Monday, January 25, 2010

Eco cute guest books


California locals: I had been looking as far as to China to find handmade paper guest books for one of my wedding couples, who had fallen in love with Daniela's amazing book. Yesterday I stumbled upon an artsy variation browsing the little gift shop at the Inn of the Seventh Ray in Topanga: Eco-friendly guest books entirely handmade including the cute animal art work on the cover and the paper.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Exotic offbeat bridal dress



Shkank sounds like shrill design, the bridal dresses they have created are gorgeous though.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Something green - like that

The Couple: Daniela Gesundheit & Dan Goldman
 

 

The Challenge: Big Family, Little Footprints


The Location: Daniela’s Grandparents’ Home on the Beach 

 


The Wedding Planner: Angelica Weihs


Daniela Gesundheit, singer/songwriter for the Toronto-based band Snowblink, has never understood cut flowers. “I find them kind of depressing,” she says. “They’re cut and they’re dying… the vital beauty of them only lasts a few hours.” So at Daniela’s wedding to fellow musician Dan last April, the reception tables where bouquets usually sit had potted succulents instead.


“Plants living and growing are much more exciting to me — I feel more connected to that,” she says. “People will take them home, and they’ll be around for years — it seems like to have the right metaphor.”
Another wedding staple that doesn’t resonate with the couple is the cake, so they went with pies instead, minus any refined sugar. “Who doesn’t like pies?” asks Daniela. Unlike some of the sugary vegan cakes they tried, pies “will probably just need a little maple syrup or agave, and then the actual fruit.”


Dan and Daniela have been similarly thoughtful about the main course at the reception — they wanted it to be as organic, local and seasonal as possible. The caterer they used — 21 West — doesn’t identify itself as “green,” but was flexible and accommodating of the couple’s requests. “Food is a big part of our life together,” Daniela says. “Food makes you feel a certain way when you eat it, so if we’re having all these people together, we might as well have them feel good with the food we’re feeding them. And then there’s the impact it makes on that scale.”
With a total of about 250 guests, the other major impact of the event was all that travel required to get everyone to wedding site, Daniela’s grandparents’ home on the beach in LA. When Dan and Daniela’s relationship was long-distance — with him in Toronto and her in the Bay Area — they contributed to a carbon fund to offset their frequent travel. For the wedding, they plan to donate money to an environmental organization whose work they admire: the David Suzuki Foundation. They’ll also offer a shuttle from a nearby motel to the site, eliminating as much auto travel as possible.
To help them with the design and planning of their wedding and coordinate with local vendors, since Dan and Daniela now both live in Toronto, the pair had signed on with Angelica Weihs, of Angelica Weihs Events, a well known green wedding planner in LA with lots of experience in beautiful eco weddings. Daniela says Angelica’s been particularly helpful in communicating their sustainability-first vision to the various vendors. “We’ve been in the middle of a vendor meeting, and starting to feel overwhelmed, and she’ll just sweep in and say, here’s the vision. Maybe you can show us something more like that.”
(Story: Andi McDaniel)

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Sweet, sassy, saucy.


Amazing dessert displays are the way to go: eclectic, whimsical, rustic: matched to the theme of the wedding they are the bang at the end (or crescendo in the middle) of the reception.
By Sweet and Saucy.