Santa Barbara is the place to go to for green and glamorous eco-chic weddings! With venues such as the Four Seasons Biltmore overlooking the gorgeous Pacific Ocean, San Ysidro Ranch nestled into the Montecito foothills, or the elegant Bacara Resort and Spa, you need look no further for the perfect venue. Each location caters to brides seeking elegant, upscale events, and each provides a fabulous venue that is both environmentally friendly and exquisitely memorable. Santa Barbara also offers several beachside locations and private estates suitable for weddings

One of the most important aspects of any wedding is the meal. Local sourcing of organic produce is easy in Santa Barbara. There are always organic options always in season, and one visit to a Saturday Farmers’ Market will give you a sense of the bounty available for local chefs. There are several excellent options for humane sourcing of meat and poultry, as well as well as local, sustainably-fished seafood options. Santa Barbara offers many choices of caterers with discriminating palates that will enable you and your guests to eat well, healthy and organic. We’ve produced events where even the wedding cake was baked with organic flour!

Create gorgeous, custom paperless invitations are easy on the wallet and on the earth. You can use them for your “save the date” cards as well. For paper invitations, take a look at Twisted Limb. Here you will find many environmentally friendly, handmade papers. The website offers helpful suggestions for green parties and weddings.

Use a florist that works with local, organic plants and flowers. The greenest option is to use locally grown, live plants that can be rented for the evening or planted into your garden. Or, you may donate them to a local school to plant after your wedding. We recently planned an event where the wheatgrass centerpieces were donated after the event to a turtle and tortoise rescue foundation called Turtle Dreams, providing food for many rescued reptiles.

A lovely option for party favors are locally produced food items such as Santa Barbara honey, olive oil, pistachios, locally roasted coffees from Green Star, hand dipped candles or dried lavender from the farmers’ market. Bridesmaid’s gifts can include jewelry made by Montecito jewelry designer Samantha Goldstone made of interesting beads and stones.

Direct mailing is one way to make new connections and strengthen bonds with customers. Sending direct mail is a good marketing method, yet who should receive your materials? Knowing how to ‘target’ a specific market can lower the costs of the campaign while increasing the chances of winning new customers. Direct marketing leads are used for this purpose. You can decide on particular criteria to describe your desired market and then access a supplier of mailing lists to receive the addresses of potential customers.

The cost of letters and envelopes can add up quickly, so many companies decide to use postcards along with targeted lists for their direct mailing campaigns. Postcards can be a good idea because many people try to lessen their time in perusing mail by evaluating envelopes. Many times, a direct marketing piece will get tossed in the trash, put to the side, or forgotten about due to a non-descriptive envelope. Some people place the ‘junk mail’ label on such pieces, destroying any chance a business may have had to gain a customer.

Postcards are small and do not need envelopes. The recipient can immediately discern the attached message, providing your company with a better chance of making an impact.

Consider the following targeted list/postcard tips:

- Lead lists are coveted because they shorten the sales cycle. It helps a business accelerate attaining their goals. Begin a postcard with the same kind of goals in mind. Start with the biggest and best idea or proposal. What is going to make your potential customer stop their day and want to respond to your offer?

- Think about your offer in regards to the mailing list population. Many targeted list providers allow you to capitalize on numerous criteria. Doing so enables you to find the ‘perfect’ potential customer for your products and services. Your products and services may vary from campaign to campaign, so it is important to make sure you are sending the advertisement to those who are most likely in need of the associated good or service. This may be the most important step in the entire process. You can have beautiful postcards, convincingly-written content, and great deals on products and services, but it is integral to alert the right people. A select population needs to receive your materials – take time in constructing your mailing list.

- Make sure you engineer the content to describe how your product or service can be the solution to a problem. Potential customers may greatly benefit from your goods and services, yet they may not be so savvy in realizing such things. Compose your message so your goods and services are revealed to be the solution to a potential problem or issue the customer may have. Make it powerful, simple, and concise.

- Be sure to leave a call to action. A call to action beseeches the customer to take the next step, it stirs them to action. This can be done by placing a time limit or a customer limit on specific deals (ex. “The first one-hundred respondents receive 50% off our services…”).