Rachel from EcoStiletto did a bang up job on Friday morning — putting the first Green Blogger Conference together. It was a smashing success. Rachel wrote that 50 bloggers attended, but it seemed like there were closer to 100 people milling about and gabbing. Mostly gorgeous women. A room full. Who would have known!

Presenters at GreenBlog Conference | 11/6/09

From left to right, Jane Buckingham of Trendera.com, Kim Barnouin of HealthyBitchDaily.com, Siel Ju of GreenLAGirl.com, Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff of EcoStiletto.com, Starre Vartan of Eco-Chick.com, Lauren Selman of ReelGreenMedia.com and Jen Boulden of IdealBite.com

The photo includes all the women on the panel. The discussion ranged from Facebook stalkers to how to ethically handle product reviews. There was a great discussion about a writer’s voice, how personal should blog posts be? What is the difference between old school journalism and blogging. Everyone agreed with Jen, that the climate change situation is critical and more needs to be done to pressure real change.  Lifestyle green activism is important — but so is political activism. This is a subject I struggle with on green weddings.  Who wants to hear doom and gloom? Weddings are all about love and looking forward.

The energy was terrific — really open and friendly. There were are number of green wedding bloggers there — but didn’t know and missed meeting them.

Next time. Next year ???

Thanks to Environment  and Green Works for hosting. Really lovely furniture and great gift bags from all the sponsors.  Will thank all the gift bag sponsors on the Invitesite blog.  A lot of the gifts are handmade – -and I know what it’s like staying up late putting together gift packets!

Organic Tomatoes

As a devotee of organic farmer’s markets and raw foods for almost 20 years now, I find myself in a bit of a dilemma.

We buy about 80% of all our food from local farmer’s markets.

This year, Scott, Cindy and I  started a vegetable garden.  So far, we’ve produced hundreds and hundreds of delicious, gorgeous heirloom tomatoes. So, I have not bought even one tomato this year.

I have farmer’s market guilt.

Which I make up for, buying other produce from my favorite organic farmers. (And foisting much of it on Invitesite staff!)

But, this has made me think about green cannibalism. (just a dreadful term, yes??)

The urban farming movement is really taking off. But, urban gardening is most likely practiced by people who would buy their produce from local, small farmers.

Wouldn’t effect conventional growers at all.

So, the urban gardening movement will have the largest impact on small, local, organic farmers, in terms of decreasing their business.

Likewise — I’ve noticed that the current trend toward green weddings has actually had a somewhat negative effect on a number of green vendors.

There is a big trend to make floral designs from paper – instead of using real organically grown flowers. (And any company growing flowers organically, are already doing things 5 times as hard as they would do, growing flowers conventionally)

The green trend is not changing how conventional floral designers work at all. Most of their customers just don’t care.

Will the green movement have the effect of actually harming many green vendors?

Interesting dilemma.

WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, just announced that InviteSite as won the 2009 Bride’s Choice Awards!

In its inaugural year, the Bride’s Choice Awards recognizes and honors vendors from the WeddingWire Network that demonstrate excellent quality of service, responsiveness, professionalism, value of cost and flexibility. This year’s recipients represent the top three percent of WeddingWire’s vendor community, which includes over 100,000 wedding vendors from across the US. That means InviteSite is one of the very best makers of wedding invitations.

Unlike other awards in which winners are selected by the company, the Bride’s Choice Awards are determined exclusively by recent newlyweds through surveys and reviews.

We are excited to launch this annual award program to honor high-performing vendors based solely on the experiences of our WeddingWire community, according to Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. This year’s recipients have set the bar high, exhibiting excellent service and expertise in the wedding industry.

InviteSite would like to thank our past clients for speaking on our behalf and helping us win the 2009 Bride’s Choice Award!

Almost all invitations will cost more than 42 cents to mail. If it’s square, if it’s thicker, if it’s more than 6-1/8 inches on two sides, it will cost at least 20 cents more. The Post Office increased rates about 6 months back, and finally sorted out the increases.

If any of your wedding stationery (mailable) has the slightest bump, add 20 cents.

