Bee the Buzz is an award-winning event planning and design company in the Minneapolis and St. Paul area that is obsessed with love…life…and the environment. The company invests in technology that uses less paper, such as emails, phone calls, and Google docs. They say “It is in our DNA to produce an event that leaves the least amount of carbon foot-print without sacrificing style.” To further show their dedication to the environment, they donate a portion of their income from each event to Green Futures by Tree Trust, a non-profit organization that turns charitable donations into trees planted in parks and neighborhoods throughout Twin Cities area.

Bea, the owner and lead planner, shares tidbits about her company and being an event planner.

When and how did you know that you wanted to be an event planner?
I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit within me and I am a people pleaser. My husband and I love to host get-togethers at our house and I love all aspects of making guests happy and comfortable. After I quit my corporate job, I wanted to do something that I love and event planning is one love that I can’t put off. I think we should love what we do, otherwise, life is not going to be as fulfilling as we want it to be. To me, a fulfilled life is to help others and by my vocation, planning parties! The look of happiness and satisfaction in a client’s face says it all. I take pride in what I do and I bend myself backwards for my clients if I have to. read more…

It was a rare scene indeed.  Kyle and Preston, our tech geniuses, had just flown in the night before from the Midwest and were now gathering around the office sofa with the rest of the Greenvelope team to play a round of “so what do you do at Greenvelope?”  The Greenvelope Retreat officially started with a Friday Mariners game where Cliff  disappeared to woo a girl and Lauren sipped from an elegant glass of chilled white wine as the crowd cheered when the Mariners beat the Oakland A’s.

Saturday morning the team divided into two cars and drove through Deception Pass on the way to a cabin on Whidbey Island. It was one of the hottest days in Seattle, but the team barely felt the heat thanks to the breeze from Penn Cove. As Michelle, Sam, and Lauren prepared some fresh fruit, smoked salmon, and cheese, Olivia and the tech guys took in the magnificent view, while Cliff led Noni in a meditation session. At some point Sam brought out the bait cages and fish heads for crabbing.  Lauren and Preston volunteered to be his first crew for setting the bait. They soon discovered that Sam was the only one strong enough to row the boat against the current. As Lauren said to Sam, “We would have been lost at sea without you!” read more…

One of the most common excuses we hear people give for not utilizing the plethora of “green” alternatives available to them is that being eco-friendly is too expensive. Well here at Greenvelope, we think otherwise.

Whether you’re a college student cutting coupons or a 20-something just starting your first job, going green on a budget is not just possible, it’s profitable. Check out these ways that choosing green alternatives can actually help to save you money: read more…

1. Greenvelope Unveils New Guest Experience and Event Page

For the last six months the Greenvelope team has been working hard to transform the event page and improve the overall guest experience based on your feedback. We strive to revolutionize the digital invitation industry by integrating stationery design and data management. Here is what’s new:

• Matching header
• Customizable background image
• Slim mobile friendly layout
• Customizable sections and icons (for hotel, attire, parking information etc.)
• Default colors selected by our design manager

read more…

Did you know that we, as a human race, use one million tons of paper everyday? This astonishing statistic is a scary reflection of how we choose to treat our environment. Here at Greenvelope, our very mission is to help make this world more eco-friendly. This following post will dissect 7, everyday “hacks” that we can use to save paper.

1. Pay your bills, do your taxes, etc. online!

Remember when that time of the year came in the household when you were a kid? Stacks of envelopes with bills and taxes to file strewn all over the kitchen table, with your parents hard at work? Not only is that sight depressing, but now it’s also antiquated. Your phone bills can be paid online, turbotax will help you file your taxes, etc. So next time when you have to pay your bills, remember to save paper and pay online!

2. Forget Faxing!

If you asked a child nowadays what “faxing” is, chances are they’ll have no idea. In truth, faxing is just an antiquated form of email. As long as you have internet, you can always attach a file and send it over. Nowadays, there are even programs for creating digital signatures! read more…

We talk a lot about weddings, but did you know Greenvelope is also great for corporate events? With our custom uploads to match your company’s brand, auto reminders, and easy membership pricing, more and more businesses are choosing Greenvelope to save time, money, and trees!  Allscripts, one of our largest clients, said our professional email invitations enabled them to “more easily connect with a hard to reach community in a warm inviting format”. read more…

We all have busy lives. Your guests have busy lives. When we are juggling our work and social calendars, sometimes just remembering where you put your keys last night is a victory.  Luckily Greenvelope invitations come with automated reminders!

There are two types of reminders. You can schedule RSVP Reminders to be sent to guests that have not yet responded and/or send Event Reminders to attending guests to remind them of your event.  The best part is that you can schedule these reminders ahead of time!

As some of you may know, Greenvelope donates a percentage of every sale to Mountains to Sound, a nonprofit organization near Seattle. The organization maintains the 1.5 million acres of forest surrounding I-90, also known as the Greenway. Their mission is to “lead and inspire action to conserve and enhance the landscape from Seattle across the Cascade Mountains to Central Washington, ensuring a long-term balance between people and nature.”  The Greenway, inspired by the idea of weaving together the urban and the wild, has been designated as the country’s National Scenic Byway.

Currently the organization is working to designate the Greenway as a National Heritage Area. Official recognition of the Greenway will demonstrate the national significance of this landscape, empower partners to work together more efficiently, enhance funding opportunities and formalize the Greenway coalition’s cooperative management style across this broad landscape. Over 1,000 people have signed their petition to make this happen.  Voice your support

Food is love. Love is food. When combined together they create My Sweet Lil Cakes.

Following in his parents’ footsteps, Jesse found love in the city of Seattle when he first set his eyes on Sheena in early 2011. They spent the first few months of their relationship trying to figure out a way quit their jobs to work beside each other forever.

“It didn’t take very long staring at Sheena’s assets in the kitchen to come up with the inspiration for these deliciously plump hotcakes on a stick!” Jesse Lee, Founder

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What better way to announce our new address than to host an open house party!  Our new address was not the only milestone we’ve reached recently. For the first time, we used Greenvelope to send our invitations and collect RSVPs. Until this point we’ve used Greenvelope for personal events like birthdays and dinner parties, but we’ve never had the opportunity as a business.  We had a great response and nearly everyone showed up!

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