By: Colby V. Creasman
What do you intend to do with your flower arrangements after the big day is over and your guests have returned home? Waste not! When the clean-up process begins think before automatically throwing everything out. Start with the flowers and donate them for others to enjoy. Oakleaf Flower & Garden Florists (www.oakleafhighlands.com ) have started a new way to extend the life of arrangements. Owner of Oakleaf, Kirk Moore, goes back after the wedding and picks up the flowers that are left over. He then repurposes them into vases and delivers them to local nursing homes, shut-ins, and hospitals. You can do this after any event by eliminating waste and making someone else’s day brighter. The shelf life of fresh flowers is limited but can be extended with two easy steps. First, change the water at least every two days and secondly, trim the stems before putting the flowers back into the fresh water.
Flowers are mostly picked by their color and appearance. But, you can also pick a flower by its meaning and scent. Oakleaf Flower & Garden also suggest the bride and bridesmaids to carry a bouquet of herbs. The herb lavender represents love, rosemary means love, and sage resembles wisdom. A nice arrangement of those herbs can be a unique, meaningful, fresh choice to carry in a wedding. Then after the wedding you can dry these herbs and use them for spices when cooking, as potpourri, or décor in the home. This alternative to eliminate waste requires less manual labor. For three different ways to dry the herbs at home look at: http://www.herbcompanion.com.
You can purchase herb bouquets and get other arrangement ideas direct from: http://www.creeksidefarms.com.
There are other ways to make your wedding “green”. Check out www.greenbrideguide.com for more ideas including not purchasing guest favors but instead donating a set amount to a charity you are passionate about or allow your guest to choose. Also, when printing save-the-dates, invitations, and place cards use recycled paper to save trees.
