Planning a Green Event - Part 10: The Trash

Ah, the final posting to our Planning a Green Event series ends in dealing with the trash. If you haven't noticed already, all the posts leading to this one has dealt with reducing unnecessary waste on each aspect of planning for your event. Often times, we do things in our daily lives without thinking about the consequences until the end and we have a pile of trash to deal with. I guess you could take that metaphorically too. But the reality is, in order to control the amount and type of waste we will have, we have to think about the effect our current decisions will make. Is it possible to have a 'zero-waste' event? I truly believe so but that decision lies within you. I hope that this little series has helped you in gaining some fun, creative ideas for your event planning.

As always, Happy Planning!

Planning a Green Event - Part 9: The Leftovers

So, you're throwing a grand event with lots of amazing food, fabulous drinks and stunning decor. But what do you do at the end of the night with all the leftovers?



Chrissy Gray, the talented event planner of Green Events, has some great suggestions so I asked her for some help on this one:

"For food waste there are a couple of different options:
1. This sounds obvious, but almost always does the trick, give leftovers to your staff. At the end of a long night, almost everyone will want something to munch on or to bring home for a snack the next day.
2. Donate the leftovers to a food bank, such as the Second Harvest Food Bank in Irvine. They are happy to take food donations of any kind, whether packaged or already prepared.
3. Compost anything else. Home composting is relatively easy to start, or nearby farms (yes they still do exist in OC! :) can take your compost as well.

For decor, donating to hospitals and nursing homes is what I always suggest, unless your guests want to take the arrangements home."

Thanks so much for sharing your words of wisdom!

Planning a Green Event - Part 8: The Transportation

The transportation to and from an event can easily be accommodated to reduced carbon footprint alternatives. And it doesn't mean that you and everyone else needs to show up with a horse and carriage (although, that might be fun). For all you car lovers, you can have a lot of fun picking out a fancy hybrid fuel efficient car to drive for the night.

There's the Mercedes S400 Hybrid:


Lexus RX 400 Hybrid:


Personally, I would love the chance to drive around Fisker's Four-Door Karma Hybrid.


'Sigh.' I can dream in the meantime.

And if you end up falling in love with the car, it just might be a great time to make the vehicle switch.
But if you prefer to just carpool in a bunch of minivans, there's nothing wrong with that.
But come on, its a special night. Go wild!

All images released press photos.

Planning a Green Event - Part 7: The Registry

Mainly for those of you who are planning a wedding, your gift registry is the perfect place to start making sustainable choices for your home, if you haven't already. Viva Terra has so many beautiful eco-friendly products from furniture to clothing. View their home goods and you just might fall in love again.


Another option, given that you don't need much, is to give your guests the option to donate to a charity that you love or purchase carbon offsets. I know most aren't too familiar with purchasing carbon offset to counter your own carbon footprint, so here is a great article on www.wikihow.com that explains this a bit more.

Happy planning!

Planning a Green Event - Part 6: The Favors

Here's an idea....don't have any favors. 'gasp'! Did I just say that? Ok, so maybe this isn't an idea that'll fly with everyone but I just love the concept of using the favor budget toward a noble cause like your favorite charity organization. I mean, favors are fun. But wouldn't this be so much more meaningful and not to mention 'green'?

Ok, so if you still want to have favors at your event, there are some great eco alternatives. Chrissy Gray of Green Events suggests unique gifts like packets of flowers seeds or small beeswax based candles.



Better yet, double up on the use of the place cards into something guests can take home such as a potted plant.


Check out www.beau-coup.com for some great wedding favor alternatives!

Planning a Green Event - Part 5: The Food

Food! Who doesn't love great food? And what if the food you served at your party was not only delicious but organic?

While I admit I haven't yet sampled their food, I've heard great reviews about Avanti Natural in Costa Mesa. They use local, organic ingredients for their menu items. And they have received quite a bit of press. I mean, just look at the pictures of their food!


Looking for some tasty organic treats?
Meet Luscious Organic Dessert. They use all natural and organic ingredients with cupcakes that are to die for!


The cookies-n-cream is my favorite!

Doesn't that look delish?
And if you're vegan, this is a great fit for you. If you're not (like me), you can't even tell its vegan.

Now, if you want a bit of a fresh twist to your event, you might want to consider The Pop Shop.

They make ice pops in the most incredible flavors.

You might recall me blogging about them a while back at the You Are What You Eat expo. But just in case you missed it, they use all natural ingredients and even use compostable wrappers. Seriously, what isn't there to love?

Now that I'm hungry, I'll be off in search of something yummy.

Happy planning!

Planning a Green Event - Part 4: The Dress

Who knew that you could opt for Green wedding dress? I hadn't even looked into the options until I met wedding gown designer Adele Weschler. She recently made an appearance at Mon Amie Bridal Salon in Costa Mesa in which she featured her collection of eco-friendly dresses. Here are a some pictures from the fashion show. Adele is the one on the right in black and yellow.







