Seven green ways to personalise your wedding day - Day 2

Not long 'till the Spring Equinox and Earth Day on April 22nd, so we thought it an appropriate time to highlight seven green ways to personalise your wedding day. On day two we suggest you:

GO SEASONAL
As well as choosing seasonal food, which is a no brainer when you're planning an ethical wedding, seasonal flowers will give your decorations an 'of the moment' feel. Talk to your florist about what's available locally and seasonally, or ask someone to grow flowers for you. You'll end up with blooms that that are completely unusual and look absolutely stunning.

We often hear from couples planning a green wedding who are worried about the ethics of using cut flowers. You shouldn't be, flowers are a natural process in the lifecycle of a plant. Most cultivated plants are 'deadheaded' (where blooms are removed) in order to allow the plant to grow strong and encourage more blooms during its flowering season. Just make sure you arrange to have all your flowers composted once they're past their best. Recycling the material back into the soil will encourage more blooming marvelous displays season after season.

Wild flowers, on the other hand should never be picked. They must be left in their natural habitat to do what they do best.

Find out more about locally grown, seasonal, fairtrade and organic flowers from our experts.

Posted in Green Wedding Flowers , Inspiration

Floral accolades

We're always banging on about how talented and dedicated all our partners are, so here's proof... Snapdragon Garden was named at the weekend by The Independent newspaper as one of its Top 50 UK Florists.

Jane at Snapdragon says "We're working on being able to provide mail order delivery of flowers by June". So if you are interested in her mail order flowers do let her know and she will send you a note and a voucher when deliveries begin. Six lucky people on her list will become guinea pigs for her test deliveries in April, qualifying for a bunch of free flowers! So get in touch today...

Posted in Green Wedding Flowers

London limelight

It's not easy being green (to coin a phrase) wherever you are, and running a flower shop and event company in central London is probably the most challenging place to 'green' your business. But we're delighted to point out that Rebel Rebel is doing just that. These top London florists have taken up the challenge and are making every effort to be as earth friendly as possible, given their location.

They recycle everything they can - paper, cardboard, glass, plastics - and all their green waste goes to a city farm for composting. They source as much of their flowers and foliage seasonally and from British growers, dealing directly with wholesalers at Nine Elms (the huge London flower market) who specialise in British flowers. Where they cannot source British, their next choice is always Fair Trade flowers. Not only that but, as you can see by this great image of gorgeous grooms, they are exceedingly stylish and terribly chic proving that green is definitely the new black!

If you're planning an eco chic wedding at a London venue, head out to the East End and have a chat with them, they'll do you proud.

Posted in Green Wedding Flowers

Scented sensation

Have you got a Mum who deserves a well earned 'thank you' for all her support and help on the run up to your green wedding? Do you want to tell her how much she means to you at this all important time and stuck for ideas on how to show it?

Snapdragon has come up with this wonderful seasonal UK grown treat to indulge her. The bulbs are beautifully scented paperwhite narcissi and they have been potted up in beautifully aged sage green and white pots that will fit into any interior. And there's no need to throw the bulbs away once they have finished flowering and can be kept from year to year - included in the pack are care instructions for years of pleasure.

The potted bulbs are delivered by overnight courier in specially designed boxes to keep them in tip top condition. So hurry and place your order to get them to your Mum in time.

Posted in Green Wedding Flowers

Seasonal flower inspiration

So you've decided to go seasonal and local for your wedding flowers and need a bit of inspiration with your eco chic wedding plans. You can't go wrong checking out Jane Lindsey's blog at Snapdragon Garden. While you're there subscribe to her fortnightly newsletter full of fantastic tips. A creative and dedicated florist who grows flowers for clients' weddings and events, she regularly posts seasonal news and ideas from her cutting garden in Scotland.

Posted in Green Wedding Flowers

Do truly organic flowers exist?

Well, its true that flowers labelled by the Soil Association in the UK or 'USDA Organic' in the US, certifying them free from toxic or synthetic pesticides or fertilizers, are still difficult to get hold of. While organically grown flowers are available in farmer's markets and through small local growers and online, they're not always labeled as such - certification is a costly and time consuming business for small producers. Organic flower growers also struggle to achieve the quality now expected of the product, as some flowers could have blemishes and imperfectly shaped petals.

