Mar 30, 2015 | Eco-Friendly Events, Weddings
A tent wedding can be a green option.
In case you’re planning an eco-friendly event in the near future, these words still apply:
One concern I hear about making events eco-friendly is that it is going to be too expensive to be eco-conscious. While it is true that some sustainable choices are more expensive than their conventional alternatives, others are less expensive. There are always trade-offs, and, in the end, it is up to you to make the choices.
Organic food and flowers are almost certainly more expensive than conventionally grown or raised food and flowers. Organic growing is more labor-intensive, and so the price goes up. Also, retailers raise the price of organics when they can because it is a niche market. But much of the increased cost is due to the high quality of the product. On the other hand, local food and flowers in season may be less expensive than their counterparts from distant locations because they may be abundant and cheaper to transport. You can get local, organic; local, non-organic; or non-local, organic products. Each of these is more environmentally friendly than non-local and non-organic products, so you can figure out what best meets your budget and your expectations.
When you’re thinking about decor, you can save money and go green by reducing the quantity of decor items at your celebration and by reducing the potential waste. For example, edible or grow-able favors with minimal (or reusable) packaging might save you money over an elaborate knick-knack that may end up in the landfill. Finding a location that doesn’t require much decoration can save you a lot of money (and time) on decor.
A little creative thinking can both save you money and increase your green quotient. And you don’t have to have a perfectly green event. There are always trade-offs and purity shouldn’t be the goal. But if there’s something you can do that suits your style and your budget, you can make your event just a little more green.
Jun 9, 2014 | Eco-Friendly Events, wedding planning, Weddings
Charter a trolley to get your guests from ceremony to reception. Image by theblondephotographer.com.
I never get tired of eco-friendly tips. These are my thoughts about event and wedding transportation:
Probably the largest environmental impact from any kind of celebration is from the transportation involved. Guests from other places and in-town transport cause inevitable carbon emissions and pollution. To reduce the environmental impact, you might encourage your guests to arrive by rail, by bus, or to carpool. Of course, if you have your event where public transportation is an option, you can help your guests to get around by local transit. If possible, reserve hotel rooms for your guests within walking distance of the party. If they will have to travel some distance, charter a bus for them. Or, try a pedicab.
Carbon offsets are one way to mitigate the environmental consequences of travel. Although there are some who question their effectiveness, you might know of a program you feel comfortable with. You could ask your guests to pay for carbon offsets instead of bringing gifts. Or it can be your gift to them in place of favors.
For an eco-friendly honeymoon, try these ideas: honeymoon close to home; honeymoon at home (turn off the phone and tell everyone you’ve gone away); honeymoon by bicycle; or, most romantic of all, honeymoon by rail. (As my sister says, “Anyone who says romance is dead hasn’t been on a train lately.”)
Apr 21, 2014 | Eco-Friendly Events
Photo by MWD Photography.
April brings Earth Day and Arbor Day, and I have heard it called Earth Month. What are you doing to celebrate our natural world? How are you bringing sustainable intentions to your work and your play?
Here are some of the things I do to make my business sustainable: I ride my bicycle whenever I can, including to meetings with my wedding and events clients; I use compact fluorescent light bulbs in my office; and I plug my laptop and printer into a power strip and turn it off when I’m not working in order to reduce my use of “phantom power.” When work is over for the day, I am interested in landscaping with native plants. I’m working for the day my yard is a haven for native birds and insects.
There are, of course, many things you can do to make your event or wedding more sustainable. You can check out my series of posts on the subject if you want more specifics. I’d love to hear what you are doing to celebrate Earth Day. Join the conversation on my Facebook page.
Mar 17, 2014 | Eco-Friendly Events, wedding planning
I hate to bring up a difficult, uncomfortable subject when we’re talking about weddings, but I do think it is better to know all sides of an issue, especially if you are interested in eco-friendly events. I’m talking about the environmental and political problems associated with the commercial jewelry trade.
