Ashley & Kyle's vegan wedding

Ashley & Kyle’s Redwoods Vegan Wedding

Photos by Emma Hopp Photography Kyle and I met thirteen years ago when we were in High School. He was a wildly-passionate member of the animal rights club and I was a musical-theater-loving-omnivore. After rehearsal one day, Kyle invited me to his house and made me an asparagus stir-fry and before I knew it, I …

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Vegan Vine

Fabulously Vegan Wines for Fabulously Vegan Receptions

Planning a vegan wedding involves thoughtful attention to a host of details from catering to bridal party attire to favors. Making sure the wine and spirits served at your reception are unmistakably vegan is probably one of the easier decisions. Unfortunately, it isn’t always obvious what wines are vegan-friendly.

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Cinnamon and Brown Sugar Cupcakes, photo by Abby Cobb

Your Must-Haves for Vegan Baking

Have you ever wanted to make a vegan cake or cookies and just wasn’t sure what to do? Vegan baking is easier than you think and should not be scary, it should be fun and exciting and a great way to experiment.

View full post
True Romance Vegan Cocktail

Delight Your Guests with a Vegan-Friendly Signature Cocktail

Not only do signature drinks have a fun appeal, they provide an opportunity for you to add a personal touch to your reception menu – and even save a little money.

View full post
Photo by Diego Gurgel

Wedding Traditions You Might Want to Rethink & Revamp

  That is not to say that tradition is bad because some traditions can be fun ways to bring people together as they share a piece of culture, but some traditions can do with a little shaking up. And for a day as important as your wedding, there is not a better time to start …

View full post
Ashley & Kyle’s Redwoods Vegan WeddingFabulously Vegan Wines for Fabulously Vegan ReceptionsYour Must-Haves for Vegan BakingDelight Your Guests with a Vegan-Friendly Signature CocktailWedding Traditions You Might Want to Rethink & Revamp

Ashley & Kyle’s Redwoods Vegan Wedding

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May 7, 2013

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Photos by Emma Hopp Photography

Kyle and I met thirteen years ago when we were in High School. He was a wildly-passionate member of the animal rights club and I was a musical-theater-loving-omnivore. After rehearsal one day, Kyle invited me to his house and made me an asparagus stir-fry and before I knew it, I was a vegetarian with a new best friend. After 3 years of friendship, Kyle moved to Paris for college and our daily phone calls made us realize we were more than friends. Flash-forward eight years, three New York City apartments, dozens of vegan dance parties, one adopted dog and a vegan catering business, Kyle proposed to me one morning on a Beach in Varkala India, we then celebrated our engagement with boogie boarding and a pure-veg thali!

Where did you have the wedding:
Our entire wedding was held outdoors on the property of an adorable Bed & Breakfast in Bonny Doon, California. The ceremony was in a beautiful terraced garden surrounded by fragrant flowers and fruit trees and our reception was smack dab in the middle of a redwood grove.

What was the ceremony like:
Our ceremony was a celebration of love, bliss, music and nature. Because Kyle and I have known each other since we were about 14 years old it was only fitting that we had someone marry us that we’ve both known since we were that age. Our marriage officiant was a multi-talented friend of ours from High School who helped us reminisce about our love and make goals for the future. I walked down the aisle to “Grow Old Along with Me” by John Lennon and after we were pronounced married, we exited to three of our best friends singing “Happy Together” by the Turtles while our loved ones cheered and waved ribbon wands at us!

What parts of your wedding were veganized:
Our entire wedding was veganized and recycled. Our decorations were from thrift stores, ebay and found or recycled objects: we made wands from sticks collected at Golden Gate Park, tablecloths from vintage sheets, lanterns from old pasta sauce jars and chalkboard from old picture frames. Even my dress was recycled. I bought a used J-Crew dress on Ebay and totally redesigned it and made it my own (with the help of an incredibly talented seamstress). I LOVED my recycled dream dress and felt very Molly Ringwald circa Pretty in Pink.

