A Philadelphia Green Wedding

The Green Bride is creative, artistic and environmental all at once!  I am inspired by these brides who are conscious in their choices to tread lightly on the earth! Here is one of my brides from this  season and ways we went green. Christina got married on Sept 5th of this year at the Philadelphia Cricket Club and was a Green Bride through and through. Not only does she live consciously as a consumer but included her life philosophy into her wedding day. It was the perfect match to find me, an organic flower grower and we began the mission of stylizing a cutting edge event with decor of flair and celebration!

Flowers and Decor

We used organic flowers from Harmonyhillgardens.com in Sellersville. The color theme was exquisite, hot pink , orange, green and yellow. The back drop was white whicker  tables and chairs with hot pink seats. The centerpieces all had lemons, green apples or oranges filling tall cylinder vases.  The higher cylinders had curly willow branches with the fruit, the lower cylinders had flower arrangements on top so the fruit was not in water. We mixed flower colors in some arrangements but had color pops in square vases on her bridal table, as well as large champagne shaped vases filled with thalia leaves and beautiful flowers a top on either side of the newly marriage couple.  It offered this beautiful multilevel effect. We even hung some leaves, hydrangea, and green lotus heads simply tied across the expansive 12 windows behind them. We created sedum planters for the outdoor cocktail hour, using dessert dishes she and her mom got at a second hand store! These pieces were also favors for her guests. We went simple and budget conscious on the small cocktail tables inside with a small cylinder vase, one orange, one lemon and one apple adorned by a  hot pink ribbon band on top. She provided beautiful mesh fruit bags in green and pink netting at each seat as favors  for her guests to use in gathering their fruit to take home.  Her centerpieces offered no waste and she rented the containers from me! Our favorite piece on the place card table was made with an old cd case  that we added horsetail on the edges and used the squares for  flowers, one orange, one yellow, one green and one pink with a white lotus as the fifth square!

Food and Accessories

Her food was organic and local. The Philadelphia Cricket Club provided organic red wine and all organic Rain Vodka. The club recycles and offered a no idol zone in the valet.  She purchased her dress form a consignment shop in Ardmore, Sabrina Ann. Her jewelry was borrowed from Barbara B’s in Flourtown. She ordered most of her homemade and local items from Etsy.com; her garter, sign in book (created by a Philadelphia artist), her reusable produce bags, and hand etched toasting glasses. Her votives for her reception were made by her and her mother with beeswax candles bought from a beeswax farm in Ohio.  Her tuxedos were from the Flocco’s family owned business in nearby Conshohocken where her  husband had gotten his school uniform when he was young.

Other Green Ideas

They provided a bus for everyone to carpool and minimize carbon emmisions. Sofitel, the hotel hosting  their wedding night,  recycles and uses wind power for energy. They also suggest to hang clean towels to save water and energy.  The invitations were all recycled paper even the thank you card inside , all at By the Card on www.etsy.com  The place cards they did themselves on recycled  paper as well. Her nails were done at Tierra Mia Organic Nail Salon in Rittonhouse Square. She registered on www.myregistry.com because you can add anything from any website and she wanted gifts from eco websites. She also asked her guests not to wrap any gifts and if they did to do it eco-friendly with newspaper or old wrappings they had previously.

It was stunning in it’s presentation, luxurious looking and cutting edge! There are so many great ideas and ways to support the earth in all we do. I am glad to share our ideas!   I truly enjoy being part of this creative movement!