Posted in Green Wedding Flowers

Fairly traded flowers

Following on from our foray into the world of flowers yesterday, let's look a bit more closley at why we should consider Fair Trade Flowers. I know there's still a couple of weeks to go before Fair Trade Fortnight, but with Valentines day approaching I think this is the time to talk flowers.

According to the Flowers & Plants Association British people will spend around £30 million on 'fresh' flowers this Valentines Day and with around 90% of those flowers being bought by men, so please make sure your significant other sees this before he buys!

Well over 9 million red roses are given in the UK, the majority flown in from Colombia, India, Israel, Kenya and Zimbabwe and over 50 million red roses are traded worldwide on this day alone!

So it can't be denied, if you're going to buy roses, or any flowers that are flown here, it just makes sense to buy Fairtrade. By doing this you will be ensuring that workers and producers on farms in the third world will be getting a better deal from your purchase. The premium you pay for Fair Trade flowers goes towards funding further improvements for workers and their communities, and helps empower them to play a more active role in farm management issues that affect them. It ensures that less pesticides are used in the cultivation of the flowers thus making it a less toxic environment for the workers. You will be instrumental in helping workers look forward to a more secure future and a better quality in their day-to-day lives.

Posted in Green Wedding Flowers

Will you give your valentine a bucket full of pesticides?

While we'd fully admit that pesticides don't usually come to mind when choosing red roses for a valentine, we believe it's about time to start asking people to think about it. True, we don't normally eat our flowers and, for the most part, they're not worn against the skin, so that's probably why its taken longer to recognise the environmental issues surrounding the production of cut flowers.

So the big debate is raging - what is considered environmentally correct in the flower industry? Should all flowers be organic, grown without any synthetic or toxic pesticides? Or should the emphasis be on fair trade flowers, which means that the workers on the flower farms are safe and paid a fair wage? Should we choose locally grown flowers, reducing the cost of emissions? Which flowers can truly be called green?

Image Sweet Loving Flowers

For the next three days we'll tackle each of these questions in greater depth, looking at the pros and cons of each.

Posted in Green Wedding Flowers

Love is like a red red rose

One of our favourite partners Lottie Girling has come up with this gorgeous valentine rose corsage. Made from leather or suede (a by product of the leather industry), these blooms are not only charming and chic, but will still be bloomin' lovely long after those supermarket stems have withered away. She's offering them in an assortment of colours including this delicious red, of course, but if you want something extra special then there's still time to have one made to order. Leave it on the desktop and make sure you get one this Valentine's Day!

Posted in Green Wedding Flowers , Gifts & Favours

Home grown flowers

I know we bang on a lot about using local grown and seasonal flowers, but there is a reason for it. If you're at all inclined in the green direction then it makes sense not to invest in flowers that are smothered in chemicals and then transported halfway around the world for your wedding day.

Believe it or not it's perfectly possible to create wonderfully eco chic wedding decorations year round using British seasonal flowers and foliage, and GreenUnion is making it easier for you to source them too. If you haven't got access to a large garden full of gorgeous blooms our eco friendly wedding directory has a list of dedicated and talented florists growing their own flowers or sourcing them locally. When they can't source what you need from Britain, they will try and supplement with Fairly Traded of Veriflora flowers.

Take Caroline Ede, an artist and textile designer who has worked on commissions for Liberty of London and the Royal Academy. She loves working closely with her clients to interpret their desires and emotions in a sensitive and loving way and creates a wonderfully natural and romantic look using flowers grown in her own garden in the Welsh Marches.

Posted in Green Wedding Flowers

Low carbon Christmas

While foliage is plentiful at this time of the year with holly, mistletoe and evergreens being sold in markets stalls across the country, you may be looking for something much more special for your wedding decorations. If you're getting married in the UK, go low carbon and choose from Tregothnan's selection of garlands, Christmas wreaths and boxes of foliage which are all grown without herbicides on the sunny slopes of Cornwall in the South West of England. Their aromatic swag (or garland) is made up of a fragrant and colourful mix of various Eucalyptus and Rosemary and is perfect draped over a mantelpiece, surrounding a door, or running down the rail of a staircase.

The website only shows a small selection of what is available from this wonderful estate so I recommend that you telephone or email them for more information about their seasonal Christmas wreaths, garlands and cut foliages.

Posted in Green Wedding Flowers

In the mood for kissing

Writing about Esther's mistletoe bouquet yesterday put me in mind of the annual Mistletoe Festival at Tenbury Wells in Herefordshire, England, which is well underway with one auction already having taken place, but there are still two more auctions taking place on the next 2 Tuesdays 4th and 11th December. Its certainly something to celebrate this year as Tenbury Wells was one the towns which was worst hit by the summer floods and there was some debate as to whether they would be able to proceed.

