Happy New Year!
Happy New Year! Courtesy of sprungphoto.com.
All the best wishes to you and yours from me in 2014. I hope this new year brings good things to you!
Season’s Greetings
For those who celebrate holidays right around now, I’d like to offer my best wishes for your holidays. May all your dreams come true!
Eco-Friendly Party Decor
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!
Fall Wedding Photos
Here are a few photos I took of a recent wedding.
The beautiful Shakespeare Garden was the backdrop for the ceremony.
Here's another view of the garden, with one of the Northwestern buildings in the background.
This is the memorial plaque at the entrance to the garden.
The sundial is the the focal point of the garden.
It was a very small wedding, so at the reception at the Orrington Hotel, all the guests sat at one long table.
A close-up of one of the place settings.
One of the place cards.
Cocktails were on the terrace at the Orrington.
The simple and lovely wedding cake.
The end.
How Many Attendants Should I Have?
Is this your vision for your bridal party? Image by theblondephotographer.com.
So, you’re planning your wedding and you have to decide how many people are going to stand up with you. How do you make that decision? There’s no right way to decide, as it turns out. It’s always a personal decision.
One of the first things you might want to do, though, is negotiate this with your fiance. If the person you are marrying wants to have a large number and you want a small number, you will have to find a solution to that problem between the two of you. (It’s good practice for being married!) But remember that the rules are flexible. If you want two attendants and your partner wants 17, there is nothing that says you can’t do that. But you both have to be okay with that solution–and you both have to be willing to defend it to others who will object.
There are also practical considerations when choosing a number of attendants: Do you have ways to include your close family and friends if you have a small bridal party? Can you afford the expense associated with a large bridal party (gifts, transportation, etc.)?
In the end, how many attendants–or whether to have any at all–is a very personal decision that is between you and the person you are marrying. There are no wrong answers, but there may be a number of right answers.
Are You Prepared for the Weather?
Photo by Peter Coombs.
Here is something I always tell my clients: If you are planning an outdoor celebration and you have a good, solid rain plan, you won’t need it. But if you don’t have a plan, that’s when the trouble starts. I had this truth illustrated to me again just this summer.
There were two very similar weddings at opposite ends of the summer. Both were small weddings with ceremonies planned for the Shakespeare Garden in Evanston, followed by a reception at the Orrington Hotel.
Next to the Shakespeare Garden is a lovely small chapel. To reserve it costs a couple of hundred dollars. My clients early in the summer decided that they would save the money and just hope that the weather was good on the day of their wedding. That turned out to be a mistake.
The day of the wedding was not only rainy but also cold and windy. Up until the last moment, they hoped to have the ceremony outdoors, but the weather was too bad. This left me calling the hotel catering manager the night before to see if they could accommodate the ceremony somewhere in the hotel. Fortunately, the hotel staff at the Orrington is terrific. They said the ceremony could be on the 9th floor terrace if the weather was good at the ceremony time, or they would find us a place indoors if necessary.
Thirty minutes before the ceremony, the weather still looked threatening. I decided that even if the weather held, it would not be comfortable for the guests to sit out in it wondering all the time if they would be poured on. After I persuaded my clients of this, the catering manager, my assistant, and I had only about 30 minutes to set up the furniture for the ceremony in the wide hallway near the reception room. It actually turned out looking lovely and as if we had planned it that way all along, but it was not the smoothest ceremony set-up I’ve ever seen. And the sky opened up and it poured as the ceremony was starting.
I related this experience to my client later in the summer. She took it to heart. She also did not care to spend the money to rent the chapel, but she did have enough foresight to check with the hotel in advance to reserve a back-up room for an indoor ceremony if it was needed. Sure enough, the weather the day of her wedding was perfect for an outdoor ceremony, and it was held in the garden, as planned.
It never fails: If you have a rain plan, you won’t need it. But watch out if you don’t!
Same Sex Marriage Legal in Illinois
The Illinois legislature has finally passed a same-sex marriage bill for the state. It is only a couple of years since the passage of the civil union act. Personally, I never expected them to act this fast–but I am very happy that they have. This is a big step forward for civil rights in our state.
It's a day to celebrate! Photo courtesy of Artisan Events, Inc.
The short version of what this means is that as of June 1, 2014, almost any person may legally marry almost any other person in the state of Illinois. (You still can’t marry your sibling, for instance.) The devil, of course, is in the details.
If you want a comprehensive guide to the new bill, you can download a .pdf from Equality Illinois with all the ins and outs of the new bill.
My favorite part of the new law is a provision that allows couples who currently have an Illinois civil union (and maybe civil unions from other states, as well) to convert their civil union to a legal marriage. The conversion is a matter of mere paperwork, and for the first year after the law takes effect, the state will not charge a fee for the conversion. Also, after the conversion, for legal purposes, a converted marriage will be retroactive to the date of the civil union.
Between this new law and the Supreme Court’s striking down parts of DOMA, it seems that civil rights have taken a big step forward this year.
Everyone Loves a Back Yard Wedding
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.
Backyard Wedding
I have the professional shots from the backyard wedding I coordinated in the spring. Click on the photo below to go to the photo gallery for this wedding.
Photo courtesy of christytylerphotography.com.
Vendors I Know: The Shakespeare Garden
Here is the Garden as it looked in September.
There is a little gem of a wedding ceremony venue tucked away on the Northwestern University campus in north Evanston. If you’ve never heard of the Shakespeare Garden, you are in very good company.
The Garden can accommodate a small group for a wedding ceremony in a beautiful, well-maintained garden setting. The Evanston Garden Club, which maintains the Garden, does not permit the use of chairs (with some exceptions), so this venue is not for everyone.
But it is as idyllic a setting as you could want. It is secluded from its surroundings by a double hedge of hawthorn bushes, and is graced with a sundial and a fountain. It is even on the National Register of Historic Places.
I have coordinated a wedding in the Garden, and I was very pleased with my experiences there. The biggest drawback is the fact that it is an unknown location and vendors (delivery drivers, bus drivers, etc.) may have trouble finding it. If you can live with that and with its other restrictions, I recommend this location highly.
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