Green Wedding Friday - Some Eco Friendly Resources

Don't know where to start? Check out these websites for ideas and products for your Green Wedding:

The Green Wedding Guide

Great Green Wedding

Green Elegance Weddings

WedVert

Everything Green Weddings And More

Green Wedding Friday - Earth Friendly Favors

Look what I found at Beau-Coup!I love the idea of filling the air with the fragrance of lavender as an alternative to throwing rice, and who wouldn't love a bees wax candle or the anticipation of growing plants. Decorate your table with mini palms or give the promise to come of a tin of flower seeds. Lovely ways to remember your wedding!

Green Wedding Friday - DIY Sapling Favors

Giving the promise of Spring at your wedding is an eternal memory of you. Follow these easy directions to send your guests home with a baby tree.

Do It Yourself Sapling Favors

Green Wedding Friday - The Boojum Tree Hidden Gardens

Boojum Tree Hidden Gardens is a wonderful venue for your green wedding. Beautifully appointed with lush gardens and architecture, you need bring in very little to enhance the already beautiful surroundings. The Boojum Tree makes re-useable centerpieces available as well as suggesting plants as centerpieces that can be later given as favors.

Tasha Miller, event specialist at this venue, offers tips to her couples to help cut down on waste while offering suggestions on favors that will really be used rather than looked at once and thrown away.

Internal changes have helped make The Bojum Tree earth-friendly, too. Set-M-Up Bartending (inhouse bar service) makes recycling a priority and the office had gone paperless, offering you the convenience of email for your communication.

Whether you are looking for unique architecture or getting close to nature, Boojum Tree is a really lovely place for a wedding celebration.

http://www.boojumtree.com

Green Wedding Friday - Creative Custom Cardboxes

When planning her own wedding, Marni Gold was searching for a unique and secure way to store gifts and cards at her reception. Frustrated with the gaudy, tacky or just plain expensive options she was repeatedly coming across, she finally created her own custom cardbox that was simple, elegant, and understated while still corresponding with her theme. Out of this project, Creative Custom Cardboxes was born!

Starting at just $40, Creative Custom Cardboxes are as affordable as they are beautiful. Each customer can browse a wide variety of designs at www.creativecustomcardboxes.com before specifying the exact colors, number of tiers, and types of embellishments that will make her own cardbox one-of-a-kind. A true mother-daughter team, Marni and her mom work closely with their clients to bring their exact visions to life.

Marni uses recycled papier mache in her boxes and recycled/repurposed packaging for her shipping supplies as her contribution to the environment.

While there are few limits to how customers’ cardboxes can be decorated, Creative Custom Cardboxes has on hand a consistent stock of crystals, pearls, and variations of I DO and WE DO letters.

For more information, visit www.creativecustomcardboxes.com or email info@creativecustomcardboxes.com.

Green Wedding Friday - Bella Cupcake Couture

Out of necessity and love of cupcakes; Bella Cupcake Couture was born.

Bella Cupcake Couture was created by Carrie Middlemiss after being laid off as an 18-year employee of a bank which collapsed as a result of the economic downturn. Carrie had always wanted to contribute and be a part of the cupcake community and saw this as the perfect opportunity to follow her passion.

After a year of research and talking to cupcake lovers and shop owners, she decided upon the idea of starting a company that sells custom decorative textile-inspired cupcake wrappers to hide the crinkly, translucent paper they're baked in.

Carrie wanted something fashionable for the bottom portion of her cupcakes and always said "Why should the frosting have all the limelight?"

Now, Bella Cupcake Couture offers posh and chic textile-inspired cupcake wrappers. The boutique-style designs add a touch of sophistication and elegance for any special occasion. Carrie envisions the wrappers, which are printed with soy inks on recycled paper, at weddings, bridal and baby showers and as birthday gifts, housewarming gifts and a little treat for yourself.

Our hope is that our Bella Cupcake Couture wrappers bring smiles to the ones you care about and create cherished memories with your friends and family. We want our customers to enjoy the simple pleasures and savor the sweet life.

Green Wedding Friday - Ollie The Trolley's Gone Green!

Any time you can transport a group of people at one time you save gas, pollute less, and have an opportunity for a little party. I'm all for that and that's why Ollie The Trolley has always been one of my favorite suggestions to couples planning multiple locations on their wedding day. Now the nice people at Ollie have gone one better...bio-diesel.

Bio-diesel is sustainable because it is regrown instead of just taken from the earth. It supports our farming industry and runs cleaner than diesel, emitting less sulfur dioxide,carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and particulate matter. It even helps lengthen engine life as a natural lubricant for moving parts. The best part? Those ugly fumes coming out of most buses that we choke on? No more...now it smells like fried food!

Congratulations to Ollie The Trolley for making the decision to help sustain our planet while making mass transportation for events a party on to itself.

