If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, you already know that the "Green" way of life is the new "Black" here...it goes with everything, even weddings! Along that line, a really great green trend I'm noticing in weddings around town these days is "living decor" via rented plants, centerpieces, and favors. What an amazing idea - you don't have to kill something beautiful to decorate your ceremony or celebration!!

A couple of examples of living decor: a really neat couple I am currently working with is choosing to do centerpieces with live flowering plants that they will give their guests to take home...I cannot wait to see the finished product and will certainly post photos of the reception set-up. Another couple I have the joy of assisting has a huge (and I mean HUGE) selection of succulents that they collect and cultivate themselves, and they are choosing to use them as their wedding decor to personalize their reception, to save on cost and to keep the feeling "green"... If you are interested in trying something similar, ask your florist if they can provide this option.

If your florist is not open to this idea, there's a really great local plant/floral rental company in San Francisco by the name of Decorative Plant Services (www.decorative.com). This business has been around since 1948, and they will help you design your living decor ceremony and reception from start to finish. When your celebration is complete, they'll clean it all up after you if you choose to rent their beautiful plants, or you can purchase what you use and take them all home as lovely remembrances of your special day.

Where favors are concerned, I think we are all familiar with the little packet of wildflower seeds that many couples choose to give their guests. Well, if you can even imagine it, I found this favor idea refined to green perfection at www.botanicalpaperworks.com. This company has taken wildflower seeds and actually embedded them in the paper favor itself (and they give you quite a few designs to choose from), so there is no waste whatsoever! Printed with Eco-friendly ink and constructed with 100% post-consumer waste...all you do is place the paper in potting soil and add the usual sunlight and water...and ta-da...wildflowers! You have to love the genius of that! The favor recycles itself! This site also offers living/plantable invitations and business cards...check it out! Can you tell that I am impressed?

On my final favor note, if you are in the class of people I affectionately call "tree huggers", and you are interested in giving your guests a living favor that will be with them for years to come, you will love this...take a look at www.treeinabox.com where you can purchase tree-in-a-box seed kits. That's right, you can give your guests a tree to take home and plant; a gift that will help them fight global warming from the soil of their own front or back yard... And what's more, this company will customize and print labels in any color to match the rest of your wedding decor! Very nice.

Living decor is such a great idea...and I hope you are as excited about it as I am. Not only is it creative, fun, and lovely, living decor has the added bonus of allowing us to enjoy the beauty of our natural world without destroying it. (Do make sure that you check in with your wedding venue before you go out and rent or buy potted plants for decorative purposes. Some do not allow them!)