I am excited to be sharing a little about Vegan-Friendly Photography at the World’s first-ever Vegan Bridal Fair in Los Angelos, CA. Since many vegan couples and families may be exploring this topic and not able to attend the bridal fair, I thought it would be helpful to create this blog post to support folks who are looking for Vegan-Friendly Photography options.

First off- the most difficult part of finding vegan-friendly options is that there is a lack of awareness that needs to be addressed in the industry of photography. This includes printing images/albums and products. Many print products are created with the use of animal gelatin which is composed of animal products (I’ll spare the details of this process. But if you want to look it up, you can research gelatin here). The gelatin is used to hold silver halide crystals in an emulsion in photo prints.

So, the starting point for folks is to choose a photographer who uses digital cameras. This is so that the photographer can avoid gelatins involved with film. Thankfully, that is fairly easy these days. The difficulty then becomes, how to display or print the images if the use of gelatin is also involved with printing images for clients. Giving this much thought I have 4 great tips for image display options for vegan clients.

Tip #1: Viewing Party

Host a Viewing Party for your closest friends and family when your images are delivered from your photographer! Who wouldn’t want to share their special moments and re-live the day? Ask friends to bring their favorite vegan snack and vegan wine (and don’t forget the Kleenex). Cue up your wedding playlist and enjoy sharing your wedding with the people who mean the most to you! You can even go LIVE on FB and Instagram to include the folks who can’t be there in person! 

Tip #2: Take advantage of your gallery

Make the most of the galleries! Did you know that most photographers deliver galleries which also have apps that you can download? Depending on what platform you are using, you can have all 1000 images at your fingertips at all times. S0, with a quick click, you can save/share/post your images to social media platforms. This makes sharing your images so easy! 

Tip #3 USB’s, the perfect gift

It’s popular to create wedding albums. But a vegan-friendly alternative would be the use of USB’s. There are many lovely wedding USB gift boxes options these days! And guess what? USB’s make perfect gifts for your parents and extended family who want to remember your special day in a tangible way. To view a Pinterest board of USB’s and gift boxes click here.

Tip #4 Digital Photo Frames and Screen Savers

Ok, I don’t know about you, but if I had a wedding screen saver on my work devices, I might not reach maximum productivity (Hello there, Mr. Hubs!). But using your images as a screen saver or placing your wedding favorites on digital photo frames is another great option. A totally free option – which makes me happy!

More Vegan-Friendly Tips

As for other photography options – I can recommend a few more options. And as I find great resources, I will continue to add to this list. If you are open to printing your images on card-stock or mat paper, there may be online print companies that offer vegan options. I have reached out to my preferred print houses, and I will update this blog as I am able with videos and examples of vegan-friendly print-alternatives. Choosing 100% recycled paper from MPIX’s DIY card-stock option is a wonderful print alternative.

Zink is a new type of technology that is a vegan-friendly print option that looks promising and is gaining momentum. To find out more about zink, please stay tuned to my blog!

Instant Cameras for your guests?

Guess what! There are Vegan- friendly Instant cameras on the market! Polaroid seems to have the corner on the market with three great options: The Polaroid Snap, Polaroid Snap Touch, and the Polaroid Z2300. Who doesn’t love the instant gratification f a Polaroid camera?

Final Thoughts on an Ethical Wedding

In the age of Social Corporate Responsibility, I believe that it is important that small business owners find ways to give back. Whether that is volunteering time or donating a gift that is aligned with their client’s ideals for advocacy. I would like to offer these two choices on behalf of my vegan clients. 1. Giving a donation to a non-profit organization of their choice or 2. donating a session to a wounded veteran who relies on the use of a therapy dog.

Finally, this blog post is dedicated to Pupito, our first “baby.” Soon, I will share our own green advocacy journey with the loss of our own beloved pet. But, for now, I’ll share one of my favorite pictures of him here. And I hope that the vegan-friendly education and support I provide can enrich the lives of others. Feel free to reach out if you have questions and to join my FB community of support, click here!

Until next post on Vegan – Friendly Ethical Wedding Tips, check out my Green Journey!