The issues around jewelry can be tricky. Photo by Ann Oleinik.
Let me be very clear about one thing: I just want to make sure that you have enough information to make an informed choice. I won’t pass judgment on your choice if you are happy with commercial jewelry.
There are environmental issues with gold, as well as political ones. Diamonds and other precious stones, as far as I can tell, have fewer environmental problems, although there are political problems.
Gold mining and refining, according to one informed source, release large amounts of toxins into the environment, including cyanide, arsenic, and mercury. Gold also requires huge amounts of water and electricity to produce, according to the same source. Many who are concerned about the problems associated with gold mining and refining call it “dirty gold” because of its negative environmental impacts.
In addition, gold mining is believed to fuel conflict in places like the Congo and Colombia. While not all of these conflicts make it into the news daily, they are ongoing sources of human rights abuses, death, and destruction.
The diamond trade also fuels conflicts in Africa according to the UN and Amnesty International. While there has been some progress in restricting the trade of illegitimate diamonds that fund wars and abuse, it is still very difficult to ensure that a diamond comes from a conflict-free zone.
Fortunately, more and more jewelers are taking environmental and human rights considerations seriously. It is becoming easier than in the past to find jewelers that carry no-conflict diamonds and clean gold.
If you want gold jewelry, look for a jeweler that uses recycled or reclaimed gold. If they supervise the recycling process themselves, that is even better. As far as I am aware, there is no certification process for recycled gold, so if this is a concern of yours, ask as many questions of the jeweler as necessary to assure yourself that their gold really is recycled.
Another choice for gold or diamond jewelry without additional harm to the environment is to find vintage jewelry. Maybe there is a piece in your family (or your soon-to-be in-laws’ family). If there isn’t anything in your family, antique and vintage stores often have jewelry sections, and you can find some very nice pieces there.
Here's a pair of wooden rings used for a wedding last year. Photo courtesy of christytylerphotography.com.
There are also some jewelry makers who work in wood and make beautiful rings. In Chicago, you can try Simply Wood Rings. There are many options available, all made from reclaimed wood.
There is probably no perfect answer to these troubling issues. The more people are aware of them, though, the closer we can come to solving some of these perplexing problems.
Dec 16, 2013 | Eco-Friendly Events, Family Parties, Style
Since everyone is thinking about holidays and parties just about now, I am revisiting some thoughts on how to decorate for a party and still be green. You can adapt many of these ideas to any party, not just Christmas or “holiday,” as they call it. But since a lot of people have Christmas on the brain at this season, I’ll start with that holiday.
Live plants are good centerpieces at any season. Photo courtesy of christytylerphotography.com.
For decor that is environmentally friendly, I suggest using live plants. There are several traditional holiday plants (for example, miniature live pine trees, ivy, poinsettias, Christmas cactus) that could be part of holiday decor. Try juxtaposing a miniature red rose bush with English ivy for a festive centerpiece. For extra credit on the environmental side, look for live plants that have been grown locally and organically. Local greenhouses are a great place to find them. If you don’t want the plants at home after your party, be sure to send them home with guests who want them.
If you have plants in your yard that would work for holiday decorating, cut a few branches of fir or holly for a mantlepiece decoration. And then compost or chip them after the party and use the result on your garden next year.
Locally grown, organic flowers
are always a sustainable choice. In the winter, that means greenhouse flowers, too. There are florists who specialize in local, organic flower arrangements.
You’ll probably be looking for some candles for your festive table. In Chicago, there are several organizations that keep bees and sell their products, including beeswax candles. For starters, try the Chicago Honey Co-op. Beeswax is less polluting than petroleum-based wax candles, and coming from a local source makes it doubly eco-friendly. It also smells nice!
If you are celebrating Chanuka, beeswax Chanuka candles are available in specialty shops and online, although I have yet to find any made locally. (If you know of a local source, please let me know.)