Be sure to check out her website for photos that do much more justice. But all of her gowns are created with very carefully chosen fabrics such as organic hemp, organic silk and vegetable dyed. It was very interesting to listen to her talk about how each gown was inspired by nature and its movement.

So now you know! There are some great choices for Eco Couture wedding dresses so be sure to ask at your bridal salon the next time you go! If you come across some great eco designers that you feel should be showcased, we would love to hear about them! Cheers!

Planning a Green Event - Part 3: The Alcohol

Its pretty amazing to think that you can choose to have green components for your event to every detail, including the alcohol you serve. There are so many fun and exciting solutions to what you decide to give your guests in their drinking options. Here are just a few organic and/or eco-friendly beverage ideas to get you started in the imbibement.

Based out of New Zealand, Green Man beer is not only organic but the company also reuses and recycles their bottle and cartons.


Wolaver's Organic Brewing is the nation's first certified organic beers.


Peak Organic Brewing sources from local farmers who grow organically.


Tru Vodka uses ingredients from local growers and plants a tree for each bottle sold.



Parducci's Winery is big on being Green in all areas of their business including sustainable farming practices, water conservation, recycling, 100% Green power, earth friendly packaging, and (the coolest part) they are the first US Carbon Neutral Winery.


If you have come across any great and green beverages you would like to share, leave a comment below. We would love to hear from you!

Planning a Green Event - Part 2: The Invitations

Ah, the invites. To paper invite or to e-invite. That is the question.
Well, this one will depend on the formality of the occasion and how important the invites are to you. But for me personally, there's something very special about receiving a beautiful invitation in the mail that was prepared just for me. So, while there is www.evite.com and Facebook (which I use frequently for casual gatherings), opt for recycled papers and seeded plantable ones (my new fave).

For a nicer selection of green wedding invites, www.earthlyaffair.com, www.mygoodgreetings.com and www.invitesite.com are good places to start. This sample shot from www.invitesite.com is so pretty. This a great way to intro to your guests that your event is going green.


Seeded paper is a relatively new product we came across and loved it so much that we decided to use seeded paper in our marketing material:


That little red heart has flower seeds embedded into it and all you need to do is place it under some dirt and add water. The larger postcard is made from 100% recycled materials. Love it! Check out www.botanicalpaperworks.com for their great green products.

Happy Invitation Shopping!

Planning a Green Event - Part 1: The Venue

We've spent quite a bit of time exploring the eco-chic options in the floral world. And although there is still so much more to delve into, I wanted to share some great tips to creating a fantastic Green event. Since there are so many aspects to Greening up an event, we'll be breaking this up into multiple posts.

So let's start with the one of the first decisions that are made in planning any event: The Venue! The truth is, its difficult to make any other decisions without the location picked out. I've come across some beautiful locations in California that practice sustainability, a few of which are actually LEED certified. For those of you who have never heard of LEED, it stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. They are a third party certification that verifies a building's environmental responsibility and the qualifications to a LEED certification are tough. But these buildings are designed with true innovation by incorporating reusable materials and minimizing energy expenditure. And, as you are about to see, they are gorgeous!

My favorite venue in San Francisco is the Bentley Reserve. To name just a few stand-outs to this location: the floors are made from reclaimed wine barrels, the lighting is automatically set to dim as the sun rises and as people leave a room, and a piece of the Golden Gate Bridge is showcased in a glass meeting room table on the second floor. And they are LEED certified. It is absolutely stunning! This venue was my first choice for an event when Floral Sense was in San Francisco and still is even though we have moved to Orange County. Here are a few photos from their website but it really deserves a visit to appreciate its beauty.



In the Los Angeles Area, definitely check out Marvimon. This building was an 80-year-old building which was reconstructed into a retro urban chic venue. They even took the wood from the reconstruction to make some rad tables and benches that are actually used in the building.



Not too far from Marvimon is SmogShoppe located in Culver City. Incredibly energy efficient, the building used to be an old automotive shop which is completely turned around to this beautiful urban oasis. Their outdoor walls are what I call 'living walls', innovatively decorated with a variety of succulents grown in wooly pockets. And the entire venue is 100% solar-powered!



In Orange County, Hotel Seven4One is a boutique hotel located in Laguna Beach which boasts of an ultra modern feel. The hotel offers wedding space in addition to accommodation. And you can bet that your event will be green from the energy efficiency of the building to the locally grown foods served from their kitchen.



And in San Diego, Hotel Solamar is a beautiful venue dedicated to recycled products, waste reduction and use of organics.



If you can't book at a green venue, there is no need to fret since there are other choices to make towards sustainability in choosing your venue. If you are having a wedding, try to keep the ceremony and reception in close proximity to each other or in the same location. This will minimize on emission expended getting to and from the locations. And if possible, think in terms of reducing the use of electricity by having an outdoor event during the day.

Happy Planning!