Floral Inspirations

(photography by Simply Rose)

Onyx Harris of Amoda Flowers is on a mission.  Her mission is to create beautiful sustainable bridal bouquets for those couples looking to tread lightly on the earth.   Providing not only  bouquets, Amoda Flowers creates stunning and unique centrepieces and can help discerning couples with eco-friendly wedding favours such as herb plants, seedlings and seed packets.

(2 above photographs Simply Rose)

All floral arrangements shown here are creations of Amoda Flowers. 

“Picking flowers in season is always a good place to start. This way your flowers should be hold up well with the weather of your wedding day. Their travel has also been short therefore they are more sustainable and better quality. Here is just a sampling of the lovely seasonal flowers I’d suggest:

Spring : Peony, Iris, Anemone.
Summer: Allium, Calla Lily, Hydrangea, Delphinium, Scabiosa.
Fall: Kale, Dogwood, Solidago.
Winter: Tulips, Ranunculus, Cherry Blossom. Cymbidium Orchid.

Here are a few flowers that are available most of the year: Roses, Gerbera Daisies, Lily, Freesia, Chrysanthemum.”  Onyx Harris

(2 above photographs Snap Weddings)

Vancouver Green Printer Reviews – by Something Green

From their original article, check out Something Green’s  great review of local printing companies.

Vancouver Green Printer Reviews

Our biggest challenge in starting up Something Green was finding an eco-friendly printer that was local, affordable, and had great product quality. Not only did we need a printer to produce our products, but we also wanted to print our business cards, fliers, and envelopes from an environmentally responsible company.

Green Printer
Location: Delta
Technology: Waterless printing process and vegetable inks
Customer Service: Poor
Quality: Average to Good

Green Printer was our primary printer for several months. The staff were friendly and their prices were affordable – they were the cheapest printer we dealt with. Green Printer also blogged about environmental issues and appeared to have a genuine concern about being a green company. However, because of a lack or reliability and inconsistencies in quality we had to switch Green Printer to our backup printer. Turnaround time is 1 week, but because of mis-communication and frequent technology breaks downs, our orders always came 2 to 6 weeks late. Even more disappointingly our orders would often have mistakes like trimming errors or incorrect files printed on the front or back.

Update: We no longer use Green Printer as they stopped responding to email or phone calls.

Jukebox Print Shop
Location: Downtown Vancouver
Technology: Soy inks
Customer Service: Poor
Quality: Unknown

We didn’t get very far with this printer. Based on their website their prices rivaled Green Printer. Our experience with this printer spanned 4 weeks. We emailed asking for a quote and got no reply. Called 2 weeks later and was promised a reply by 2 days. 2 days rolled around with no response, so we emailed them back. Nothing. We called one more time and was promised a reply. We are unfortunately still waiting.

Hemlock
Location: Burnaby
Technology: Multiple systems using non toxic and organic inks
Customer Service: Good
Quality: Very Good

Hemlock is an award winning FSC certified printer. From paper, inks, resource consumption and green advocacy, their efforts to be a sustainable company far exceed the efforts of every printer we contacted. Of course, they were also the biggest printer we worked with and because of this they could not accommodate our low volume printing requirements at an affordable price. Hemlock was the most expensive printer, but they also had the best quality.

Mills Basic
Location: Vancouver
Technology: Vegetable inks
Customer Service: Poor
Quality: Unknown

A family operated printing company. Our contact was very knowledgeable about the different types of environmentally friendly paper. They were expensive, being beaten out only by Hemlock. As for customer service, they sometimes took weeks to get back to us, and when we were in the process of ordering samples from them, the whole staff went on vacation without any warning. We decided against going for a printer that was family operated and sometimes difficult to get a hold of.

Linxprint
Location: Vancouver
Technology: Wax based organic ink
Customer Service: Very Good
Quality: Good

Linxprint is our current primary printer. Like Hemlock, they are FSC certified and exceed regulatory standards with reduced paper consumption and client education of environment impact. Linxprint’s customer service is the best, with our rep responding to our emails often in the same hour. Also they are fast! Our orders are always ready within 48 hours.

