Green Weddings

Green Wedding Ideas

The Wedding Cake  How many people actually want a piece of wedding cake at the end of what has probably been a fairly substantial meal along with quite a few drinks?

The dubious advantages of a cake is that it provides a photo opportunity, as the bride and groom struggle to cut into it. What is left over, (usually large amounts) can be packaged up and stored for the christening of the first child which could be years away and by then the cake will be even more tempting? Or small amounts can be posted off to great Aunt Agnes who could not make it to the wedding and will probably break her dentures on the icing.

An alternative is cheese, which is far more tempting at the end of the meal and can still provide the photo opportunity, and it is easier to cut into Stilton or Brie.  You might not want to save any for the christening but cheese does have the advantage that your guests will probably return to it throughout the evening and pick away at it, which is the fate of all good cheeses.

It is also green in that you can choose to buy your cheese from a local supplier and perhaps select cheeses which are produced locally. Provide a big basket of cheese biscuits and your guests will be delighted and enjoy this probably a lot more than a piece of cake. 

These cheeses were supplied by Mr Robert Christie of Norfolk, he is in the markets of Fakenham on Thursday, Dereham on Friday and Swaffham on Saturday.

They were fantastic.

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Wedding Favours  Also sometimes know as Bonbonerie. This is a relatively new idea but one that most couples feel obliged to sign up to. It originates from the Greek custom of giving all the guests a present of 5 sugar almonds, each one representing something you would wish for all your guests such as a long life and good health etc etc.  The idea has expanded, possibly because no one really knew what to do with the Almonds and they were usually kept somewhere for many months until they went sticky and nasty and then they were quietly binned. Also possibly because, various suppliers saw an opportunity to squeeze even more money out of the wedding process which has really mushroomed over the past 20 years.

I am one of these suppliers who has sprung up recently and I supply wedding favours. I have to credit my daughter who sowed the seed of a business in my head. More or less literally sowing the seed as when she got married a few years ago she wanted all her guests to be given a small native tree which they could take away with them and plant and it would be not only a reminder of the wedding day but would also be good for the environment. Father was the one to collect the seeds, plant them, nurture them and have the little trees ready for the wedding day. You could get your Father to do the same or you could go to www.wedding-tree-favours.com  and buy your trees from me. I now grow thousands of trees and supply couples all over the UK and Ireland.   

Make your wedding a little bit green by giving each of your guests a native tree seedling such as Holly, Scotts Pine,Yew, Oak, Beech, Hornbeam, Crab Apple, Ash, Birch, Chestnut, Willow, Alder and Field Maple. Native trees given as a wedding favour are a neat idea. They provide an almost timeless reminder of the great day. Let your wedding favours do the planet a favour.

 +44 (0) 1366 386070
web  www.wedding-tree-favours.com 

 email: alan.waterman1@btopenworld.com

Confetti

So what do you think about it? I quite like it as it is traditional and the bride looks good in a haze of confetti and it is another good photo opportunity. But its messy and it stays around for days after wards and quite a few venues do not approve of its use.

However last year when I was at the National Wedding Show at the NEC, I met a very nice man who introduced himself and said that he has a farm in Shropshire and one of the things they do is grow flowers so that they can pick them and dry them and sell it as confetti which of course is much more user friendly as it will disappear fairly quickly by natural decomposition and not hang around for weeks like the traditional paper confetti.

Just imagine seeing a field full of flowers, its Delphiniums they grow which as you can see from the picture come in all shades of blue, purple, pink and also in white. There are not many fields that look really pretty. Linseed is a very delicate blue and Oil seed rape is in your face yellow and gives lots of people really bad Hay fever. In France you get fields full of Sun flowers and they look nice, but that is about it. Some potatoes flower and look OK, but I digress. I bet the bees really love it.

Anyway the Farmer man has a web site which is www.shropshirepetals.co.uk and the name of the business is Shropshire Petals which is what you might expect for a business based in Shropshire selling petals. In fact they do other stuff along the dried flower line so have a look at their web site.

I suppose you should check that your venue will allow you to throw dried petals as confetti before you order but perhaps if they still say no then it might be worth changing venue. I would certainly  tell them that you are thinking of changing and then they probably would let you toss a few handfuls of flowers at the Bride. I cant see why they should object.