It is amazing to me how the popular concept of being “green” has rapidly emerged in spite of our country’s current recession. It seems the economic state of our country has reminded us to cherish the simple things in life, , while revealing just how precious our community and planet earth is. Most brides’ impressions of the term “green wedding” are that it means “more expensive,” but I have outlined some simple steps below that will actually SAVE you money, and will help your wedding to be a little more eco-friendly!
1) Use Local Vendors ~ Now I am not suggesting that if your wedding is in the county of San Diego you should use a vendor in the county of San Diego, but rather if your wedding is in CARLSBAD, try and find vendors in CARLSBAD, or within the north coastal community! This might not work for every vendor; however, the more local vendors you use, the less gas is used during delivery and pick-up. This can also help YOU with delivery costs. Many rental companies charge delivery fees based on the amount of travel needed to get to your wedding venue. With this in mind, try utilizing one vendor for multiple needs. A local party rental company can provide linen and chair covers in addition to tables and chairs! Many florists can provide an arch for your ceremony in addition to floral arrangements. This prevents having each rental company make a delivery with one item. Additionally, hotels and resorts tend to already have all these items in-house, so there is no need to coordinate multiple deliveries!
2) Use Locally Grown And Seasonal Flowers ~ This step is similar to above, but may be impacted by the time of year you have your wedding. Love Tulips? Then you are going to want a spring wedding. Hydrangeas are in season from late summer to early fall. Although you can get most flowers at anytime, if they are not in season on the west coast, you are going to pay the price (in both dollars and carbon footprint). The good news is most roses are in season year round, as are tropical flowers. Still try and find a local grower for these flowers, such as orchids from Cal Pacific Orchid Farm in Encinitas, to ensure a short transport of the flower. The closer you are to your flower, the less pollution its travels will produce. Ask your florist what the best choices are for local and seasonal selections during your consultation, and let them know that this is important to you.
3) E-Vites or Recycled Invitations ~ A large part of being green is limiting the impact that your wedding will have on this earth. The amount of waste produced by your wedding starts with the very first step – the wedding announcement and invites. Not everyone is a fan of e-vites when it comes to weddings. Most grandmas don’t have an email, let alone a computer! Expecting them to receive your wedding invite via the internet might not work. But with the exception of grandmas, most of your wedding guests are computer savvy. Using sites such as Evite.com is simple and FREE! If you find a wedding invite for $1.50 each (a great deal), add on a stamp @ .42 and you are looking at $288.00 for 150 invites. The simple things seem to add up the fastest. For those of your guests that are technically challenged, or for the brides who want the traditionally mailed announcement and invite, try using an eco-friendly printer and remember to STAY LOCAL! Green Field Paper Company is a San Diego based printer that uses all earth friendly products and can even print your invitation or announcement on a seed embedded paper, which can be planted by your guests and bloom into wildflowers. Pink Star Design in San Diego offers a green line of custom made wedding invitations. If you have a particular printer or calligrapher in mind, ask if they can use recycled paper for the final product.
4) Conscious Beverage Service ~ Again, our focus is to minimize the impact of your wedding on the earth. Another simple way that you can achieve this is by making sure your beverage provider DOES NOT USE PLASTIC CUPS! I know what you are thinking, “who would serve beverages in plastic cups at a wedding?? It’s so tacky!” But they do! Some venues whose main focus is not weddings (such as golf courses, community centers, etc) do not own sufficient amounts of glassware for an event such as a wedding. So make sure to confirm you will have GLASSware at your wedding! (Might as well confirm the flatware and china in the same conversation). Bottled water should be avoided as well. I know it is tempting to plaster you and your fiancé’s faces onto a plastic bottle with the wedding date and hand them out as favors at the end of the night, but please do avoid this. Those plastic bottles can last decades in a landfill. Instead, make sure your caterer provides water service, (pitchers of ice water either on the tables with glasses or full ice water glasses) either at the dinner table or at the bar. Again this seems like a given, but not all off-property caterers or beverage caterers will provide water service if not requested, so be sure to confirm this with them. For some outdoor wedding venues, having glassware is not an option. Try using a product such as Greenware Drink Cups, which is an entirely natural and renewable resource product. Having water upon request is popular at some restaurants and catered functions lately. The idea behind this is to avoid wasting water and washing glasses that may have never been used. However, in my opinion, weddings tend to be an occasion in which consuming alcohol is popular with attendees, and for that reason I always like to make sure that water service is readily available. Another suggestion for your bar is to have kegs of beer as opposed to bottled beer, again to avoid waste. Most properties would pour the bottled beer into a glass anyways. One keg of beer should equate to about 130 - 150 bottles of beer. When the price is compared, that keg will save you money! Some of you might have nightmares of red party cups and fear that the sight of a keg at a wedding may be tacky. You’ll want to be sure that the bartender has an appropriate cover on the “jockey box,” which provides the tap connected to the keg. Sometimes simply wrapping the box in linen works fine. You can take your wedding one step closer to being green by using organic and sustainable products at your bar. It is hard for wineries to be certified as “organic” but there are some out there such as Tablas Creek and Arrowood Winery. You can be sustainable by using wine from local wineries, such as Orfila Vineyards located in the San Pasqual Valley, an agricultural preserve. Purchasing wine direct from the wineries will also save you money. Stone Brewery is a favorite for local beer and is easily accessible though most wedding venues and beverage providers. You can also try asking for a list of organic spirits your bartender may have access to, like Rain Vodka. But be prepared to pay a pretty penny for organic spirits! The pricing on these products are still quite high.
5) Serve a Sustainable Menu ~ It can’t be avoided that organic food products are more expensive. It can be a challenging process to raise produce and animals without pesticides, insecticides, and herbicides in our vastly changing world. But serving a sustainable menu is becoming more and more popular. I choose the term “sustainable” to encompass the concept of being as earth friendly as you can with your menu. Find a caterer that uses local farms whenever possible for produce. When reading a menu, look for references such as “Valdivia Farms tomato and sweet red onion salad” or “Local growers seasonal vegetable Jardinières.” You’ll also want to pay attention to where your protein comes from. What type of fish and where it comes from is extremely important when it comes to protecting our ocean’s ecosystem. One of my favorite resources is Monterey Bay Aquarium, which has a Seafood Watch program updated throughout the year. You can visit the website and download a list of fish and seafood that are abundant, well-managed, and caught or farmed in environmentally friendly way in your specific region. They will also provide you with a list of what to avoid. Requesting all natural, grain fed beef, such as Brandt Farms Beef raised here in California, is another step you can take with your caterer. All natural and grain fed California poultry can be requested too. Of course you can serve an organic menu to really go the extra effort. This can get a little more expensive though as I mentioned. I suggest focusing on being SUSTAINABLE, using local ingredients to cut down on travel pollution, and supporting your local community, if having an organic menu is out of your price range.
Trying to be green while planning such a momentous occasion as a wedding may sound like more work then it really is. Hopefully these 5 simple steps I have outlined have changed your opinion about whether or not having a more earth friendly wedding is possible. If we all make small smart decisions, we can make a difference! (and save some money in the long run!)
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