That’s the whole list of green printers we worked with. How do they stack up compared to traditional printers? As a graphic designer I have dealt with dozens of traditional printers in my career (My printer of choice being TPH for the longest time). In print quality, Hemlock and Linxprint products are indistinguishable from traditional printers. As for cost, organic printers are generally more expensive. Green Printer was the only Printer that was less expensive than traditional printers.

We’ve only been with Linxprint for a month, and so far we love them. Our fingers are crossed that our long search for a Vancouver local green printer has come to an end.

- note from organizer, Shona Dion

We have done the majority of our printing with Hemlock Printers and received great service. 

DIY Wedding Ideas

Sometimes when it comes to our weddings we want to do things ourselves.  We can be inspired to great heights from the work of others and desire to recreate the idea.  Isn’t it great then to find a site that offers these inspirational ideas up for recreation. 

Craft: transforming traditional crafts  is an online blogging community that offers up great ideas for many crafting projects.  Simply enter ‘wedding’ into the search box and you will be rewarded.  Sometimes all we need is an idea to get us started.  Inspiration for all you crafty couples-to-be is at your finger tips.

At The Grassroots Wedding Fair we shall have mini design installations with great DIY decorating ideas on display for craft savvy couples-to-be to recreate.  On our main website we shall the ideas posted with instructions to follow.  We will have a few sneak peaks up soon as all our busy craftors are working away on design ideas right now.  We may be competing with Santa and his elves.

Eco Chic Local Wedding

I chatted to Carrie Wheeler of Eco Chic Media Group this weekend at The Green Christmas Market.  We talked about the upcoming wedding fair and the need for green weddings to expand.  She gave me permission to reprint an article she wrote for the Eco Chic International website. 

Thank you Carrie for sharing your story!

“When my fiance and I decided to get married, my mind wandered off to the wedding of every little girl’s dreams! However, since we didn’t have access to a castle in Europe, (not yet, anyway), we decided to be a bit more practical and actually put our Eco Chicness to the test. It was way easier than even I thought possible to reduce the impact of our I Do’s on the earth.

Engagement notices went out via email instead of the traditional snail mail, saving paper, transportation (and $$), yet still getting out the message that we were going to get hitched. The ceremony and reception invitations that we did send out not only proclaimed our love, but were also hand-made with love from rose-pressed paper, printed locally and mailed in post-consumer recycled envelopes. Replacing RSVP cards was an email address.

We scoured the city looking for vintage, estate wedding bands that individually “spoke to us”, reducing (if even just a little bit) the impact of the mining industry on our earth and animal habitat. I now proudly show off my unique French filigree 14k gold wedding band found at the Shaunessy Antique Gallery on South Granville to everyone, whether they ask to see it or not.

The flower arrangements and boutonnieres were purchased from Divine Vines, a boutique floral design store supporting local, organic growers. It was important for us to keep decorations, rentals (and transportation of said rentals) to a bare minimum, so we opted to have both our ceremony and reception in ready-made venues. We chose the Vancouver Maritime Museum’s T.K. Gallery for our ceremony, with natural sun-light, beautiful artwork and old-world maps adorning the walls. Being that the museum is set in Vanier Park and on the edge of Kitsilano Beach, we needed only take a few steps for our formal wedding photos.

Our favourite restaurant and wine room, Umberto’s Il Giardino, with its natural, yet elegant decor leaving us nothing for want, hosted both our a la carte dinner and champagne reception, (no food wasted from a buffet or unwanted items left on your plate). As in any good Italian home, Il Giardino prides itself on meals always made from the freshest of ingredients. “If it is harvested today, it is eaten today” is their motto. At the end of the evening, our guests left with our personalized, printed in Vancouver, share and blossom plantable favour, a modern, eco-friendly favour that grows wildflowers, providing our honoured guests with a blooming memento of our special day. “

~ Carrie Wheeler

The Queen of Green

I am sure many of you know who Lindsay Coulter of The David Suzuki Foundation is.  Just in case you don’t she is the ‘Queen of Green’ and offers green living tips through the David Suzuki Foundation.