Tells us every little detail about the food:
Kyle and I are both equally obsessed with delicious, plant-based food. So much so that we even started our own vegan personal chef company (From The Garden). We saw our wedding as an opportunity to showcase (to non-vegans) how delicious vegan food can be. With the help of our vegan caterer, Agape Feast, we designed the following menu: Apps – Masala grilled vegetables, coconut curry dip, stuffed dates, cheesy tempeh stuffed peppers, marinated artichoke hearts, curried popcorn and an incredible home-made cheese platter with caprese salad and nut and herb-encrusted soft cheeses (a few of our non-vegan friends thought the caterer had made a mistake and served dairy cheese!). Dinner – Organic green salad with avocado and truffle oil, portobello steak with pesto drizzle, august harvest ratatouille with creamy polenta and smashed potato wedges with herbed citrus sauce. Dessert – Local Fruit Pies (Blackberry, Apricot and Apple) made by Kyle’s Mom, crème de menthe bars, peanut butter balls, and triple layer bars made by my mom and god-mom and of course, pudding pie, made by my grandma! It was a dessert smorgasbord of motherly love!

Ashley and Kyle's vegan wedding

What was, hands down, the best part of the entire event:
I honestly can’t pick one thing but I do have a top three! 1) The redwood forest! The location was truly what outdoor wedding dreams are made of – I’ll never forget jumping up and down on a trampoline with my new husband while taking in the gorgeousness of the redwoods. 2) The food was to die for! Everyone loved it and some even thought that the caterer made a mistake and served real cheese. Vegan mission accomplished! 3) The dance party was WILD! Kyle and I fell in love while dancing and during our first dance to “This Must be the Place” by the Talking Heads, I think I feel in love with him all over again. Kyle made an incredible four hour mix of all of our favorite songs. There were songs where most of the 120 chairs were empty and the dance floor was full and. It was a wedding dream come true!

What was the most challenging thing that happened – during prep of or day of the wedding:
The most challenging part of our DIY wedding was getting everything finished before the ceremony began. From what felt like dawn, until a few hours before the wedding began, I was solely in charge of what needed to be done. I nearly lost my mind and my voice from answering so many questions and telling friends what I needed from them. But because my family and friends were the most talented group of wedding helpers the world has ever seen, everything was perfectly completed right on time.

Was your family supportive of your vegan nuptials:
Our family was beyond supportive about our vegan wedding but that’s probably because most of them are vegans and vegetarians. Kyle stopped eating meat when he was eight-years-old so he’s had well over a decade to convince his family to go veg. I’m lucky enough to have a mom and a sister who both decided to go vegan with me. Our diet is pretty much a family affair.

Vendor Shout outs:
Redwood Croft and Agape Feast.

Do you have any advice to share with those who are currently planning their wedding:
I can’t tell you how important it is to take a honeymoon right after the wedding! It was so incredible to have non-stop quality time with Kyle after the beautifully chaotic week of our wedding. This is important time to relax, recover and really take in the beginning of your wedded bliss.

How long have you two been vegan:
Kyle and I decided to go Vegan together in 2006 which means we’ve enjoyed seven years of plant-based love!

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Fabulously Vegan Wines for Fabulously Vegan Receptions

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May 4, 2013

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Vegan VinePlanning a vegan wedding, as any regular reader of this blog knows, involves thoughtful attention to a host of details from catering to bridal party attire to favors. Making sure the wine and spirits served at your reception are unmistakably vegan is probably one of the easier decisions.

Unfortunately, it isn’t always obvious what wines are vegan-friendly. Even the most meticulous label-readers won’t find “pig’s hooves” or “fish bladders” on the label: unlike packaged foods, animal ingredients used to make wine are not required by law to be listed. Online resources identifying vegan wines are hardly comprehensive, and can be confusing since often one vintage year may be vegan, but not the next year, depending on the quality of the harvest.

If you have vegan guests, there will be some who are always conscientious about drinking vegan wines, some who pay attention at home but not out “in the wild,” and some who just shrug and chug. If most of your guests aren’t vegan, it’s even more important to serve wines that align with your ethics. At the risk of getting “vegan policey,” it’s another opportunity to teach your loved ones about the ubiquity of animal ingredients and that a cruelty-free lifestyle can be every bit as enjoyable.

Animal-derived ingredients commonly used in winemaking practices include isinglass (a very pure form of gelatin from fish bladders, typically sturgeons), gelatin (from boiled cow’s or pig’s hooves and sinews), albumin (the opaque stringy part of egg whites), and casein (milk protein, the same ingredient that renders many “non-dairy” cheeses non-vegan cheeses).