So, if you are trying to spruce up a really simple invitation by adding a bow, a tie, a pressed flower, anything that adds a bump, add 20 cents per.

Don’t get your mail returned. Don’t get caught by surprise. Never mail out your invitations without getting a finished piece weighed at your local post office.

If you get frustrated with the lack of aesthetics when choosing stamps for the extra postage, check out the fun you can have making your own stamps with Zazzle.

The Democratic National Convention, held in August in Denver, has created strong environmental mandates and standards about food (local and healthy), catering supplies (compostable), transportation, and Democratic Party related consumer goods. (fanny packs, totes, etc) Some good people are on board to help them pull it off, but so far, the press has reported only on problems. Last week in the Wall Street Journal and this weekend in the NY Times. Some of the catering companies have been moaning about the local food requirements.
If the organizers can pull this off, it will do great things for the green events cause.

So here we are getting ready to launch the brand new Invitesite. Almost a year of work. The new site is all custom coded by Alex, and we’ll be able to offer loads of new designs for your Green Wedding pleasure . Lots of new letterpress decorated designs coming too. (We just rebuilt a lovely large press with sturdy bearings and a large bed.) So, with our inventory of 7 large presses we’ll be able to execute some fine designs. Scott and I are looking forward to an extremely creative year. YIPEEEE!!!

I just came back from the National Stationery Show in New York.  Yes, Green was marketed as the NEXT HOT TREND. Concurrently, the International Contemporary Furniture Fair is held at the same time. Lots of very modern, eco furniture and building materials companies exhibit.

Great. Terrific. Then why, why, why isn’t someone putting pressure on the Javits Convention Center to set up recycling bins?

Food Service is an astonishing example of waste. How many people eat at the Convention Center? Thousands per day?  Do each of them really need a DISPOSABLE STYROFOAM TRAY??

Soon, please, vegetable based disposable containers and why can’t we wash trays like we used to do?

Post Consumer Recycled Paper: Use it or Not??

Unfortunately, it’s not easy to find 100% postconsumer recycled paper. Last year, one of our suppliers actually went into bankruptcy. (They have since stabilized their finances.)

Until the markets for recycled paper expand and become commonplace, trees will continue to be cut down to  make paper. This, from the Union for Concerned Scientists:

The growing presence of recycled paper has led many people to believe that all paper is now made from recycled materials. This unfortunate misconception has actually decreased demand for recycled paper, causing manufacturers to produce less. As a result, more than 90 percent of printing and writing paper still comes from virgin tree fiber.

The benefits of producing paper from recycled fibers are many: fewer trees cut down, less water and energy consumed, less pollution generated. And now that studies have shown today’s recycled paper products are comparable to conventional products in quality, performance, and cost, the case for buying recycled is stronger than ever.

Some paper suppliers are touting 30% postconsumer recycled paper as ‘green’ or the eco alternative. Frankly, that is pretty lame. 30% recycled has been the US government mandated percentage since 1998.

The Union of Concerned Scientists has a great monthly newsletter, “Green Tips.”  This month, the subject is roses.

Flowers sold in the United States are generally grown on large farms and treated with massive amounts of pesticide; this not only endangers the health of farm workers, but also pollutes local air and water supplies.

In addition, many flowers are imported from Asia and Central and South America, where environmental regulations are often less stringent. For example, the International Labor Rights Fund and the U.S. Labor Education in the Americas Project (LEAP) have found that 20 percent of the chemicals applied to flowers in Colombia, a top exporter, are restricted or banned in the United States and Europe. Transporting these flowers to U.S. stores magnifies their environmental impact, as trucks and airplanes (including the needed refrigeration) contribute to air pollution and global warming.

Sign up for their newsletter — it’s great to get the real deal about eco these days!

Saturday 12th of April was Earth Day on the Promenade in Santa Monica, CA.  I spoke to a few of the organizations that are active, locally, about doing some workshops or getting more listings for Green Wedding vendors in local resources.

Well, I was basically told that greening weddings and events (YIkes — in Hollywood!!) are small potatoes. So, I’m going to be posting on why green weddings are larger than the sum of its parts.