When Sara Cotner and her partner-in-crime/crafting decided to tie the knot, they resisted the pressure to create the wedding of someone else’s dreams and instead forged their own path in a budget-minded, eco-friendly, hand-crafted way. Attempting to steer clear of the Wedding Industrial Complex and avoid losing their sanity and savings, they pulled off a weekend wedding extravaganza in the mountains of Colorado for a whopping $2,000 and bought their first house two days later. Sara advocates daily for meaningful and memorable weddings that focus on community, commitment, connection, and fun at http://2000dollarwedding.com. Her part-memoir, part-how-to handbook is due out this spring.

When she’s not thinking about weddings, Sara is a tomato-growing, yogurt-making, vintage pottery-collecting, Scrabble-playing, document-producing, fondue-eating, bloodhound-babysitting, dishtowel-knitting crafter and creator who spends her days closing the achievement gap as an educational consultant.

Her crafting compulsion started at age eight when she read Ramona Quimby and decided to take up sewing. She proudly produced her first scrunchie (it was, afterall, the 1980s). Now she dabbles in knitting, sewing, stamp-making, embroidery, appliqué, graphic design, magnet-making, and anything else that has an internet tutorial.

We are excited to have Sara speaking on the Consumption and Sustainability. How DIY will Save the World panel at the Summit of Awesome.