Green and white should be seen with flowers

Make your White Wedding, Greener

When planning your wedding you want to make it a special day that showcases your love for your spouse. But what about showing your love for the environment as well?
With all eyes on you, your wedding day is the perfect time to let those closest to you know how much you care. A little extra thought and preparation can make your wedding a day to remember, without taking its toll on the World around you.

Here are some things to consider when planning a green wedding –

Wedding Venue

When you think of all the guests that will be coming to celebrate your day with you, remember that that also means that many of them with have to travel to be with you. This will generate carbon emissions. While this might be unavoidable, try to lessen the impact by having the ceremony and reception at the same location.

The Perfect Dress

Little girls grow up dreaming about their wedding dress and it should be special… but that doesn’t mean ‘new’. A vintage wedding dress is not only eco-friendly and money saving but a very fashionable option as well. Trawl second hand shops for vintage gems and look online as well. Ebay may be an unlikely place to find your perfect dress but we’ve heard of lots of brides finding unique beauties.

Flowers

You might have a favourite flower that you want to include in your wedding but have you considered if that flower is in season and grown natively? If not then they may have to be grown in hot houses. As an alternative, why not ask a florist to source only flowers grown locally? Better yet, collect flowers grown in friends and families gardens for a truly personal bouquet.

Food

Think about air miles when selecting what food to feed your guests. Choose food that is in season and grown locally. You might also like to consider foods that are organic or a completely vegetarian or vegan menu.

Transport

If you want to be transported to your wedding venue in style, forget the car choose a horse and carriage instead. No fuel emissions there! If you’re an avid cyclist, how about arriving on a tandem bicycle? Maybe you fancy being carried aloft in an Egyptian style sedan chair?! Whatever eco transport you choose, it’s bound to be memorable.

green living how are we doing?

In the Louisiana parish that was home to generations of my family, people lived hard lives as field hands or sharecroppers, laboring from “can see in the morning” to “can’t see at night.” They hoed and picked cotton, corn, peas and other crops; they understood the planting cycle; they ate locally grown fruits and vegetables without ever visiting a supermarket.

Long before the terms “eco-friendly” and “environmentalism” came into vogue, generations of Americans embraced the principles of recycle, reuse, reduce without ever naming them. Earth love was lived rather than proclaimed. And it was passed on naturally, without an advertising campaign or a smartphone app.

Arbor Day, first observed in 1872, seems like an appropriate time to celebrate these early adopters of green living.

My father was part of a generation that left the South en masse, though what they knew about the earth never left them. Even as a child in Los Angeles, I could spot them. They were like my dad who, in the 1980s, long before the “urban farming” trend, seemed intent on turning our South Los Angeles backyard into a Farmville. He grew greens, onions, okra, cucumber, tomatoes and, for a time, sunflowers. The practice wasn’t so strange; other people did it too. The neighbor a few doors down had chickens.

In the South, it is still easy to see the roots of this way of life. During a visit this month, I went to the old “colored” high school in Franklin parish. The school is shuttered; the bRichard building is in a state of disrepair. But the trees stand stately and resilient on the stretch of grass in front of the buildings.

“We planted those trees,” my dad says, as he pulls from the highway onto the dirt road in front of his former school.

The trees and the school were born in the mid-1950s when my dad was a teenager. In those days the color line divided everything, even earth love. On Arbor Day, white students planted over here, African Americans over there.

As Dad and his classmates planted, some of them knew that they would soon leave this place in search of something the South was unwilling to offer them: level ground on which to plant a life. Today, I see the trees Dad and his classmates planted as evidence of their young hope.

This must have been what the scientist and former slave George Washington Carver had in mind when he said, “Plant a tree.” Though best remembered for his innovative uses of the peanut and sweet potato, Carver “spoke for the trees” decades before Dr. Seuss created the Lorax. Carver, who taught at what was then known as Tuskegee Institute, saw the planting of trees as a way to mark the transitions of life: births and deaths and weddings. Each generation leaves the world an essential gift in the trees that it plants, marking the atmosphere with their signatures.

Today we have options that Carver and previous generations never had. In our high-tech world, soon anybody with a smartphone equipped with a tree identification app can stand in front of a tree and know it. Snap a photo of a leaf and the phone will function as an electronic field guide, providing vital information about the tree. Today, iPhone and iPad users in certain parts of the country already have this ability through the app known as Leafsnap. Imagine what Carver would say if he could see us now!

Whether new technology will make younger generations love trees (or anything else in nature) better than before is an open question. Today we can go bird watching, or we can pull out our smartphones and play Angry Birds. We can grow vegetable gardens in our backyards, or we can play Farmville on Facebook.

As of March, Leafsnap had been downloaded more than half a million times, a sign perhaps that the old message is sinking new roots.

Jocelyn Y. Stewart was a 2011 fellow at the Alicia Patterson Foundation.

From LA times article.  We just had to share. Sheila, Robin, Amy

There is much talk of “greening” your wedding day . Sometimes it is as simple as having an outdoor ceremony or reception, including live plants in your reception decor or giving seeds or trees for guest thank you’s in honour of your new beginning. Whatever works for you is fantastic. We found this article by Tina Marie and loved the freshness of her earth-friendly consciousness and how it seeps into all parts of her life. It is a gift to be able to write and Tina Marie has that gift , thank you for sharing it with us all.

