Apr 21, 2022

Jewel Toned Eco Friendly Wedding at Hotel Del Coronado

One of the things I'm extremely passionate about is low waste living and sustainability. I've spent several years giving up plastic, composting, etc in my personal life and have tried to carry as much of that as I can into my business. The wedding industry as a whole can be very wasteful, but I'm trying to do as much as I can in my business to keep a low carbon footprint.

When Allie and Adam reached out saying they were also passionate about sustainability, I knew we'd be a perfect match. We discussed all the ways we could eliminate plastics and waste in our designs and make their wedding more sustainable:

1.) We build all our arrangements foam free.

Flower foam is a structural mechanic and water source for floral arrangements that has been used for years. Unfortunately it's very toxic to the environment as it's made up of micro plastics that never truly decompose and enter our water ways. It's also filled with harsh chemicals that are bad for the environment and your florist's health. There are several ways to make floral arrangements without this with just some good old chicken wire to support your stems and water. All of Allie and Adam's arrangements including their ceremony install and centerpieces, were made foam free.

2.) We source local flowers to work with

By sourcing locally grown flowers, not only are your blooms fresher, but it eliminates the need to ship them all the way from South America, Holland, or Japan (to name a few common sources) and eliminate the carbon footprint of importing. We chose locally grown dahlias, garden roses, snapdragons, etc.

3.) Incorporating potted plants

Using potted arrangements in your design is a great way to eliminate waste after your wedding. You can gift them or take them home and have a daily reminder of your wedding day; “Our Love Fern”, lol.

4.) We reuse our vessels.

All our vessels, votives, arches, etc are used on a rental basis so we are not consistently buying more and more inventory. By reusing our inventory over and over, we reduce the production of unnecessary objects that will eventually end up in a landfill.

5.) We have a flex fuel delivery vehicle

Flex fuel is high-ethanol fuel that releases cleaner emissions to further reduce our carbon foot print.

6.) We compost post events

When your event has ended we return to collect all our rentals and any remaining floral from the venue. We bring home all the green waste and separate it out into our compost bins so that it can turn into dirt and be used to grow more beautiful flowers.

Here is the result of their foam free, locally sourced, jewel toned wedding flowers!

Allie's bouquet was a mix of burgundy, magenta, peach, coral and yellow. I used locally grown dahlias and garden roses mixed with snapdragons, spray roses and butterfly ranunculus.

There Chuppah florals were all built without floral foam. We used chicken wire and tubs of water at the base of the posts.

The color palette really popped off the beach Blue skies and was a perfect accent to the Hotel Del's famous red roof.

“ When my husband and I set out to find a florist for our wedding, we found ourselves morally conflicted.We loved the beauty of floral arrangements and design flare that they add to an event, but we couldn’t get over how floral arrangements can often be wasteful and harsh on the planet. Kelly was an answered prayer to what we were looking for- her local approach to sourcing flowers, post-event composting practices, and foam free arrangements were such a breathe of fresh air to discover. Not only were our flowers gorgeous and enjoyed by all, but we were able to replant many of the arrangements after the event too. And it was just so cool to know that the flowers we couldn’t replant were getting composted locally, and that soil was returning to the local farm to grow even more flowers. We can’t recommend Champagne Projects more strongly!”

-Allie, Bride

Wishing Allie and Adam all the happiness. Thank you for trusting me to create beautiful, eco friendly flowers for your wedding day! We can't wait to be back at the Hotel Del soon!

Peace, love and flowers my friends!