Plan a green wedding near Old Ironsides

The Commandant's House, which is located on the Charlestown waterfront near the mooring place of the USS Constitution, is now being marketed as an ideal venue for cost-efficient "sustainable weddings."

And what constitutes a sustainable wedding? One in which the invitations are printed with soy-based ink, and no foams or plastics are used with the floral decorations. Then there's the "100-mile menu," which means only food that's locally grown or raised.

And, please, no throwing rice at the bride, as rice is not necessarily good for the local wild life.

"You can throw indigenous bird seed or blow bubbles," said Leana Gallagher, president of Historic Venues Inc., the company that has managed weddings at the Commandant's House for nearly four years. "And you can throw rose petals."

If there is a trend in wedding planning, it's that couples getting married now have greater interest in so-called green weddings, Gallagher said.

"They want to do something nice on their big day," she said.

Because the Commandant's House is located in Boston National Historic Park, a wedding there helps the US National Park Service, and that in itself can be part of a wedding's environmentally friendly theme, Gallagher said.

Then there's the cost. For a wedding at the Commandant's House, couples can buy their own liquor and book their own licensed caterer, Gallagher said.

As a result, a prudent pair might keep costs in the range of $75 to $100 per guest, as compared with a $150 and up for a wedding at a swanky hotel, Gallagher said.

The photo that appears with this post shows a room in the Commandant House's that's been made ready for wedding guests. It was provided by Historic Venues.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)