One of the hot trends on the wedding horizon is the “eco-chic” wedding or saying “I do” with a social conscious. We’ve all seen the photo spreads of the lavish weddings with the elaborate floral displays and mountains of banquet food but did you ever stop to wonder what happens to the flowers and food once the wedding is over?
More and more brides are deciding to go “green” and according to the experts in the wedding industry “green is not a trend, it’s a movement.”
Whether you want to go totally green, or just incorporate a few green touches into your wedding and reception, here are a few ideas to think about.
1. Start off your green wedding by considering an alternative to paper invitations. Use the Internet and send E-vites or E-cards instead of the traditional paper invitations. If you are more of a traditionalist and can’t forego the paper invitations, consider using invitations made from recycled paper. Bella Figura (www.bellafigure.com) is a letterpress shop that produces invitations printed on 100% cotton (tree-free paper). Cut down on the amount of paper in your invitations by having your guests RSVP through a postcard, which eliminates the need for an envelope and reply card.
2. For your gift registry, stop to think about whether you’re asking for gifts you truly need, or things you think you’d just like to have. Too often, all those nifty appliances find their way to the back of the cupboard, never to be seen again. If you ask for appliances, make sure they are energy star compliant. For linens and towels, ask for those created from organic cotton.
3. Choosing a venue is one of the most important parts of wedding planning. To minimize your “carbon footprint” (the amount of energy consumed and waste produced), look for a venue that can host both the wedding and reception. That will minimize the amount of fuel consumed by your guests, since they won’t have to drive from one location to another. Look to the outdoors and plan your wedding and reception at a local community garden or vineyard in the area. Museums or landmark buildings are also interesting alternative options.
4. Catering is another area where you can go “green.” Look for caterers who use locally produced, organic produce and free range/organic meats and poultry. If you’re having alcohol, look for locally produced beers and wines. An easy and attractive solution for serving pieces is to use food as containers. Use a hollowed out squash to serve the soup from. Carved watermelons work nicely as fruit baskets. There are any numbers of ways to get creative with your food containers. When the party is over, ask the caterer to donate the remaining food (that was not consumed) to a local food bank.
5. Along with catering, flowers and décor are two other major areas that have the potential to generate a lot of waste and have a large impact on the environment. When looking for a florist, try to find one who grows some of their own flowers. Look for plants that can be replanted at the conclusion of the event or even go “flower free” and try alternative centerpieces like organic fruits or origami pieces. I’ve seen some amazing centerpieces using simple lemons and limes and simple vases. If you go the flower route, donate the flowers to a local hospital or retirement home when your event is over. It’s an easy option that will bring a lot of joy to the elderly or those in the hospital.
6. Give your guests flower petals or bottles of bubbles to blow in place of the traditional confetti. If you want to have confetti, make sure it comes from recycled paper or paper that will melt when it comes in contact with water (just don’t use that for a rainy day wedding )
7. Brides spend a lot of time, money and energy looking for the perfect party favor. In lieu of a party favor, consider making donations in your guests’ names to charitable organizations. Instead of the traditional favors, look to locally produced honey or wine as a favor or put together a favor of seed packets your guests can plant later on.
8. With most photographers using digital cameras to shoot weddings, your photography is one of the easiest areas in which you can go green. Have your photographer deliver your photos via email or create an online photo album so you and your guests can print out only the photos you want.
Eco Chic Weddings October 14, 2008
Food column October 8, 2008
One of the reasons I enjoy the wedding planning and catering sales business so much is the fact that I love the food side of things. I love to cook, entertain and naturally, love to eat. My passion for food and cooking has turned into a little side career as a food writer for the local newpaper. Having spent almost 30 years in the newspaper business as a journalist and Lifestyle editor, I found when I made the switch in careers to the hospitality industry I seriously missed writing. So I approached my old editor and asked if I could write a weekly column for the food page and he gave me the go-ahead. It’s nice to be able to have that outlet for my writing. Here are some links to some of my previous columns. Hope you enjoy them.
http://www.argusobserver.com/articles/2008/10/07/news/us/doc48eb7f7080224068797017.txt
http://www.argusobserver.com/articles/2008/09/30/news/us/doc48e2426ebf200523679742.txt
http://www.argusobserver.com/articles/2008/09/23/news/us/doc48d9038f9f698820087254.txt
http://www.argusobserver.com/articles/2008/09/16/news/us/doc48cfddbb2712f792329620.txt
http://www.argusobserver.com/articles/2008/09/09/news/us/doc48c68a52430b2157552061.txt
Wedding MBA October 7, 2008
I recently attended a four day conference in Phoenix called the Wedding MBA, which stands for the Wedding Merchants Business Academy. The conference was jammed packed with seminars about the latest trends in the wedding industry from speakers from companies such as Martha Stewart Weddings, Conde Naste Publications (who publish a host of bridal magazines), Kate Aspen products to name just a few. In upcoming posts, I’ll write about some of the trends to look for in the 2009 wedding season and a hot topic – eco chic weddings.
