it’s quite durable (great news if your outdoor wedding hits a squall.)
Rustic Decorations
Burlap is a versatile fabric that evokes down home country charm. Create simple burlap banners with triangles of hanging cloth. Write a letter on each triangle to spell out anything you like: “love,” “just married,” or “cocktails!” You can also glue burlap to cardboard letters to give the shapes more solidity (like in the image above.) Hang burlap curtains to serve as a photo backdrop. The neutral color is a flattering complement to all skin tones and dress colors.
For the Table
Burlap is a natural choice for napkins, tablecloths and even elegant chair covers for the bride and groom. It’s also a great choice for designing eco-friendly centerpieces like the wrapped vase pictured above. The burlap gives the vase a chic bohemian look while it disguises the vase itself. This is a great way to unify a look without having to buy a bunch of expensive matching vases. If you don’t want to accent your floral arrangements with burlap but like the idea of using it as a decorative centerpiece item/table number (again, see above) try wrapping wine bottles or bottles of sparkling water.
For the Food
Create a gathered burlap flower to accent your fluffy white cake. Wrap your cake in strips of burlap and secure flowers, sequins, or other decorative elements to the material. Display your cake on a simple burlap runner, as if it were being displayed on the head table at a fine Southern afternoon social.
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