Green-ish Centerpieces!

OK, so one of my favorite ideas for weddings is sending centerpieces home with people, and one of the biggest complaints that I hear from those trying to reduce waste (and, honestly, I tend to concur) is the amount of money people spend on flowers for centerpieces that just go to waste. I think you can not only save a lot of money but be a little bit more environmentally friendly by doing some other centerpiece options that would be more likely to be re-used by you OR your guests!

This is an example of my new obsession:

And this is what those nifty little things look like outside the vase:

AOII had our International Convention in Tucson at the J. W. Marriott Starr Pass in June and these were on the table for our Expanding Horizions dinner. I've just been dying over these-- there were blue and red and pink and green and OH the colors! But where to find these magical things? For a while, I thought they were maybe like the little beads you put in your plants to keep them hydrated and a colored LED in the center.

Oh, no, it's much cooler than that!

Water gems in EVERY color!! You can get them pre-hydrated or, much less expensively, un-hydrated. If you're traveling for a wedding, the un-hydrated would clearly be an optimal choice-- they're small enough you could fit an entire wedding's worth of water gems in your makeup bag!

(FloraLyte)

Pop 'em in water, watch 'em fill up, and then set in a vase with a FloraLyte ($2/ea) and you've got yourself a centerpiece that costs less than $7/each! BRILLIANT! Best part? You could stick your bouquet in one and keep it hydrated, and the gems (purportedly) last so you can send an awesome centerpiece home with your favorite guests that they can whip out for parties. Plus, the kids will love playing with the gems! (No lie, I sat there and played with them for like half an hour during awards)

It IS easy being Green!

Kermit the frog's got nuthin' on us these days! Eco Friendly weddings are all the rage, and I'm jumping on the bandwagon. I think there are so many ways to do a Green wedding and they range from the smallest of gestures to the grandest-- same goes for the price!

I'm sure you're all tired of hearing about our wedding, but since it's the only one I've planned from start to finish it's getting center stage yet again!

Ours was small and on a tight budget, so we used recyclable plates, flatware and cups and served drinks in cans and glass bottles that could be recycled. Sure it isn't a lot, but it's enough to show an effort and enough to make your guests feel like they're involved in the process. Here are a few other ideas we used that were simple, easy, and effective!

The favors were in unwaxed paper boxes (which meant they could be recycled) and the extras were donated as stocking stuffers for a local women's shelter.

Nobody minded the prosecco in a plastic cup! I think most of my friends were happy to not have to worry about dropping their glass, and there wasn't a large load of dishes to be done at the end of one little toast!

Since our city lets us recycle EVERYTHING, even the foil wrappers on the cupcakes were recycled! (check with your local recycling plant to see what they'll take)

We didn't have a lot to spend on flowers, so we splurged on sustainably farmed roses and just had smaller arrangements and a few stems in bud vases on the tables for the reception. The smaller bouquets were easy to carry and handle (I've seen bridal bouquets that weighed 20lb!) and didn't leave us feeling like we'd wasted flowers at the end of the day.