In the last few years, LED holiday lights have really taken off. In my opinion, most of the white lights look too bluish to be very attractive, but the red, green, and blue ones I have seen are quite nice, and the pale yellow ones are a fine substitute for white. LEDs use a tiny fraction of the energy of traditional incandescent lights, and they ought to last a very long time. Both those qualities make them environmentally friendly.
A simple fruit basket can be a suitable centerpiece.
For any kind of party, any time of year, you can make your food part of your decorations. Edible centerpieces look nice and taste great. You can buy “flower” arrangements made of fruit, or create something yourself. Even something as simple as a basket of unshelled nuts or fresh fruit with a colorful napkin can provide both snacks and visual interest. If you’re playing dreidel, the unshelled nuts of your centerpiece can also be the “chips” in the game.
A completely different approach to decorating is the second-hand idea. It is often possible to find very nice decor items in second-hand shops, especially in expensive neighborhoods or towns. Of course, if this requires many long car trips, that would offset the benefits of not buying new, so plan your shopping trips carefully. If you are lucky or live near a lot of resale or vintage shops, though, you might find vases, last year’s novelty items, theme knick-knacks, and other useful decorating items. This approach may require advance planning and some creative thinking.
Also, for eco-friendly food service, nothing beats real china, linen, silver, and glassware. Yes, it uses a lot of water to clean up after the party, but it is still a better eco choice than disposables. It also looks very festive. Compostable disposable dishes are another option, but you will probably have to pay a composting service in order to compost them. Most home compost piles are not hot enough to break them down. (See my exploration of that topic recently.)
But the most environmentally conscious thing you can do when decorating is remembering that less is more. The more new stuff you acquire and the more you have to throw away, the less eco-friendly your decorations will be. Consider renting large items, instead of buying them, if you are doing elaborate decorations. But if you do find yourself with decorations you don’t plan to use again, minimize their impact by either donating them to a second-hand shop or giving them away on your local Freecycle group.
Have happy and green celebrations!
Nov 11, 2013 | Budget Planning, Eco-Friendly Events, wedding planning
This was a very suitable back yard for a wedding reception. Photo by Light on Life Images.
In the last year alone, I have worked on more back yard weddings or receptions that I did in the previous eight years combined. I’m starting to think this may be a trend.
There is a lot to be said for back yard weddings. There are also some cautions to keep in mind. Here is what I know.
If you or your parents or someone else you know has a suitable yard for large-scale entertaining, it can be a wonderful place for a wedding or reception (or both). If it’s your childhood home, it can have a very warm emotional resonance for you and those who love you. It’s also an inexpensive location, which may be very attractive if you are on a budget. It also can count as an eco-friendly venue.
There are things to think about before you jump in, however. Yes, the location itself is free, but there may be some rather large expenses that go with it. First, you may need to put up a tent in case of bad weather. June in Chicago is not only the rainiest month of the year, but it can also be cold. And any month around here can have freak weather. Fortunately, there are many reliable tent rental companies that offer quality products, good service, and extras like flooring and heaters.
The next consideration always on my list is the question of bathrooms. Does the house have enough to accommodate the number of guests you anticipate? Are they accessible for those guests who can’t take many stairs? If not, you may need to rent portable restrooms–and find a place to put them.
Another thing to think about is the stress a back yard wedding puts on the owners of the house. Make sure both you and they know what they are getting themselves into. They may need to move the first floor furniture. They will probably feel obligated to do extra cleaning and yard work. They will have their home turned topsy-turvy for a weekend. If they are willing to do the extra work and have their home turned upside down, be sure to thank them a lot! They are doing something very special for you.
One more (non-glamorous) thing to plan for is garbage disposal. If you are serving dinner to 100 guests in your yard, you will have a larger-than-usual amount of garbage and recycling. Make plans to have extra receptacles, and figure out if your usual disposal service will be able to remove the refuse after the party.
With a little planning, a back yard wedding can be a wonderful way to get married.
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