These ingredients are used to “fine” or filter wine to make it visually clear and remove excess tannins, discoloration, and crystalline deposits and precipitates (aka “floaties”) that occur naturally during the fermentation and aging process. Fining agents act like a magnet for the microscopic particles and larger molecules, which then makes it possible for them to settle and/or filter out.

Since it’s your big day, you probably want any haziness in your wine glass to be the result of romantic lighting, or a happy buzz, not tiny particles floating around.

Bentonite clay, a naturally occurring clay produced by the weathering of volcanic ash, is a fining agent that is 100 percent vegan and 100 percent effective in removing haziness and undesirable characteristics. It’s also used to enhance the heat stability of wine, so your caterer can leave the wine in a hot van for a while without incident.

Wedding CoupleWhen making wine without animal ingredients, the most important winemaking process is the art of patience. Fining agents can speed up processes that occur naturally in wine, meaning a winery can rush their product to stores. But at the right temperature and over the right span of time, these particles will naturally settle out of wine by gravity alone. Sustainable old-world techniques, and patience, help produce some of the best wines in the world, without using one single animal product. A climate and geographic setting, or “terroir,” that lends itself to producing naturally softer, less tannic wines also helps, such as our vineyards in San Martin on the Northern Central Coast of California.

Whether informal, elegant, or both, there’s something so beautiful and memorable about vegan weddings. We’re always delighted to welcome vegan brides and grooms at our certified sustainable winery.

Here’s to you, and to a wonderful wedding that honors your love for each other, as well as your love for animals.

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Cheryl Murphy Durzy is vice president and proprietor at The Vegan Vine, grown and produced by Clos LaChance Winery. She sits on several wine industry boards, and is certified by the Wine and Spirits Education Trust. More information on The Vegan Vine can be found at www.theveganvine.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

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Your Must-Haves for Vegan Baking

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April 23, 2013

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Have you ever wanted to make a vegan cake or cookies and just wasn’t sure what to do?  Vegan baking is easier than you think and should not be scary, it should be fun and exciting and a great way to experiment.

 

Cinnamon and Brown Sugar Cupcakes, photo by Abby Cobb

There are certain items that you should always have in your pantry:

Vinegar: Both white vinegar and apple cider vinegar are an amazing way to create buttermilk. Sounds crazy, I know, but it works.  Here is what you do: If your recipe calls for 1 cup of buttermilk, take your favorite dairy-free milk and measure out a cup.  Add 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, stir and let sit for 5 minutes. Your milk will begin to curdle and there you have it, buttermilk!

Unsweetened Applesauce: A perfect alternative to eggs in cookies, cakes, and breads.  This is best used to replace 1-2 eggs.  I wouldn’t recommend taking your favorite recipe that has 10 eggs, but for smaller desserts, it works great.  For each egg, replace with ¼ cup of applesauce.  It will create enough liquid that you get from an egg and it also helps when creaming sugar and butter. Your desserts will also be nice and moist!

Earth Balance Butter and Shortening: There is no better alternative to regular butter than Earth Balance.  Both of these Earth Balance products are vegan and can be used in a recipe 1 for 1.  They melt and bake wonderfully.

Banana: I love making banana bread, but bananas can also be used as an egg replacer.  A half of a mashed banana can be used to replace one egg. Using a banana will give your dessert a slightly different flavor so choose wisely where you decide to add it.  My favorite is bread and more savory desserts.

 

Desserts by Dudley's Desserts, Paper and photo taken by MLC Designs

I hope that you can take some of these tips and apply it to your vegan baking.  Take a few different recipes and convert them to vegan; it is all about trial and error and some recipes will work and others will not.

Happy Baking!

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Abby Cobb is the owner of Dudley’s Desserts, a dairy-free and vegan bakery in the DC/Maryland area. Dudley’s Desserts is dedicated to creating specialty cakes, cupcakes, and sweets customized to reflect your taste, vision, and personality. You might be thinking, who is Dudley? Dudley is their basset hound! Abby and her husband rescued him in 2011 and he has been one of their biggest supporters. They had a delicious vegan cake a their wedding.