All for this week.: Regards, Sheila, Robin & Amy at Tree Beggings in Locke NY

outdoor wedding arbor

Greening your wedding is simple, chic and easy to do if
you follow just a few of these suggestions,

Eco-romantics about to tie the knot pay attention: Green Prophet has the scoop on making your day of love as green as possible without compromising on romance and style. From mass weddings in the Middle East to intimate ceremonies in your own backyard, here are 7 ways to leave a smaller carbon footprint when you walk down the aisle together.

1. If you are exchanging rings, consider giving heirloom jewels or ethically mined and harvested diamonds, gold, gens and platinum.
2. Wear vintage gowns and suits or those made from eco-fabrics.
3. Use locally grown, pesticide free wildflowers and natural materials to decorate.
4. Serve food and beverages made from organic, locally harvested produce and vineyards.
5. If the wedding is to be indoors, rent out a building that is built to greener standards, or one that donates a percentage of profits to environmental causes.
6. Consider a museum, an art gallery, botanical garden, historical home or cultural center for the reception.
7. As much as possible, consider how you can minimize the power requirements of your wedding by maximizing the use of natural lighting and cooling/heating options.
8. Instead of gifts, have your guests donate money to environmental or other causes that are important to the bride and groom.
9. If you are going to give your guests any party favors, make theme  eco-conscious. Candles made from soy, small planted seedlings, chocolate or other tasty morsel provided by a vendor that engages in conscious commerce.

We promised you seven, but we gave you eight. That’s because  eco-weddings are about giving back more to your niche in this world.
Going green is chic, fashionable, timely and likely to make you and your guests remember your wedding as something different from the norm. Give
more in the ways that matter, and less in the ways that are wasteful.

Re printed with the permission of the author: Tina Marie Bernard

TIPS FOR SEASONAL WEDDINGS

Wedding Planner’s Advice

by Shelley Waugh
The outdoor wedding is more popular than ever, they’re very different from the traditional indoor affair and offer more options, with only the weather as a variable.

Ten tips for an outdoor wedding either at a venue or in your back yard.

1. BUDGET: Have an exact budget or specific dollar amount when you meet with your wedding planner. Make a prioritized list of what is necessary to create your wedding the way you envision it. This will help in deciding between calligraphy invitations and live music. It can be disappointing to make big plans and then have to cancel them because they’re not affordable.

2. DATE: Planning the date is extremely important. Have several in mind, since popular wedding months such as May, June, September and October may limit the choice of dates. Depending on where you live, winter weddings for better value. They can be spectacular at this time of year.

3. COMFORT: Remember to ensure your guests’ comfort by considering weather conditions on the big day. If hot, have ushers offer ice-cold water bottles as guests are seated, or print your wedding program on a hand-held fan to keep your guests cool.  Colorful paper umbrellas shade the sun and add beautiful color as well.

4. BACKUP PLAN: What if it rains? The ideal outdoor wedding location should have an indoor plan just in case. However, an outdoor tent is another option, but only for light to moderate rainstorms. Or, the couple might have the ceremony outside and reception inside as a way to minimize the risk of bad weather.

5. PLAN FOR WIND: Windy conditions can wreak havoc on attire, hair, and décor. If the location is typically windy, avoid fabrics such as chiffons or silks. Also, advise your hairstylist that your wedding is outdoors so she/he can design an appropriate style for you and the bridal party. While unity ceremonies are important, wind can have an ill effect on the traditional unity candle. More recent ideas include the sand ceremony and water ceremony.

6. DECOR: With natural beauty all around, outdoor weddings often use fewer decorations. Some to be considered, however, include an arch or trellis, strings of lights or lanterns in the trees, torches, and luminarias or farolitas. A flower petal walkway dense with deep colored rose petals creates a dramatic contrast to green grass. Note: for weddings on grassy areas, ensure the sprinkler system is disabled so guests don’t receive an unwanted shower!

7. FOOD: A reception with food stations with delicious and beautiful options that are prepared and refreshed on a continual basis. Guests can enjoy the reception without worrying if the food is getting cold or that they’ll miss a served food course.

8. BUGS: One way to limit bug disturbances is to use citronella candles placed around the border of the event disguised with red rocks or other natural elements just in case.

9. SUNLIGHT: Couples who consider timing their outdoor wedding to a beautiful sunset should ensure that chairs are oriented away from the sun so it won’t shine directly in the eyes of their guests during the ceremony.

10. ATTIRE: If hot weather is in the forecast, wear light fabrics to avoid unnecessary overheating or perspiration. Brides wearing trains should consider the ground they will be walking on to avoid grass and dirt. An aisle runner can be helpful in avoiding stains. Consult a makeup professional for makeup that won’t cake, streak, or shine and will hold up well for photographs and throughout the event.

Tips and photos courtesy: Wedding Planner at the L’Auberge de Sedona in Sedona, Arizona, that offers luxury accommodations, fine dining, wedding facilities and spa treatments. Visit www.lauberge.com.

We loved this article because it discusses REAL issues. Don’t forget to thank you guests with a touch of nature , eco favors.

 Regards, Sheila
Plant a Memory for a Greener Tomorrow!