Once the wedding is officially over—and everything, from the vows to the toasts to the dancing, has been said and done—the flowers fade into the night along with your freshly formed memories. But they don’t have to. In honor of Earth Day this Sunday, let us introduce you to Karli Jones.
When the wedding planner launched her business Ivory and Vine Event Co. two years ago, it was important to her that it had a philanthropic component. She thought of volunteering her event planning skills to nonprofits but sought to integrate charity into her work more directly. Flowers seemed like a ripe opportunity. “When the wedding is over, it’s sad to see all these flowers go to waste,” she says. Enter her floral donating service, “Blooms for Bellas.” For the mere hard cost of vases and gas, Jones will donate brides’ flowers to a charity of their choice, whether its Ronald McDonald House, a nursing home, or a halfway home for mothers and children.
And she will do it all herself. Jones will carefully pack the flowers into boxes, drive them back to her house in her Jeep (“AC blasting”), and then transfer them into vases. She tries to maintain the integrity of the arrangements, but sometimes will have to pull out the flowers and greenery and rearrange when necessary. By this point, it’s late in the night. The next morning, she will personally deliver the floral to the agreed upon charity. The fee is nominal (only $75-$100), and that’s part of it: “I wanted to do something in the name of charity and service, so it was important to me to keep it lean,” says Jones.
The sweetest part? Jones offers this service to everyone. If you’re planning your wedding yourself or have another planner, be sure to reach out to Jones. You don’t have to save the earth, but you can certainly save the flowers and, in doing so, spread the love.