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Delight Your Guests with a Vegan-Friendly Signature Cocktail

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April 19, 2013

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True Romance Vegan Cocktail

True Romance Vegan Cocktail

When planning your special day, personalize it with a signature cocktail. This movement has risen in popularity at today’s weddings, and it’s not hard to taste why.  Not only do signature drinks have a fun appeal, they provide an opportunity for you to add a personal touch to your reception menu – and even save a little money.

A signature cocktail allows you to express your collective personalities at your wedding reception – and getting there is half the fun! Take some time to experiment with different ingredients and even call upon the help of a professional mixologist. Let your favorite liquor be the star of the show or choose from a myriad of ingredients and garnishes to complement your color scheme.  The possibilities are endless! Make it your own by creating a unique name for your cocktail; what wedding guest would turn down a “Berry Me Martini?”  If you and your betrothed can’t agree on just one, consider serving two custom concoctions: one refined and sophisticated with champagne, another strong and sexy with bourbon, just to name a few.  Use napkins stamped with the name of your drink: extra-chic.

If you prefer to keep your wedding alcohol free, serve up a “mocktail” which will keep your guests talking for weeks. Seltzer can be substituted for alcohol in many recipes. Capitalize on the season and offer a signature lemonade, cider or eggnog. Or why not serve a regional beverage from your honeymoon destination? It’s your wedding so go ahead and make it your own. Viennese coffee anyone?

Believe it or not, the mixing of a signature drink can help keep bar costs down as well.  Buying ingredients for one beverage in bulk will require less money out-of-pocket than ordering up a full bar.  Complement your signature drink with beer and wine and – voila! More money to spend on your honeymoon! The best part is your guests will be so delighted with your personal creation; they won’t miss a thing.

Leave a lasting (and delicious) impression on your wedding day with your very own signature cocktail.  Anything but ordinary, your unique libation will set a festive tone for the reception and pave the way for a happy marriage to come.

There are lots of recipes for vegan-friendly cocktails, but here is one inspired by the Truce Romance signature cocktail from the experts at the Turning Stone Resort in central New York.

Recipe for True Romance (Vegan-Friendly)

  • 2 ounces Green Tea
  • 1 ounce vodka (Smirnoff, Pinnacle, & Ketel One just to name a few vegan-friendly brands)
  • 1/2 ounce fresh lime juice
  • 1 ounce cranberry juice cocktail

Mix ingredients over ice.  Serve in champagne flute or martini glass. Toast the night away!

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You’ll find Michelle spending most of her days helping others learn about skin care, health and wellness. She also enjoys the occasional indulgence in the sweet treats she bakes!

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Wedding Traditions You Might Want to Rethink & Revamp

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April 16, 2013

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Photo by Diego Gurgel

That is not to say that tradition is bad because some traditions can be fun ways to bring people together as they share a piece of culture, but some traditions can do with a little shaking up. And for a day as important as your wedding, there is not a better time to start thinking outside of the box.

Child Ring Bearer

Children can be cute with their chubby cheeks, missing teeth, cute little shoes, and their habit of saying the darnd-est things. Unfortunately children, especially young children, do not always comprehend the importance of the occasion, so they might have a tantrum when they should be delivering the ring to the front of the room. You can’t really blame them, but it might be better to steer clear of children as ring bearers if you don’t want to deal with potential erratic behavior.

Alternative Options:

  • There is always the tested method of having the maid-of-honor and best man carry the rings.
  • If you wanted to be truly unique and get more members of the family involved, you could have the mothers or siblings standing by to deliver the ring. Why should the father only be able to symbolically hand off the daughter? This way carrying the ring can be a significant action to the overall meaning of the wedding.

The Use of Flowers

Flowers are beautiful, delicate and sweet smelling. You wouldn’t think so, but they are one tradition that might have the potential to make the wedding run less smooth, especially if the bride, groom, justice of the peace, bridal party, or groomsmen are allergic to flowers. Nothing is more distracting than constant sneezing interrupting the vows. There are of course ways to potentially stop the allergic reaction. Allergy pills can be taken, but from someone who seems to be allergic to everything in the area I love, I can tell you that sometimes allergy pills don’t work as well as one might hope. Sometimes it might be better to seek out an alternate route.

