Green Weddings are universal?

I had a couple of meetings on Saturday, showing prospective couples the Inn of the Seventh Ray as a possible wedding site, when I saw these cute center pieces by Kelly: a variety of tiny flower pots surrounding a candle tree. The flowers land in gardens and on balconies of 180 happy guests and there we are = green with ease.

Green Rock'n Roll Wedding

Amee and Benji celebrated their Rockn' Roll wedding in Topanga, CA on April 30, 2010.

The design was funky yet classy, innovative and vintage, DIY and luxurious: the amazing ecclecticism which is born when artists, musicians and fun loving "regular" folks come together to party.

Stephanie from eco friendly Seed Floral design, Los Angeles, created the Bohemian florals. Angelica Weihs Events gave structure to spontaneity and Tiffany Koury's photography style could not have fit better. Food and wine were organic...

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Green Wedding Pomanders

Cute idea for green brides: use colorful magazine pages to create your pomanders for rose petal or lavender toss. For additional decor in tents and other structures Brown Fox offers cute Pomander balls. A creative DIY girl will easily figure out how to integrate LED lights to make this a unique lighting option.

Vegetables center pieces for your green wedding

Center pieces with real veggies are amazing for country style weddings, like Blake and Stephen's 500 guest Bel Air wedding on May 30, 2010. As they wanted to be as green as possible the veggies were meant to be used afterwards and were donated. We had the fun of our lives planning and producing their unique event and just had a peek of first pictures from their professional photographers... oh, it will be so cool to post those.
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Garden Wedding in OC

--> --> Jamie and Zac got married at the South Botanical Gardens in Orange County on Saturday, June 12, 2010. They wanted it unconventional but still honoring their Jewish culture.

Rabbi Laura Owens fit perfectly into the picture keeping the ceremony easy going yet sacred, humorous yet meaningful, with contemporary wording and Hebrew blessings. When Zac read his vows he promised Jamie to be open to her believes, murmuring: vegan...

Michael Franks of Melange, a friend of Jamie's dad and more on the traditional side of culinary culture, won the catering bid over Eco Caters. To make Jamie happy, he ventured into experimenting with vegan cuisine aside from offering various vegetarian options for the four different food stations, a catering trend my company promotes over the traditional sit down dinner or buffet, when it fits to the theme.  I tried Michael's melon mint gazpacho, potato samosas and the sweet potato/red curry quinoa cake, all delicious indeed. Jamie had to give up on some of our green ideas, like serving water in big jars rather than bottled but then Michael Franks made the extra effort and promised to recycle the bottles.

Their 145 guests loved the setting and decor, which was kept at casual  elegance. Some recycled materials, like reclaimed wood for the table numbers were used to create a vintage feel. The antique-white clay flower pots were re-used as in becoming gifts for the guests.

Many of the gorgeous girls wore high heels and the grass seemed to do them well. The brides maids in chocolate brown cocktail dresses though flip flopped them after the ceremony.

Jamie's mom Debbie created the gift box on the right and hand painted the beautiful cloth for the Chuppah below.

Jamie patiently collected and assembled the corks for the place card holders. Favors were donations to ASPA in the name of every guest.

Debbie's hand-painted Chuppah was decorated by Rebecca from Lily Pad, who created - very Jamie-like - delicate center pieces integrating succulents and whimsical flowers. The vegan cup cakes came from Jamaica's cakes.

 

I was glad that I arrived early enough to add some female touch to the general set up aside of my decor duties like re-arranging the ceremony seating, which had the isle ending in a dirt patch rather than in green grass... but in all Anza's crew did a really great job setting everything up in a small time window, their last minute balancing act on high ladders to fit the last strings of twinkle lights was rather Cirque du Soleil.

 

Unfortunately the rental company does not seem to care about anything eco-friendly and does not even recycle their enormous amounts of plastic trash. In honor of Jamie who hired me as an eco-friendly event planner and to calm my aching heart, thinking of those plastic islands in the oceans, I stuffed a bunch of plastic linen bags into my car and then into a recycling bin by my office. 

Of course there was that cute 2 year old who trotted behind the flower girl: "wait up, wait up"...

.... and otherwise curiously explored the premises.

Jamie's dad Moe encouraged the guests to party hard:" I don't want to take all this booze home" and  the three police guys who hung out in the staff parking lot for a bit, swinging with the rhythm of DJ Allan Carson, seemed rather tempted to try a vodka-triple sec- spiked lemonade...

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And the groom is a drummer

Gemma and Marcus got married in Topanga, CA on Friday, April 9 and added their very personal touch. Starting with groom Marcus drumming for his guests with his famous friends who last played for Oprah.

