Who needs white when you can plan a green wedding? More and more couples today are taking the environment into account when planning their nuptials. But knowing what’s ecofriendly and how to find it can be difficult. That’s why we called in the expert.

Environmentally-friendly wedding planner Katie Martin, owner of Elegance & Simplicity Wedding & Event Designers, knows a thing or two about planning green weddings—in fact, she’s writing a book about it. Martin, a native Washingtonian, has planned about 3,500 weddings since starting Elegance & Simplicity ten years ago. In 2001, she added floral design to the company’s list of services, and now offers everything from planning to lighting to stationery. Martin and her team, who were chosen by the Audubon Naturalist Society as one of the area’s best ecofriendly event planners, drive fuel-efficient vehicles and order flowers from growers who use environmentally-friendly herbicides.

Move over white—green weddings have arrived. More and more couples today are taking the environment into account when planning their nuptials. But what’s ecofriendly and what’s not? And where should you even begin?

Enter environmentally friendly wedding planner Katie Martin, owner of Elegance & Simplicity Wedding & Event Designers. She knows a thing or two about planning green weddings—in fact, she’s writing a book about it. Martin, a native Washingtonian, has planned about 3,500 weddings since starting Elegance & Simplicity ten years ago. In 2001, she added floral design to the company’s list of services, and now offers everything from planning to lighting to stationery.

Your wedding day will probably fly by in a blur. All those months of planning evaporated in a matter of hours. How can you relive the day once it’s gone? Through the photos that captured so many of those precious moments.

Because photography is such an important element to every wedding, we called in an expert. Michael Bennett Kress, a DC native, has been a photographer for more than 30 years. His career started out with the gift of a camera for his bar mitzvah, and years later he’s still shooting.

Michael Bennett Kress’s first camera came as a bar mitzvah gift from his father. He started taking pictures immediately—and got hooked on the gym floor at school. “My first memorable experience came in junior high when I realized I could get out of class and be closer to a cute girl I liked if I was taking photos of the gymnastics team,” he says. More than 30 years later, he’s still shooting away.

With a degree in photographic sciences from the Rochester Institute of Technology, Kress started his career as a commercial and advertising photographer before switching to social events. He and his team at Michael Bennett Kress & Associates (4710 Bethesda Ave., Bethesda; 301-654-0909) are life-cycle photographers, covering everything from bar and bat mitzvahs for children of past wedding clients to weddings of previous bar and bat mitzvah clients.

Whether you’re planning a laid-back outdoor wedding for 50 or a lavish affair for 200, the food at a wedding reception should be one of the highlights of the evening. For more than 20 years, Windows Catering Company has been providing innovative menus for events all over the Washington area. Last year, the company decided to create a division focusing solely on one of its most important groups: brides and grooms.

From cakes infused with the tropical flavors of a honeymoon destination to a remake of a favorite family recipe to a main dish reminiscent of your first date, Windows aims to make each event exactly what the couple had always imagined. Just this year, it catered 150 weddings, including one for 600 guests at the National Building Museum. And Windows wedding planners don’t stop at the food—they also assist couples in lining up everything from venues to entertainment.

On Thursday, Danielle Couick, senior wedding planner at Windows, is swinging by The Washingtonian to answer all your questions, from food to every other element in planning your happy day. What would be on Danielle’s wedding menu? Because she’s originally from North Carolina, she says fried green tomatoes and shrimp and grits would most definitely be served. What are her recommendations for you? Submit your questions now, and Danielle will answer them from 11 AM to noon on Thursday. 

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Because she grew up with a mom who was a minister, weddings were all around Sara Bauleke. But she didn’t realize they were her calling until she was finishing her master’s degree in public policy at Georgetown University. With her new degree, she decided she didn’t really want to head down that career path anymore.

To fill the time before settling on something new, Sara helped a few friends plan their weddings. And just like that, she was hooked. Sara formed Bella Notte Wedding Consulting in 2004 and has planned almost 100 weddings, with guests including secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, FBI director Robert Mueller, and former senator Bob Dole. Her work has been featured in Martha Stewart Weddings.

On Thursday, Sara stopped by The Washingtonian’s office to answer our readers’ questions in a live chat. Is it a no-no to buy off the registry? What to do with a meddling mother? Kids or no kids at the wedding? Sara answered all these questions and more. If you missed the chat, catch up here.

For Sara Bauleke, owner of event-planning firm Bella Notte, the training for becoming a wedding planner started early. Her mother is a minister, so she grew up with weddings all around her. “My mom would always come home and give me a rundown on how the wedding went,” Sara says. “It’s great now because some of my cautionary tales are from her—like the time the groomsmen drank a little too much before an outdoor ceremony and ended up fainting from the combination of alcohol and heat.”

Twenty years later, while Sara was finishing up her master’s degree in public policy at Georgetown University, she decided she didn’t really want to head down that career path anymore. To fill the time before settling on something new, she helped a few friends plan their weddings. She was immediately hooked. Sara formed Bella Notte in 2004 and has planned almost 100 weddings, with guests including secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, FBI director Robert Mueller, and former senator Bob Dole. Her work has been featured in Martha Stewart Weddings.

Sara is coming in to answer your wedding questions in a live chat on Thursday. Submit questions now, and Sara will answer them on Thursday from 11 AM to noon.