Alternative Options:

  • Whether its buttons or origami, a bridal bouquet can be skillfully crafted out of alternative material. Here is a Rose Pedals post about making a bouquet out of paper flowers. Creating bridal bouquets and bridesmaids bouquets can be a fun activity to spice up any bridal party.
  • As for table centerpieces, fruit bowls can be both beautiful and filling. You might want to ask guests to wait til’ later in the night to finish of those yummy creations, so that the photographer can get some pictures with the centerpieces in the background.

 

Throwing The Bouquet

Throwing the bridal bouquet may be another tradition that you want to shaft. Throwing the bouquet has the potential to mar the flowers that are used. On the throwing end of things, people have the potential to be injured while jostling for the bouquet. Nothing halts a wedding faster than a trip to the emergency room.

Beyond that there is the pressure to throw it to certain people. With all of those people at the wedding there really is no win-win situation. Someone smugly holds the bouquet and the rest are disappointed in their failure or the fact that the bride might have rigged the game a little.

Alternative Options:

  • Instead of throwing the bouquet, you can preserve the flowers. There are new technologies that allow the flowers to be preserved by professionals through freeze-drying. There are of course other methods, but freeze drying is the most advanced.
  • If you still want to incorporate this tradition into your wedding journey, you can make it a bridal shower game. At the less formal setting, the stress and expectation will not be as high.

There are of course other traditions that may not be the best for your wedding and other ideas to replace those traditions and the ones listed above.  Breaking tradition gives you the opportunity to make your wedding unique. Your wedding can be as exotic as your imagination will allow it to be.

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Mary Potter doesn’t want to hear any jokes about her name and a certain fantasy character – she’s heard them all. But if you have any flower tips and tricks she’s all ears. Mary currently writes with The Flower Exchange where she puts her knowledge about bulk flowers to use.

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Vegan Cuts Snack Box as Wedding Night Hotel Snack Box

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April 10, 2013

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***Please pardon this interruption of your regularly scheduled Rose Pedals Vegan Wedding post. This is not a test. Do not refresh the site or navigate away, and be warned. The following post will contain many exclamations of “holy tofu!” and “omg” repeated many times. It will also include descriptions of foods so yummy that you will want to scream: “holy tofu, vegan-batman!” Remember, this is not a test.***

First off, omg. I recently received a Vegan Cuts Snack Box – the one from February.  Yeah, it was so good that it’s taken me until now to be emotionally and mentally prepared to write about it. Let’s break the items down a little and highlight the snacks and I am no longer able to survive without.

http://vegancuts.com/offer/purefit-bars-one-box

Purefit’s new Peanut Butter Toffee Crunch bar. Holy cow! I was sitting at the campus center at my grad school with a nice iced coffee. While pealing back the packaging, peanut butter filled my nose with happiness.  Then, I took my first bite. Literally, I said, “Holy crap.” This will be repeated with many of the Vegan Cuts snacks. This was all I ate for lunch and I was completely full until dinner time. So amazing. OMG!!!

My wife and I snacked on a Surf Sweets package while cuddled up in bed.  Sure, snacks might not be appropriate right before bed … but, my wife is an amazing cuddler and we were watching a show on the laptop one night and that makes snacks okay. Cuddling makes everything okay and the Surf Sweets were so yummy and chewy and happy-making!

http://vegancuts.com/offer/dang-coconut-chips

Okay, last bit of super-food-related excitement before I bring about a discussion of the wedding night. Dang Coconut chips. I feel like that should be enough said, because if you’ve ever had even just one chip you’d get it. These crunchy, slightly sweet/salty num-nums were super nummy! Holy crap! When I first put a dang chip in my mouth, I was afraid I was going to die from the explosion.  Luckily, I have vegan super powers. I didn’t die; I felt super alive and omg omg omg so happy!

Remembering back to my wedding night, I remember being STARVING.  I had been sick before and during the wedding and wasn’t able to eat the vegan meal that I assume was delicious.  My very new (at the time) wife had packed us some veggie burgers for our dinner. They were fine and it was sweet that she had thought to pack us food.  Like, omg, really sweet. Holy tofu, super wife! Right, stay on topic. Do you know what would have been amazing to have in the wedding night hotel? A Vegan Cuts Snack Box. I love trying new things (don’t tell my wife) and I love vegan food (tell everyone!). The Box comes complete with sweets and savories – enough protein to survive a long night of talking about your combined future.  I highly recommend a Box delivered to your wedding night suite!

