Real Green Weddings

Looking through wedding photos from the past three(!) years,  I realized just how many eco-conscious couples we have worked with.  I'm working on a list for the website, and while I work on that I thought I'd post some ideas from past couples on the blog.

Nat and Neil were married in 2009.  Their beautiful wedding included locally grown flowers, which were arranged by a florist.  Nat got the flowers through Strawberry Lanes, a seller at the St. Norbert Farmers' Market.  She went to Morris just before the wedding, while the flowers were still in the ground, and chose her favourites.  Then the flowers were cut for her at the perfect time and taken to the florist to be arranged. 

Photos by Larisa Lotoski:

Colours were blue, purple and white with a lot of greenery.  I don't have photos of the centrepieces, but they were beautiful.

If you are considering using local flowers (and we totally recommend that you do), here's a few things to keep in mind:

• Hail happens.  Rain happens.  Flowers don't grow on your wedding schedule.  Be willing to swap your original choices if need be.
• Manitoba-grown flowers won't all last as long as flowers brought in from other countries (did you know that in South America they use pesticides that are illegal in North America?  That's one way florist-shop flowers stay fresh looking for so long).  Arrange to have the flowers cut and arranged as close to the wedding as possible, and put the flowers in water when you can (between the ceremony and pictures, for example).
• Just because you use local flowers doesn't mean you have to arrange them yourself.  Unless you love arranging flowers please don't spend the day before or morning of your wedding putting together centrepieces and bouquets.  We've done floral design several times and it always, always takes longer than we think it will.  Contact us to find out how we can help!
• Using local flowers promotes local business and connects you with the grower, ensures little environmental damage through shipping, guarantees that workers were paid fairly and not subjected to the most harmful pesticides (ask if the grower has any organic flowers), and is usually more economical!