In the wedding industry though she is especially known for actively pursuing her goal of having a sustainable wedding.  For all aspects of her wedding Lindsay sought to reduce her wedding footprint.  Many wedding vendors did not even have a green policy in place when she called on them.  While educating the wedding industry and encouraging vendors to think sustainably, Lindsay became known as, ‘the woman doing that thing”. 

Her thoughts on celebrating a wedding sustainably do not sound unreasonable.  Many positive actions begin right outside your door.  Choose a venue and vendors that are close by; better yet, choose ones that you can walk to.  Decorate with less and simplify your reception and gift giving.  The idea is to reduce your overall impact on the environment. 

Following her wedding Lindsay was surprised by her husband’s response to their own wedding.  He didn’t notice the lower carbon footprint.  Lindsay initially was not sure what to make of this.  She had just spent much effort ensuring that their wedding had a lower carbon footprint.  It struck her shortly after.  A green wedding does not have to look any different from any other wedding.  Nothing was missing from their day.  Lindsay and her husband had a wedding that aligned with their values.  They celebrated with good company, good food and made choices that lowered their impact on the environment without any compromises.

I want to thank Lindsay for taking the time to chat with me. 

To find out more about Lindsay’s wedding and read her green wedding tips go to The David Suzuki Foundations Green Wedding pages.

A blog to follow

Brilliant Eco Events just launched The Well Bride, a great blog with tons of info for couples-to-be.  Yoona will be posting great tips and ideas for your eco-friendly wedding.

Eco-Friendly Wedding Checklist

While trying to find interesting articles to keep eco-friendly couples in the know I came across an excellent article on Brides.com. Check here for the original article.

They give a year long time line on wedding preparations.

12 months

• Select and reserve your ceremony and reception sites. If you are celebrating your wedding outdoors, look into tent rentals.
• Choose and book an officiant who will work an eco-friendly message into your wedding ceremony.
• Meet with florists who work with local, organic farms.
• Meet with caterers and choose one who is knowledgeable about local and organic fare, and who is willing to provide vegetarian options.
• Register for gifts at housewares shops that focus on sustainable design.

10 months

• Shop for a vintage dress, one made from natural fibers, like hemp-silk, or find a simple gown that can be altered, accessorized and worn again.
• Choose a florist and pick out bouquets and arrangements made with local, seasonal flowers.
• Plan your honeymoon at an eco-resort.
• Meet with organic bakers to discuss your wedding cake.
• Start researching wedding favors, even if you’re planning on giving fruit or plant items that will be purchased right before the wedding.

6 months

• Save paper by sending save-the-date announcements via e-mail or by calling out of town guests.
• Start planning your rehearsal dinner, and if it’s going to be a picnic, start researching disposable dishes and flatware that’s biodegradable.
• Choose wedding cosmetics that are cruelty-free and made from organic ingredients.
• Select an organic baker and order your wedding cake.
• Arrange wedding transportation, and consider using a shuttle bus to bring guests from the ceremony to the reception.
• Order 100 percent recycled stationery for programs and invitations.
• Purchase wedding rings made from recycled metals or wood.

3 months

• Discuss your wedding menu with your caterer.
• Meet with your officiant and discuss all the earth-friendly aspects of your wedding so that these ideas can be shared during ceremony.
• Mail your wedding invitations.
• Decide what your guests will be throwing instead of rice, which can be harmful to birds—wildflower seeds, flower petals or bubbles are better options.

1 month

• Write and print your wedding program on 100 percent recycled paper.
• Choose thank-you cards made of recycled paper and begin to write them as you receive wedding gifts.

2–7 days

• Choose a member of the wedding party to distribute the wildflower seeds, flower petals or bubbles that guests will be throwing instead of rice after the ceremony.
• Choose a family member or friend to collect the leftover wedding programs and recycle them.

