farmer

Many couples today are interested in having green weddings by trying to minimize the carbon footprint a large wedding can incur with friends and family traveling from all over the world to attend. With flowers, it is mind-boggling how much energy is used to transport each stem from where they are grown (from as far away as New Zealand and Thailand) to the wholesaler where florists such as I purchase from, to the flower shop or studio, and then finally out to the wedding venue. It is no wonder many couples are requesting to decorate their weddings with only locally grown flowers.

Locally produced, in-season flowers are available from the flower market or floral wholesaler. Of course selection may be quite limiting depending on the time of year such that using only locally grown flowers may not be the best choice for every couple. If you are not 100% set on using a certain type of flower or are planning to have a more rustic and garden type of wedding, locally grown flowers can definitely be for you! Fortunately, what you give up in selection you can make up in eco-consciousness!

imagine purple artichokes mixed with flowers

One other great source for locally grown flowers is your neighborhood farmer’s market. The farmer’s market is a fantastic source for the green DIY bride, but even if you are not going the DIY route, don’t be shy about requesting from your florist that he or she buy your flowers specifically from a farmer’s market. In Los Angeles, we have tons of great farmers markets happening everyday of the week all over the county. I am unabashedly biased, but my local Wednesday Santa Monica farmer’s market is hands down the absolute best market! There you can find, in addition to fruits and veggies, potted plants, nuts, seafood, mushrooms, eggs, meats, and of course gorgeous flowers! It is also common to spot local chefs in their pin stripes and chefs’ whites buying whole crates and boxes of produce and wheeling them down the streets of the 3rd Street Promenade, where the market is held.

Callas and ranunculus at the market

Many times you will see farmers selling buckets of colorful flowers right next to their lettuces, carrots, and beets. My farmer friend in Massachusetts explained to me that in addition to flowers being worth 10 times as much as food per square foot of farm land, flowers and food plants can form beneficial ecological synergies. For example, small flowers, such as Queen Anne’s lace with its clusters of tiny blossoms, can attract beneficial wasps that eat the flower nectar; the wasps then parasitize garden pests such as aphids. Also, having a block of flowers in a farmer’s crop plan can allow the farmer to rotate away from plant families they are tempted to grow a lot of.

Or course, not every eco-bride has the convenience of having her wedding in California with its long growing season and temperate climate for choosing from a large variety of locally grown flowers. But local farmers markets across the country will also have beautiful flowers. At the Union Square Green Market in New York City, I’ve seen buckets and buckets of beautiful peonies grown in New Jersey as well as amazing, delicate lily of the valley with the equally amazing price of only $4 a bunch! The trick is to be flexible with what types of flowers you would like to use because you never know what will be available and in full bloom the week of the wedding. If you keep an open mind, you may find yourself pleasantly surprised!