"Green and Glamour"
One of the most recent green weddings I was involved with this summer was a wonderful event in San Francisco, atop Nob Hill. The view of the City skyline was amazing, as was the old-world charm of the University Club where the event took place. Just look at that old gold elevator! The whole event was classic and glamorous. You wouldn't know it, but it was also very green!
The Bride and Groom held their ceremony at St. Patrick's Church in SoMa, not far from the club. The bulk of the partying however, took place at the University Club, on two separate floors. Guests mingled and socialized in the bar, game room and lounge area on the 4th floor, while Kelly and Mark took their wedding photos.
After cocktail hour, guests were invited downstairs to dine with the wedding party and make toasts to the new couple.
From the looks of things, Kelly and Mark's wedding was super elegant, but not without a lot of green and sustainable influence. I asked Kelly to tell us about the green decisions she made:
The Gown
"My dress was a sample gown from encorebridal.com. Instead of purchasing a brand new gown (and probably made of synthetic fibers in my price range), I was able to attain a somewhat used gown that had outlived its use for the showroom, but was great for me! I would highly recommend this to any bride looking for a designer gown on a budget. I really didn't care that it was used. In fact, I preferred it used because I was one less bride demanding the production of another gown. I will wear the gown only once, anyway.
The Invitations
The wedding invitations were made from recycled paper. The invitations were a HUGE concern of mine. I didn't want to waste so many trees and ink on wedding invitations, with the inserts and all, that would eventually be thrown out (I actually just recycled someone's invite tonight). I could have done better with the paper and ink choice, but not on my budget. I wanted invitations sent out (I don't like e-vites for weddings), but I did not want to use a lot of paper. I searched for weeks for invitations that I could afford and were at least, at the VERY least recycled. I finally found them at weddingpaperdivas.com.
Transportation
We provided transportation for guests from selected hotels to reduce the amount of cars on the road. This also doubled for ease of the wedding guests navigating San Francisco and not worrying about parking in such a busy part of town.
Favors
Instead of handing out favors to guests, we donated to charity. Mark and I donated the amount of money we budgeted for wedding favors to one of my favorite charities, The Square Peg Foundation (everyonefits.org). This issue again touches on the paper/plastic dilemma. I really didn't want to contribute to the demand for mass production of more 'stuff' that would most likely be thrown out anyway. Any amount of money, in my opinion, spent on wedding favors would go so much further donated to a charity, especially in this economy. I think its also a great way to personalize the wedding and show others what causes really move you, and promote awareness.
Floral and Event Design
And finally, we had absolutely beautiful flowers and decorations! :) Finding sustainable flowers for the wedding was extremely important to me. As I began looking into floral designs, I started to wonder about these flowers that seemed so easy to obtain, though I knew that a lot of them were out of season. That snowballed into research on flower growing, labor involvement in other countries (South America particularly), pesticide use, the amount of fuel required to transport out of season flowers from a country in South America to a wedding in San Francisco. None of this made sense to me. To use so much fuel transporting flowers, chemical pesticides (that are not regulated in other countries) that put the environment and people at risk, just for my wedding, didn't sit well. I really hoped that the 'green movement' had already extended to florists, but it really hasn't yet, though its starting to, which is awesome. I was so happy to find Pilar online. I had talked to other florists who were willing to find organic and local flowers for me, but I really wanted to work with someone who was absolutely committed to the idea, not just a bride's wish.
For eco-friendly flower design we use vases made of recycled glass for the centerpieces and large arrangements, locally grown flowers and greens, biodegradable ribbons made of cotton and hemp, we totally avoided floral foam, composted all leftovers, recycled and used rented and reusable vases and hurricanes.
Advice for the Green Bride or Groom:
My advice to other brides interested in planning a 'greener' wedding is to do your research. It can be done, and it doesn't have to cost more or detract from the beauty of the wedding. Instead, I think it adds to the personality of the event. Our wedding was fun, elegant, and everything we wanted, and I'm happier now knowing that that our one day didn't do quite as much damage to the earth and its inhabitants as it could have!
The vendors who helped make this event possible included:
If you too are interested in greening your wedding, but are unsure how it will affect the look and feel of your event, now you know even the greenest brides can have grand and gorgeous weddings!
G&G
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