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Marcus walking to the ceremony area was the sign for us to start the processional: two fuchsia junior brides maids stepped down the stairs with two black royal poodles who had the actual wedding rings around their necks.

Guests were guided to the reception area, where more drumming and dancing went on in the lounge, while organic hors d'oeuvres were served.

Gemma's mom brought the home made marzipan frosted cake all the way from England, where she had fed it with alcohol for six months!
It was indeed a swinging event with a trance dance first dance.

Green Wedding Ideas

When I see Los Angeles tree trimmers often butchering trees when they touch power lines, I cringe. I read a kids' story about "stompies", trees cut back so much that they suffocate and can't recover, which still sits under my skin. I have stepped out of the car and talked to trimmers, who grin at me in oblivion: it's just a tree ma'am. Not a solution for insensitivity but smart crafty vendors are using cut branches to make candle holders - perfect for rustic weddings.

Reclaim wood when you see it. Wine country people check your wineries: these rustic elegance pieces are made from oak barrel staves.

 

Grape vine trunks looks rather arty and air plants, a unique and so far rarely used idea, are such cool  easy to grow creatures.
 

Green Wonderland wedding

 

Photographer Mark Martinez painted Annette and Justin's green wedding on December 30, 2010 at the Inn of the Seventh Ray in Topanga in magical colors. Perfect for Alice in Wonderland brides.

Aside of the delicious organic menu, local and organic wine and beer, most of the decor was handmade and will be re-used. Justin is big in green living and Annette has happily joined him in recycling and no waste efforts. They were interviewed about their green ideas by Arte TV, who did a green wedding interview with me a couple of months ago when they visited the Inn.

Eco friendly florist

 

Blake (as in Blake and Stephen, May 30, 2010 in Bel Air) and I visited Dandelion Ranch on Thursday and were smitten by the natural and whimsical beauty of the place. One would think that tires in front of a studio aren't that inviting but Clover Chadvick and her team transform found objects into beautifully unique usables, completely after our hearts.  

 

O joy, we smiled, when we entered into a vintage heaven of metal, wooden and clay containers, bunches of unusual plants, grasses, flowering (or not) twigs, herbs, yeah even weeds can get their place in a caring, creative florists bouquet.

We chose the metal pots and wooden boxes above. The arrangements will be county fair wild,  beautiful, mostly organic and also edible, an ode to Stephen who really doesn't like waste.

My green wedding planner promise: Blake and Stephen's 500 guest movie crowd wedding will have less impact on the environment than 80% of smaller weddings in 2010... just love the challenge.

Check in for updates.

Cup cake trailer 50ties style

After pop corn, lemonade, hot dogs and taco trailers Socal weddings now have their very own and unique cup cake delivery 50ties style.
Photo: the always amazing Jose Villa.

Steampunk weddings

 

Chelsea and Francesco's wedding in Paso Robles last year was one of the opening acts of the 2010 creative wedding trend of Steam punk weddings. The steampunk aesthetic hybridizes elements of Victorian design--corsets, brass gears, polished dark woods--with modern technologies, or fantastical re-imaginings of same. Adventurous officiant and friend of mine Elizabet Oakes gives us a cool run down on the creative happenings. Read more...

The exquisite steampunk wedding cake above is by Amanda Macleod of Venus Cakes; it's detailed with high-gloss edible gel and shimmery dusting powders which provide a metallic feel (but fortunately not metallic taste) to the decorative elements.  Like a true Victorian bride, the back of the cake is primly laced up like a corset--with teasing tassels for visual spice. 

 

Cake topper by boing boing.
Let's marry past and future and say hi to Mr. Wells.

Wedding in the Rain

Jennifer and Sarton were married at an outdoor location, the Inn of the Seventh Ray, on Saturday, February 6, 2010 right in the middle of a huge storm. Did I, their wedding planner, sleep after their rehearsal on Friday where we hopped from tent to tent to avoid getting pitch wet? I actually did,  I go with the good ol' Mac Gyver quote: There is always a solution.

I ordered an additional tent, had an extra long session with my brave and weathered staff (pun intended) and arrived an hour early in a rain resistant snow boarder jacket. Maintenance staff helped clear foliage and puddles and, it must have been due to our bright smiles: the sun came out right for the ceremony at 12 noon.

Jennifer's flowers (Matt from Flower Garden, Los Angeles) added a happy yellow sunshine feel.

 

The party turned out to be amazing, with Sarton, the groom, in his cool white cowboy boots, rocking away with the band. Jen's tattoo was perfect for her vintage inspired bridal gown.

They loved their customized cake topper , created to look like them. Reclaimed wood is perfect for eco-cool weddings, gracing an organic carrot cake.
Rain? No fear with us:)