And, hey, we’re all cool cats here, right?  Why not help out Vegan Cuts’ new Indiegogo campaign!? 

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Elizabeth Prager  is a Doctor of Physical Therapy student at the University of Maryland and writes for the Living with Adult ADHD blog at HealthyPlace. Could you tell from her writing style that she might write for that blog? She is married to Sarah Prager, the Social Media and Blog Manager for Rose Pedals Vegan Weddings. Check out their 2011 vegan wedding.

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Lindsay & Jeff’s Destination Wedding in Las Vegas

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March 29, 2013

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Las Vegas Wedding

We met at a karaoke bar the summer of 2007 in the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego, CA. Lindsay was in between Law School and Graduate School and Jeff was in the Navy.

Where did you have the wedding: We were married on the corner of Las vegas Blvd. and Flamingo in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace and had our reception at the Lodge on the Lawn at the JW Marriott in Summerlin, NV.

What parts of your wedding were veganized: Food, gown, shoes, decor. It was all recycled and eco-friendly as well. I wore TOMS shoes during the reception as part of the “give back” theme and all my jewelry and my bouquet were made of family heirlooms and borrowed. My ring was conflict-free and our wedding bands were man made metal to avoid child labor golds.

Las Vegas WeddingLas Vegas Wedding

Tell us every little detail about the food: We had amazing food. Appetizers included vegan brushetta, we had a tapas station that was mostly vegan with roasted peppers and artichokes and hummus, there was a pasta station with vegan pesto and veggies, we had spicy spanish potatoes that I ate far too many of, we had vegan empanadas, vegan pretzels and veggie burgers at the end of the night, and our cake was three flavors: fresh strawberry shortcake, fresh sliced banana cream pie, and lemon with fresh blueberries. It was so good!

Las Vegas WeddingLas Vegas WeddingWas your family supportive of your vegan nuptials: Veganism was new to Lindsay and Jeff was not vegan at all. There was not a lot of support of a vegan wedding in the beginning but ultimately the food was amazing and the eco-centered style worked for everyone. We still get rave reviews about the cake and the creativity.

What was, hands down, the best part of the entire event: I loved that we rented a double decker bus to cut down on transportation pollution, costs, and driver safety. It was a ton of fun dancing and singing down the strip also! The photo booth was a big hit but just dancing and having fun with friends and family is always the greatest especially on a destination wedding which is more like a family reunion vacation!

Las Vegas Wedding

What was the most challenging thing that happened — during prep of or day of the wedding: We had everything cancel at least once. We went through three stationary vendors somehow all of them went out of business. We went through three reception locations as some cancelled or misquoted the size. We had a mess of a time with family interfering in what our wedding should be, of course. And the worst was two weeks before the event our original wedding spot at the Juno Garden was shut down by OSHA and the invites had already been sent out. We had to not only find a new location in two weeks, but also figure out how to redirect everyone there.

What was the ceremony like: The ceremony was surreal. Because of the new location hundreds of people had gathered outside of the roped area to watch our ceremony on the corner of Las Vegas Blvd. and started cheering and taking pictures and filming. We felt a little famous!

Shout-outs to vegan vendors: The Red Velvet Cafe (in Las Vegas) made our cake. JW Marriott in Summerlin, NV and the amazing Chef that pulled off some of the best vegan food ever. TOMS shoes for my navy blue dancing shoes. Kristin Griffin Photography - she was amazing to work with, and is like family now!

Do you have any advice to share with those who are currently planning their wedding: Do not let anyone tell you it cannot be vegan and delicious. If you are going to spend that much money on anything you should believe in it. We gave back our whole wedding in every aspect and I am so happy we did.

Las Vegas Wedding

How long have you and your partner been vegan: Lindsay has been vegan since 2011, Jeff is not vegan but will eat anything vegan – he loves good food.

 

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4 Tips for Veganizing your Big Day

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March 23, 2013

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Wedding planning in itself is already a taxing experience. If you and your partner have decided to go for a cruelty-free wedding, a whole new set of considerations will most likely add up to the usual stressors which made brides-to-be go into a control freak mode. However, if Natalie Portman and Anne Hathaway both did it with grace and tasteful elegance, there’s no doubt that you can do the same — incorporating your beliefs towards food while making sure that your family and friends are having a good time, too!