P.S. Ollie The Trolley is now a part of our Great Green Vendors List, helping you qualify for a rebate on your wedding photography available through Marcia The Art of Photography.

Green Wedding Friday - Eco-Friendly Table Linens

My friends at BBJ Linen Rentals have the prettiest linen - made completely from recycled plastic bottles! You can see Natural Botela online or at their Phoenix Showroom.

Thanks to my girl Julie Horvath for turning me on to this pretty green fabric!


Natural Botela Fabric

Green Wedding Friday - Desert Botanical Garden

I love this place! It's so beautiful and peaceful and everything you could want in eco-consciousness. Desert Botanical Garden is an oasis in the center of Big City Phoenix.

According to DBG, "The Garden acts with the environment as its priority. The Garden’s environmentally active projects include installing solar panels on the roof of its largest building, Dorrance Hall, and composting, recycling, and reusing. The Garden is SRP’s second largest business customer to use renewable energy to meet 100 percent of its electricity needs, as we wish to promote green sustainable actions. We encourage our catering companies to be environmentally conscious encouraging reusable, recyclable, or decomposable materials whenever possible. Our utilization of native landscaping also assists us in minimizing water usage. When you choose to hold your wedding at the Garden, you are choosing to Go Green."

My favorite area for receptions is Binns Wildflower Pavillion. It is in perfect keeping with the Sonoran Desert, from the breeze that flows through it's open sides to the rustic, lit stars that illuminate the high ceiling. In the Spring the Pavillion is surounded by wildflowers, and in all seasons has beautiful cactus and Papago views. To hold your wedding at Desert Botanical Garden, Debbie Weisz, Event Assistant, at 480-481-8159 or email.

Marcia The Art of Photography encourages couples to choose multiple green vendors for their wedding with special incentives. If Desert Botanical is your venue, you need only hire one other eco-friendly wedding professional besides our studio to qualify for your green rebate.

Green Wedding Friday - Location, Location, Location

Part of sharing your green lifestyle on your wedding day is your choice of location for your ceremony and reception. By keeping the festivities to one beautiful location you can reduce emissions by eliminating travel between multiple points. Host the event during the day and you lessen the need for electricity. If it's beautiful and natural already, you can take advantage of those surroundings to be a part of your decor, allowing more unique table treatments, perhaps using items that can be re-used later.

The Valley of The Sun has a number of incredible locations that are perfect for your eco-friendly wedding. Try Boojum Tree (picture below), Desert Botanical Garden or the Zoo for a lovely and natural setting for your event.

Green Wedding Friday - Baby Steps Toward Greener Photography

I like finding ways to minimize waste and when I can do it and maximize style I am thrilled (aren't you?). I've found a way to make a pretty presentation that greens up my business, too.

Check it out. The DVD is directly printed on, eliminating the need for an extra sticker. The tin case is strong enough to ship on it's own, eliminating the need for additional packing materials, although for privacy's sake, I still choose to enclose it an envelope. I no longer need the extra padding of bubble wrap so that's that much less space in the landfill. And the coolest part of, I get to make a tiny difference will still making it really pretty!

Did you know that 32% of all garbage generated in the United States is packaging materials?

Press Release - GREEN : THE PHOTO COLLECTION now available

Scottsdale AZ wedding photography gallery Marcia The Art of Photography is pleased to announce their new product line, GREEN : THE PHOTO COLLECTION. This new eco-friendly line of wedding photography is environmentally friendly, utilizing the latest digital techniques both for creation of images and delivery to the consumer. Eco-friendly albums and presentation boxes are available from such premiere companies as Cypress and Couture Book. In addition, clients are offered incentives for making multiple green vendors their choice in their wedding plans.

According to Owner/Operator, Marcia Mauskopf, this is as much a lifestyle choice as business decision. "As I look at the changes I've made in my own life, I realized it was important to offer these choices to my clients, too. While there will always be a big market for photography as wall art, more of the people coming to me are requesting digital files to enjoy on their computers and other digital products.".

More information can be found by going to http://www.marciaphoto.com or contacting Marcia personally at 480.366.4476

Happy Earth Day!

Green Wedding Friday - NEW FEATURE!

I'm so excited...my lifestyle for a while now has been getting more and more green. We compost now, with as much kitchen waste, etc going out to go back to the earth. I'm trying to find more ways to incorporate "green" into my business, too, from unplugging computers and battery chargers not in use, to finding ways to minimize waste in shipping and recycle, reduce, reuse.

In the coming months I want to share the "greening" of my life and business with you.

Join me monthly (or even more often) for "Green Wedding Friday" where we'll find local vendors and other sources for your eco-wedding. If you have a great source to help create a green wedding, let me know and I'll feature it here on my blog.