Marryjuana Me PLANNING YOUR NUPTIALS? PUT SOME BUD IN THAT BUDGET. BY SOPHIE WELLS As wedding season approaches, so does the pressure to make the big day unforgettable. People have high expectations for their nup- tials — and to help them realize their dreams, a growing number of businesses are putting the bud in budget. “Indigenous cultures, for thousands of years, have always united spirit over smoke,” says Denver’s Philip Wolf, president of the Cannabis Wedding Expo. “That’s why they would have shared peace pipes and so forth, because that represented a unifi cation of spirit. And so in some weddings, they will take the ceremony to those types of depths.” Marijuana has made its way into the wedding world, allowing happy couples to display their love for one another through their love of Colorado’s favorite plant. This cannabis commitment can be woven into nearly every element of a wedding, from beverages to attire to gifts for guests. Wolf produced the fi rst Cannabis Wedding Expo in Denver at the beginning of 2016, showcas- ing 22 of the country’s top vendors and specialists within this up-and-coming area. Since then, the Expo has added Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, Las Vegas, Chicago and Boston to its annual tour, with events featuring as many as 55 vendors at a time. Irie Weddings & Events co- owners Chelsi Katz (left) and Bec Koop in the greenhouse at Pine Cone Avenue Social. A couple of years before he started the wedding expo, Wolf had launched Cultivating Spirits, one of the fi rst businesses in the country to offer legal can- nabis-infused dinners with “pairings,” matching cannabis terpene profi les with food fl avor profi les for “harmonization and enhancement of the food, which is done through smoking,” he explains. That experience came in handy when planning California’s HerbaBuena creates curated wedding kits. 16 WESTWORD HIGH STYLE 2022 wedding menus that work even when the guest list includes a wide variety of people, from stoner cousins to abstaining grandmas. “You can infuse anything, and so we see a lot of creativity with what types of desserts people like,” Wolf says. Small, savory bites or even a separate infused wedding cake for those who partake have become popular choices. With almost every matrimonial celebration comes the hope for an open bar, and there are ways to make marijuana part of that, too. Some couples toast with alcohol, others with blunts and bowls. And bud bars help guests be- come part of the pot party, usually as an adjunct to a more customary bar. “I wouldn’t say that bud bars are replacing traditional bars,” Wolf says, noting that alcoholic beverages are still popular, along with “mocktails” or even CBD-infused drinks. “I would say that they are an addition to the normal bars that we’re able to see. A lot of weddings that have cannabis will still have alcohol there, as well. Again, giving people the options.” To help guests understand the options, these bars are usually tended by budtenders who can prepare the provided products, whether fl ower or concentrates, and also provide advice. But the happy couple should do some advance work, let- ting those invited to celebrate their nuptials know that there will be some special aspects to the day. “It’s educational in nature,” says Jennifer Gray, owner of Pine Cone Avenue Social, a weed-friendly venue in Firestone. Relatively new to both the cannabis community and the wedding industry in general, Gray started hosting small groups last May and has had fi ve cannabis-related events so far. “I don’t think people really know much about it,” she says. “But learning about the different prod- ucts that are out there and how they make you feel, and appreciating different fl avors and smells...it’s like a wine connoisseur to a degree, and it’s really learning about it — that educational piece — that is really fun for guests.” Fun, and legal: The State of Colorado prohibits public consumption, so these ceremonies and celebrations must be on private property. “We’re an outdoor venue, and we’re privately owned, so that gives us some fl exibility,” Gray ex- plains. Still, as soon as a party requests that weed be allowed at an event, the venue immediately creates a clear contract that lays out expectations and legalities. In Gray’s experience, event organizers come prepared with concise plans of how to make things run smoothly. “The cannabis community has some really responsible people,” she notes, “and they have guidelines, too, about how to make guests continued on page 18 PHILIP WOLF/CANNABIS WEDDING EXPO IRIE WEDDINGS & EVENTS