1. Remember that this is a wedding, not a debate.

Don’t expect that all of your guests will understand your veganism. It may be easy for your friends to get it, but it could be quite difficult for your grandparents to get a grasp of your plant-based wedding menu. Some of the guests may have questions, might raise an eyebrow, or even give you funny looks. Do not take it personally and simply do your best to enlighten and educate them on going animal-free. It is not worth the stress to go any further than that!

2. Hire a vegan caterer.

The concept of veganism may have sounded foreign ten years ago. However, times are a’changin’, and Google has confirmed that more and more information searches are now related to the term “vegan.” The USDA also recently stated in a report that they are expecting a continued decline in meat consumption — with the average American eating 12.2% less meat than 6 years ago. So looking for a vegan caterer won’t be that difficult at all, especially if you’re trying the knot in a city or town filled with vegan and vegetarian restaurants.

If you’re getting hitched in a smaller town or city with few vegan catering options, ask your catering team if they could come up with vegan recipes. It is also important for your caterer to understand that there’s more than steamed, pureed or grilled vegetables when it comes to veganism. It is very possible for you to have a hearty and filling feast during your wedding using seasonal produce and meat-free items. A rehearsal vegan meal should be in order to ensure that no one in your guest list would actually miss chicken, beef, or cheese!

3. If at all possible, work with like-minded people.

Collaborating with people who have the same beliefs as yours will certainly ease a large portion of wedding planning stress. With these individuals, you do not have to explain your vegan values and reasons time and again. Also, supporting a business who have the same ideals as yours is already a gratifying act in itself.

4. If a vegan wedding theme proves to be a gargantuan task on your area, consider a destination wedding.

Major cities in the world have a lot of vegan options. How about going to Tokyo for their annual vegetarian festival? Have you thought about booking a trip to Scotland and hiring a Glasgow wedding band while feasting on a red velvet cake with butter cup frosting in one of their vegan restaurants? Or you might want to consider New York City’s Candle 7 – very popular for their gourmet vegan good – after exchanging vows in Central Park.

 

The possibilities are endless with a vegan wedding. It could present some challenges on first thought but with careful and creative planning, you could make it as fabulous as non-vegan weddings!

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Melissa Page is a professional writer based in San Diego, California. She blogs about a wide range of topics and loves everything about weddings. Not yet a bride herself (but definitely planning to be one!), she usually writes about wedding planning, wedding ideas and wedding bands in Scotland. When she’s not busy writing, she hangs out with her friends in a coffee shop. She also loves traveling, bowling, and books.

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Betsy & Jon’s Bright and Beautiful Wedding of Fun

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March 19, 2013

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We met in college at Ohio University over a game of beer pong in 2006.

Where did you have the wedding: It was all outside at Century Village and Museum in Burton, Ohio.

What parts of your wedding were veganized: The food was 100% vegan (and delicious!), the cake, truffles, and candy bar.

Tell us every little detail about the food: We had dinner catered by Flaming Ice Cube in Cleveland. The appetizers were Pesto Pizza and Hummus Platters. The main meal consisted of sandwiches including a hummus wrap, Mediterranean panini, chickenless salad wrap, dijonaise panini, Italian panini, and peanut butter bananjama panini. We also had pulled bbq sandwiches. We also had a white and sweet potato salad, macaroni salad, and black bean corn salsa. Our cake was mini cupcakes from Vegan Sweet Tooth and we had peaches and cream, strawberry shortcake, oreo, vanilla, and salted caramel. Our other dessert items were made by a friend of ours who is a chef as his gift to us. He made raspberry and mocha truffles and chocolate covered strawberries.

Was your family supportive of your vegan nuptials: My immediate family, especially my mother, were more supportive. My mother went vegan herself just a couple of years ago, so her level of understanding was the most helpful. My brothers and father jokingly talked about have a food truck in the parking lot with meat options. My extended family was less supportive and didn’t think it was a good idea, but they are not around us as much so they just don’t understand our diets and how they really aren’t that obscure.

What was, hands down, the best part of the entire event: The wedding was very much DIY, so it took a lot of helping hands to bring everything together the day before and day of. It meant so much to me to have so many people take extra time to come and help us set up. It really made us feel lucky to have amazing family and friends.

