I knew when I started Ruby & Rose that I wanted to make a commitment to donate a portion of my time, services, or funds to charitable organizations that I believe in, because this is important to me and I believe it’s the right way to run my business. So I thought I'd do a series of blog posts about some of the organizations and causes I'm supporting so they are on your radar.

In planning my own wedding a few years back, I was thinking about how, as a bride, to incorporate a charitable element into my wedding day. I was struggling with the amount of money we were spending on our wedding (and ourselves) and wanted to offset that cost in a positive way.

I ended up taking the budget I had put aside for favors and making a donation to Heifer International, a great non-profit that combats hunger and poverty by providing families with farm animals that provide nourishment and reliable income. I also listed Heifer on my wedding website along with my registries and gave my guests the option to make a donation in lieu of sending a wedding gift. Making a donation to a charity you support in honor of your wedding is a great option for anyone, and let’s be honest - although favors are great - no one really misses them if they aren’t there. But the main reason I went the monetary donation route was because I didn’t really know what other options were out there.

Flowers are hands down my favorite part of any event and especially weddings; they instantly elevate a social gathering into something special. But part of their magic is that they are ethereal - you spend an incredible amount of time, effort and money to have beautiful floral arrangements for your event, and at the end of the night, they all go into the compost bin (hopefully)! Enter: Random Acts of Flowers, an amazing non-profit which “recycles and repurposes flowers by engaging dedicated volunteer teams to deliver beautiful bouquets and moments of kindness to individuals in healthcare facilities across the country. (Source: Random Acts of Flowers)

Check out this sweet video that explains what they do:

Random Acts of Flowers recycles and repurposes flowers by engaging dedicated volunteer teams to deliver beautiful bouquets and moments of kindness in healthcare facilities across the country. As a recycling "green" charity run almost entirely by volunteers, Random Acts of Flowers is committed to nourishing the health of the environment, individuals, and the community. We take flowers that would otherwise be garbage and turn them into something fresh and meaningful.

How cool is that?! Random Acts of Flowers just recently opened a branch here in the Bay Area, and I couldn’t be more excited to support them. Ask your floral designer or your wedding planner if they will help you in supporting this great organization! It’s an awesome way to help a great cause and make your wedding a little more green in the process.