Earth Day 2013 – “Green” Wedding Flowers

It’s Earth Day!  Here at Ideas in Bloom, we strive to do our part for the environment and remain as green as possible while still providing our clients with the widest variety of cut flowers and designs available.  The cut flower industry isn’t the most environmentally friendly (flowers are shipped from all corners of the world year round) and we strive to make choices every day that help lesson our carbon footprint.  Here are our top five…

Recycling.  This goes well beyond reusing the flower boxes large orders come in or recycling the floral paper used to wrap bouquets.  We carry a large selection of unique rental items that not only allow our couples to cut costs, but ensure the multiple use.  Additionally, we always encourage clients to bring in their own, reused, containers around the holidays and tend to see the same family heirlooms year after year.

Living Decor.  Given Pam’s background in horticulture, it’s no surprise that we routinely provide plant decor for weddings and all other events.  From centerpieces to large installations, we’ve done it all.  In partnership with one of our growers, we also offer rental of larger trees and shrubs. Talk about impact!  Click here to see one of our collaborations.

Composting.  Retail florists often don’t have this option based on their geography, but as a independent studio in a more rural area, we actively compost all of our discarded floral material.  Our compost has even built a burm on which Pam installed a landscape!

Energy Efficiency.  During the busy wedding season our cooler hums, keeping all the flowers destined for celebration as fresh as can be.  When we don’t have events, we turn it off to save the energy and fuel.

Cutting Garden.  This is still a work in progress for us.  Each spring we hope to till more land to expand our gardens to include a true cutting field.  Sadly, it hasn’t happened yet, so for now we supplement our wholesale supplied flowers with blooms cut from Pam’s amazing existing gardens.  My favorite harvest are the Hosta leaves.  Gorgeous!

Have an Earth Day “resolution” or an unique way you stay green?  Share it with us here!

 

learn more at http://www.earthday.org/

Mary & Brian’s Coastal New Hampshire Wedding

Happy Monday!  Here’s some coastal beauty to start your week off right…

Mary and Brian love the New England Coast and vacation in Southern Maine every summer.  One of their favorite spots to visit while they are in the area is downtown Portsmouth (a couple after my own heart).  As they planned their intimate destination wedding it seemed only fitting to celebrate in the town they love and at the very restaurant they frequent the most – The Portsmouth Brewery. 

The couple came to us through a series of mouse clicks.  When researching local vendors, Mary found the link to the NH Made website on the Brewery’s page, and from there they linked to our site.  The links don’t end there!  Once on our blog, Mary found our link to Laurel Events, and just like that we got yet another opportunity to work with one of our favorite local planners.  How’s that for social networking?

The ceremony was held at St. Andrew’s-by-the-Sea in Rye, a charming stone chapel just a short walk from the rocky coastline.  We didn’t need to add much to the already beautiful space.  Just a couple arrangements on the alter and small posies on the pews.  There is something magical about old stone chapels.  Maybe it’s the splashes of colors thrown about by the stained glass or the sense of history permeating from the solid walls…  We are very much looking forward to designing for another St. Andrew’s wedding this coming summer.

 

A cozy reception of cocktails and dinner followed the Brewery.  You may have noticed the “Big Table” room in the back, just past the giant vats of brewing beer.  Mary was a bit overwhelmed by the floral aspects of her wedding and wasn’t so sure how to articulate exactly what she was looking for.  She came to our meeting prepared with various color option, design ideas, bouquets, etc, but without a strong feeling about anything.  Her absolute favorite wedding blog is http://greenweddingshoes.com/, and she loves anything vintage, rustic, or with a touch of modern influence.  Ok, no problem.  We narrowed it all down and came up with a table design that was one of my favorites of the year. 

Jars of varied shapes and sizes ran down the length of the table over a burlap runner.  We blocked colors and types of flowers together to create a cleaner, more modern take on the vintage look Mary is so fond of.  A few of the vases were wrapped with raffia for the added texture.  Another fun fact: the number of vases matched the number of guest, so everyone got to take one home as a gift!

      

Luckily these two love birds left plenty of time for photos and Photography by KLC captured some amazing moments and details.  Check them out here, and even more on her blog.

   

And to top off a great wedding, kind words from the Bride herself:

“Kristin and Pam at Ideas in Bloom were delightful to work with!!! They have amazing creative judgment and were able to figure out exactly what I loved when I was unable to articulate it. They ask all the right questions, have a wide range of style, and are most importantly dedicated to making sure the couple are happy. We and our guests were truly in love with their work. Thank you Ideas in Bloom!!”

 

Ceremony: St. Andrew’s-By-The-Sea | Reception: The Portsmouth Brewery | Planner: Laurel Events | Flowers & Decor: Ideas in Bloom | Cake: Hippie Chick Bakery | Photographer: Photography by KLC | Make-Up: CODO Make Up