What was the most challenging thing that happened — during prep of or day of the wedding: Our lights weren’t strung across the trees as I’d envisioned. The strings were not durable enough to stretch the length that we needed them to go. We had a strand snap in two. Someone came up and told me and I said I didn’t want to hear about problems, just find solutions. And they did! Thankfully my father in law is a balloon artist as a career, so he had this very sturdy wire that we could fasten the light to.

What was the ceremony like: It was perfect. Some people cry when they’re up there in the moment, but I just couldn’t stop smiling. I was so happy to be marrying the man I love! My husband is a recording engineer, so we put a lot of thought into the music. We had The Luckiest by Ben Folds play as I walked down the aisle, and Always Love by Nada Surf play as we walked back up. Our siblings all did readings and my uncle was our officiant. Everything was very intimate and meaningful to us, and my uncle who almost cried while officiating.

Shout-outs to vegan vendors: Vegan Sweet Tooth was amazing! Our friends who came in from Chicago ask us to bring it back for them when we visit Cleveland. We heard they were the best cupcakes in the world (and we agree)!

Do you have any advice to share with those who are currently planning their wedding: I honestly wouldn’t even mention to people who you know won’t be supportive that the wedding is vegan. It’s your day and you really don’t need any grief from anybody. Most people didn’t even realize the food was vegan, and it would have been easier to not have the grief beforehand.

How long have you and your partner been vegan: I’ve been vegan for 8 years and my husband is not vegan, but very supportive. He is also allergic to milk, so there’s no dairy in our house!

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Latest Trend: Dessert Tables

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March 9, 2013

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While planning your wedding, how do you choose between a cake and a dessert table?  Every couple has different tastes and ideas on desserts but sweets should be fun, delicious and represent your style.  The traditional tiered wedding cake has become a rarity and replaced with a dessert table.   Dessert tables have so many options and can incorporate many flavors, styles and designs.

Vegan Desserts by Dudley's Desserts, Rentals by Rusty Love Vintage Rentals, Design Layout by Elle Ellinghaus Designs

 

If you are not a cake couple, do you just skip the cake? A four tiered wedding cake decorated in frosting, fondant and flowers is lovely, but if it’s not you, there are many other options.  One popular alternative is Cupcakes.  Cupcakes allow you to have multiple flavors and they can be decorated to resemble your wedding theme and colors.

Have you ever thought of having a cupcake topping bar?  How much fun would it be to provide your guests with frosted cupcakes and endless bowls of toppings!  You can include sprinkles, chocolate sauce, cookie crumbles, candy, and a cherry for the top! There are so many options and your guests will enjoy making their own sweet treats.

Other Alternatives.  Do you love the idea of your guests enjoying mini mouthfuls of delicious sweets?  Think of the desserts that you love and how you can create a table to represent your passions. Would you want to serve pies or whoopee pies, donuts or cookies, cake pops or truffles, or maybe a dessert that has a picture of the two of you on it.  The options are endless and you can explore your creative side! Mini cakes are also a popular choice and a potential focal point of your table.

 

Vegan Whoopie Pies by Dudley's Desserts, Photo by Urban Row Photography

Did You Know? At Natalie Portman’s vegan wedding they decided to skip the cake and serve French Macaroons.   Anne Hathaway chose to serve cupcakes for her small and intimate vegan wedding.  At Christopher Jarecki and Alicia Silverstone’s  vegan wedding they served individual chocolate-almond midnight cakes.  Ellen and Portia had a vegan red velvet wedding cake.

Having All Vegan Desserts. Vegan desserts are delicious!  All of your guests do not have to be vegan to enjoy delicious vegan cupcakes, luscious vegan truffles, or a delectable vegan pie.  When searching for your perfect dessert, check around for bakeries that specialize in vegan desserts and can turn your vision into a reality.  Your desserts will taste amazing and your guests will love every bite!

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Abby Cobb is the owner of Dudley’s Desserts, a dairy-free and vegan bakery in the DC/Maryland area. Dudley’s Desserts is dedicated to creating specialty cakes, cupcakes, and sweets customized to reflect your taste, vision, and personality. You might be thinking, who is Dudley? Dudley is their basset hound! Abby and her husband rescued him in 2011 and he has been one of their biggest supporters. They had a delicious vegan cake a their wedding.

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