Handmade creations

I am a very stong proponent of the handmade item.  When we think of how busy our lives are these days, a gift of a handmade creation has special meaning.  This is the season of  amazing markets and craft fairs and I get giddy just thinking about it.

Those brides and grooms with homegrown wedding accessories ideas do not have to go far in this city, although our creative assemblers of goodies are not always easy to find.  We will try to feature those artists who create wedding appropriate items and feature them here.  I also strongly encourage visiting craft and artisan fairs and especially the Eastside Cultural Crawl as many artists are very willing to create accessories for you if you like their style.

Erica Cavanagh is a Vancouver creator of many things wedding.  Here is a link to a very lovely bouttoniere that she sells on her etsy shop. Etsy is an amazing place to find cool wedding ideas. Check it out!!!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=32057508

Another word from Eloginy and James

Sailing into the Sunset

The green adventures of Eloginy and James didn’t end with their wedding.  Realizing that some people are committed to giving a gift, the couple set up a registry with local sailing company Cooper Boating (www.cooperboating.com).  In the Spring of 2008 they both took their Basic Cruising Courses, almost entirely paid for by gift contributions!

Equipped with their new sailing certifications, Eloginy and James debated the various ways to gain access to a sailboat but eventually settled on a very economically feasible option.  The new Jib Set Sailing Club (www.jibset.org) on Granville Island has given them hundreds of hours together on local Vancouver waters, sometimes alone and sometimes with their friends.  For a monthly fee of $150 (and an initial fee of $500) they have had access to 22′ and 24′ keelboats almost whenever they want them, and this made for a new tradition of dinner cruises on many summer evenings after work.  Sailing together has allowed Eloginy and James to explore the outdoors in a clean fashion, and has also forced the couple to work on their communication skills and get used to being “in the same boat”.  They eventually took their Intermediate Cruising standard as well and were able to serve as skippers to take some family members on a five day trip in Desolation Sound.  Eloginy and James are now looking beyond local waters and are actively searching for a sailboat skipper who will take them on as crew on a southward adventure.

Eloginy and James highly recommend sailing (and Cooper Boating and the Jib Set Sailing Club in particular) as an ideal green wedding gift!

Thanks James for sharing your story!!!

Top 10 Reasons to have a Green Event

The ideals that motivate weddings to be green can be extended to any event.  Think birthday parties without throw away plastic cutlery and paper plates.  This is sore spot for me.  I like to bring my own dishes so I can take them home with me.  It is easy with the kids as their dishes are so much more portable.  Wait…I digress.

Large events are big consumers of both products and energy.  Many choices can easily be made green and should be made automatically.

Greenprint Events is a green event planning company that helps corporate and large event clients reduce their footprint.  Their Top Ten list for businesses can be applied to almost any event.

Thanks to Greenprint Events for letting us use their article.  Check out their website at: http://http://www.greenprintevents.com/

Top Ten Reasons to go with a green event:

1. When choosing a caterer who uses local food consider this – preparing one serving of a meal using imported ingredients from a supermarket uses 4-17 times more petroleum consumption than preparing a meal with locally grown ingredients

2. Using 100% post consumer recycled paper for your printing needs produces 74% less air pollution and 35% less water pollution, as well as using 58% less water and 64% less energy than making paper from virgin wood pulp.

3. When printing, replacing the commonly used petroleum oil with vegetable oil in printing inks utilises a renewable resource and helps conserve  finite petroleum supplies.  It reduces emissions from 30% VOC (volatile organic compounds) to as low as 2-4 % VOCs. And they don’t cost more than traditional inks!

4. Using water coolers or pitchers of water at your next big meeting can save thousands of dollars

5. Choosing a venue with natural lighting can offset major energy costs.

6. Buying in bulk can lower costs as much as 60%! (Think cream, sugar, coffee, butter, cream cheese, jam)

7. Printing two-sided communications can cut your paper costs in half.

8. Using email instead of paper invitations reduces your paper costs to 0!

9. Composting your food waste ensures that less garbage ends up in the landfill.  A 100 person meeting can produce up to 100 pounds in compostable waste.

10. Because we’ve only got one planet.