All is well and the main Festival events take place this Saturday - National Mistletoe Day. There's the Mistletoe Queen's procession and her crowning, plus lots of other things going on all day including mumming plays, country dancing and other performances, juggling, unicycling, music and christmas songs, a fire show and a parade.

If you can't get to Tenbury Wells, you can buy mistletoe for your green wedding all year round online from the TEME Mistletoe Shop.

National Mistletoe Day this Saturday 1 December 2007
Tenbury Wells, Herefordshire, England

Posted in Green Wedding Flowers

Blaze of glory

As the autumn season goes out in a blaze of glory, I wanted to celebrate this favorite time of the year by showing you this gorgeous leaf wreath made by Jane Lindsay at Snapdragon Garden. This could give you all sorts of ideas for a colour scheme if you're thinking of a autumn wedding or if you just love golds and reds. And check out how the blue of the bench can be used as a highlight to really emphasise the glowing shades of autumn.

Use dahlias, lillies, chrysanthemums and sunflowers. Throw in peppers, squashes, apples, seeds, conkers, chestnut cases or grapes for texture. Top it all off with glowing candles and you'll have the richest of decorations.

Posted in Green Wedding Flowers , Inspiration

Organic Fortnight - Flowers

Making this gorgeous and unusual arrangement at the weekend from flowers in my own cutting garden got me thinking about the world of eco flowers which can be a confusing one. Should you buy local, organic or fair trade, or can they be all three? How do you decipher all the different certification schemes? So I asked Jane Lindsay at Snapdragon Garden to write a little bit about it all for us and here is what she has to say:

We would suggest that you take this route in your search for eco flowers:

The first thing to do is find out what grows in gardens near to you in the month that you are planning to be married - is it Sweet Pea or Hydrangea season or is the Lily of the Valley in flower? Seek out gardeners and ask what their peak flowers are in that particular season. If you chose most of your flowers from this list, even if you can't find someone locally to grow them for you, you will be able to source them from relatively nearby. Try local growers at farmer's markets, friends or relatives with gardens and green fingers and persuade them to pop a few seeds in the ground so you can harvest your rewards next year.

Posted in Green Wedding Flowers

Who could resist?

With Labour Day weekend in the US being the unofficial start to Autumn, and the glorious colours that come with it, here's an inspiration for your celebration that's hard to resist.

Perfect examples of locally grown fresh picked flowers simply arranged and stealing the limelight.

Image from Rose & Radish

Posted in Green Wedding Flowers

British grown flowers: A cut above

I recently had an enquiry from an eco chic bride wondering if there were any eco alternatives to wedding flowers and bouquets and it bothered me because flowers are just so much a part of any wedding. The real issue, in our view, is their provenance and what you do with them after your green wedding.

We feel that you should apply the same principles to flowers as you do to food - we all know about buying local and seasonal food, so why not do the same with cut flowers? Just as food farmers in Britain need our support, so do British flower growers who are being increasingly squeezed out of a £2 billion industry (which, incidentally, is the same worth as our music industry) by larger, more efficient, mono-cultural growing units in Holland and elsewhere. Ninety per cent of the flowers we buy here now come from elsewhere - scandalous.

Posted in Green Wedding Flowers

What's in season?

If you're planning a green wedding at this time of the year you or your florist won't find it hard to source locally grown seasonal flowers that haven't been flown from the other side of the world. At Churchtown Farm on the Isles of Scilly they grow wonderfully scented pinks throughout the summer and autumn. Arrange them with other summer flowers like daisies, veronica, grasses, cornflowers, nigella seed pods and cosmos for a relaxed laid back affair like a picnic or country vintage theme like this one by Idyllic Days.

You'll be spoilt for choice with an abundance of local seasonal food. Courgettes, beans, peas, tomatoes, peppers, courgettes, wonderful cheeses and salad leaves, soft fruits like raspberries and strawberries, gooseberries and blackcurrants. Fish, especially local lobster, is at its best if the weather's good, but our small boats in Devon have had a hard time of it trying to get out this month because the weather's been too rough, so fish is in short supply at the moment. Get your caterer to source only the very best local and organic food.

Posted in Green Wedding Caterers, Food & Drink , Flowers