When I first learned about Wild Magnolia’s eco-friendly wedding albums, I thought it was too good be true. Really. As someone who is committed to an environmentally sustainable and socially just world I often find myself saddened by the magnitude of trickery employed by companies to get folks who care deeply about the environment to buy their stuff.

To give you a bit of background on my own deep commitment to the environment- a few years back I created a partnership with a wonderful organization called Trees For the Future where for every wedding I photograph, I make a financial contribution to TFF sufficient for them to plant 100 trees. I like to say that those hundred trees get planted in honor of my clients, so as they water the seeds of their love in marriage, so too are they planting nourishing the seeds of a forest…in a way .

Since then, I and my clients have caused 14,000 trees to be planted in the places where they’re most needed on earth! I say this, not (just) to toot my horn a bit (heh), but to demonstrate how important it is to me and my company really and truly operate in a way that makes a difference on the planet…and the vendors with whom we work is a big part of that!

So, like any good earth warrior I began “sniffin’ around” for any scent of  “green-washing”. To my olfactory delight I instead smelled only authenticity in every nook and cranny of this darling company- from the places it sources its materials, to its locally (in Santa Monica, California, actually) hand-made manufacturing process, to its company culture which shows up for me as being honest, transparent and clean.

Once convinced that they were truly walking their talk, I found myself again thinking it was too good to be true. But this time I was “sniffin’ around” for the thick scent of patchouli mingled with sweat and incense like the very densest crowd at the very hottest Grateful Dead concert I cold imagine. I was thinking, “Hmmm…since they’re as green and eco-friendly as they claim to be surely these hippies must make a fragile book. Surely they must. Really I thought it would begin bio-degrading if I breathed sideways on it.

However, the first time I held a Wild Magnolia album in my hot little hand (and it was hot, by the way…we were in Vegas, after all) I felt just how well-made, durable, and downright rugged these beauties truly are. I was floored.

Thank you, WMD for making albums that I feel good about to my core- albums that give me the opportunity to make a difference not only for my amazing clients, but for the planet. And thanks for not making me sacrifice awesome quality for a truly green product in the process.

Here’s a few photos of their wonderful albums by the fine folks at Two Pedals Photography and Stehlik Photography: