Marijuana Is a Welcome Wedding Guest in Colorado and Washington State
Earlier
this month, when Ellen Epstein arrived at the Devil’s Thumb Ranch in
Tabernash, Colo., for the wedding of her friends Lauren Meisels and
Bradley Melshenker, she, like the other guests, found a gift bag waiting
for her in her hotel room. But rather than a guide to activities in the
area or a jar of locally made honey, the canvas bag contained a rolled
joint, a lighter and lip balm infused with mango butter and cannabis,
along with this note: “We wanted to show you some of the things we love
the best.”
She
knew then that the wedding of her fellow Boulder residents would be
just a little different from the ones she had attended in the past.
The
Meisels and Melshenker nuptials looked as if their inspiration had come
not from the pages of Martha Stewart Weddings but from High Times. All
of the floral arrangements, including the bride’s bouquet, contained a
variety of white flowers mixed with marijuana buds and leaves. Mr.
Melshenker and his groomsmen wore boutonnieres crafted out of twine and
marijuana buds, and Mr. Melshenker’s three dogs, who were also in
attendance, wore collars made of cannabis buds, eucalyptus leaves and
pink ribbons.
Before
going into dinner, the guests were given a baby marijuana plant in a
ceramic pot with their name and table assignment written on a card in
green ink, in the kind of stylish script you might find on a container
of artisanal goat cheese. The tables were named after different strains
of marijuana, like Blue Dream, Sour Diesel and Skywalker (the groom’s
favorite strain). Ms. Epstein, who was seated at Skywalker, said that
everyone at her table, where the ages ranged from 40 to 70, passed
around a device similar to an electronic cigarette — except that it
contained hash oil instead of nicotine. “It didn’t feel weird or
bizarre,” she said. “It kind of becomes a new cocktail.”
With
the sale of marijuana for recreational use now legal in Colorado and
Washington State, pot and its various paraphernalia are becoming visible
at weddings in those states — as table favors for guests like miniature
vaporizers or group activites like a hookah lounge.
Brides
and grooms, even ones who say they don’t partake often but want to be
hospitable, are giving guests choices that are much different than the
standard merlot or chardonnay. Now, the choice could be Tangerine Haze
or Grape Ape.
Marijuana
use at weddings is “out of the closet now,” said Kelli Bielema of
Shindig Events in Seattle. “I did a wedding recently where they had a
little box, like a trinket box, and it had a bunch of joints in it. They
just passed it around, and said, ‘Here, enjoy yourself.’ ”
The
choice to make pot an integral if not central part of their wedding was
almost a no-brainer for Mr. Melshenker, 32, and Ms. Meisels, 34 (who
also had an open bar). Cannabis had been a major part of the couple’s
relationship from the beginning. Ms. Meisels, who grew up in Manhattan,
and Mr. Melshenker, who is from Maryland, met in 2007, when they were
both living in Los Angeles. On their first date, they smoked a joint
together, and Ms. Meisels, who worked at United Talent Agency at the
time, told Mr. Melshenker she had been searching for a boyfriend who
smoked pot.
“She
was like, ‘I’ve been going out partying every night and I need a
pothead to slow me down, to cook dinners and watch movies instead of
this Hollywood night life,’ ” Mr. Melshenker remembered. Five years ago,
they moved together to Boulder, and opened the Greenest Green, a
marijuana dispensary and cultivation center, which they recently sold.
“Our
whole life for the last five years has been cannabis, cannabis,
cannabis,” said Mr. Melshenker, who with Ms. Meisels now operates Green
Life Consulting, an advisory firm for those who want to start
marijuana-based businesses, and 710 Labs, which manufactures
concentrates like hash oil.
Many
pot enthusiasts think of alcohol as an old-fashioned, old-school toxin
whose overuse can inflame family tensions and cause people to say
horrible things, especially at weddings. In comparison, marijuana, they
contend, is more like a tonic that calms people down and makes them like
each other more rather than less — perfect for a wedding, they say.
Some
of those who have attended weddings where joints, bongs, vaporizers,
e-pens or hookahs are passed around also say it heightens the
community-building mood that is inherent at a wedding. At Get High
Getaways, a bed-and-breakfast in Denver, smoking pot is “not only
permitted but encouraged,” said Dale Dyke, who runs the place with his
wife, Chastity Osborn. Last March, Mr. Dyke and Ms. Osborn hosted a
wedding and reception at their inn featuring joints rolled from various
strains of marijuana including Critical Mass, Widow Kush and Skunk 1.
(The bride and groom said they love smoking marijuana but did not want
to be interviewed about it.)
“Everybody
was blazing the whole time,” said Mr. Dyke, who believes cannabis is a
much more romantic substance than alcohol because it represents
exploration, rebellion, openness and togetherness. “Marijuana
intoxication is full of positive emotion. People feel love and
connection. Every single person cried at the wedding.”
The
rules and regulations about marijuana — particularly regarding where it
is legal to use and where it is not — are still being written and
constantly changing, like springtime weather in the Rockies. It is legal
to imbibe on private property but not in public; however, there is
endless debate about what constitutes private versus public.
Heather
Dwight, who runs Calluna Events in Boulder and organized the
Melshenker-Meisels wedding, said it was difficult to find a place that
would permit a joint bar or hookah lounge. Even the owners of “private”
spaces, such as lofts or large houses, balked. It was possible to openly
serve marijuana at the Get High Getaways wedding because B&Bs are
considered private property and Mr. Dyke was open to it.
Many
of the most popular places to hold weddings in Colorado, like the
Denver Botanic Gardens, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and the
top of Aspen Mountain, forbid marijuana, citing the law against
consumption in public. Tourists complain that marijuana is simple to buy
in Colorado (dispensaries are almost easier to find than Starbucks
cafes), but there are very few places where it is clearly legal to
consume it. So, for now, Ms. Dwight said, the easiest place to have a
weed wedding is in your own backyard.
Because
they are smokeless, cakes and pies with cannabis baked in are a
hard-to-detect way of consuming pot in public. It is also illegal to do
so. In Washington State, Alison Draisin, a baker who creates what she
calls “medibles” — because she intends them for medicinal use — said, “A
restaurant cannot offer medibles on their menu, as it stands now.”
Even
die-hard marijuana enthusiasts say the high from edibles can be
incredibly powerful and long-lasting. Julie Dooley, of Julie & Kate
Baked Goods in Denver, makes granola that contains THC, the psychoactive
ingredient in marijuana, and describes the experience of ingesting a
pot-infused edible this way: “It’s not like wine or a joint you might
pass around for a fun party atmosphere. When you eat an edible, you are
committed for four hours and mine can last six to 12 hours. It’s a long
experience.”
Also,
most edibles, which include caramels, lollipops and chocolates, look
like regular treats, which makes them especially tempting for children.
At a wedding where a tray of pot brownies was served a few weeks ago,
the hired planner, Kerri Butler of A Touch of Bliss in Denver, said that
the space’s bartenders checked the IDs of guests before handing out the
brownies (which had been baked by the mother of the bride).
Jake
Rosenbarger of Kim & Jake’s Cakes in Boulder said he would not make
a cannabis cake if asked. Marijuana ruins the flavor, he said, and it
can even ruin a wedding. “It can divide a room as much as pull it
together,” he said. “It creates a vibe of, ‘Are you in the cool kids
club or not?’ ”
Penni
Ervin, a wedding planner in Crested Butte, was aghast when asked if she
was working on any weddings in which pot was involved. “We’re talking
about highly professional people, and I just don’t see C.E.O.s getting
stoned,” she said. “It’s a family event with grandma and grandpa,”
adding, “and you don’t want them to get shocked.”
Before
Jennifer Beck, 27, and Chase Beck, 24, were married on May 3, also at
the Devil’s Thumb Ranch, they briefly discussed serving THC-infused
cupcakes in addition to traditional ones. Mr. and Mrs. Beck, who founded
Cannabase.io, a Denver
Internet company that connects customers to marijuana-based businesses,
ultimately decided not to include the special cupcakes, in part because
it was springtime, the season when the rivers are raging with snowmelt
and the bears are coming out of hibernation — not the ideal moment for
anyone to be stoned in the mountains.
However,
Mr. Beck had no qualms about sharing some weed — a strain called Space
Cheese, to be exact — with his groomsmen after the ceremony at a private
cabin he rented nearby. “The Space Cheese itself lent a giggly buzz to
everyone while we rehashed the day’s events,” he said.
Today,
there are “budtenders” (think sommeliers, only they work with cannabis
instead of wine) in every dispensary, to help couples who are so
inclined find the ideal strains for their weddings. Bec Koop just opened
a business, Buds and Blossoms in Alma, Colo., to advise those who want
to include marijuana in their centerpieces, dinner salads, bouquets and
boutonnieres (or “bud-tonnieres,” as she calls them).
When
it comes to marijuana, she is like a skier bombing down a steep slope,
far more adventurous than cautious. For instance, during a recent
conversation, she suggested placing a tincture containing flavored (like
peppermint or vanilla) THC-infused liquid next to the wedding cake, for
guests who might want to add a few droplets. “Like putting syrup on
your pancakes,” she exclaimed.
Ms.
Koop believes brides and grooms should choose their wedding weed as
carefully as they select their music or clothes. Certain strains help
shy people get up and actually enjoy dancing in front of a crowd, she
said, while others could bring out the carefree, bubbly side of even the
most ferocious Bridezillas.
“If
there are two conflicting families who are not too happy about the
wedding,” she said, “you might want to find a strain that will make them
a bit more euphoric.”
Kristen
Tsiatsios, co-owner of Jubilee Event Engineers in Seattle, worked on a
wedding last summer that had a jazz-era theme and included a cigar/joint
bar set up outside the reception hall.
“We
just walked around telling people, ‘If you go to the cigar bar, there
are joints underneath the table,’ ” said Brandon Wagner, the bridegroom.
“Prohibition is over.”
As
it turned out, the “cigar bar” was like a strong undertow that drew all
the guests outside. “Nobody was on the dance floor,” Ms. Tsiatsios
said. “Everyone had gone out front to get stoned, and there they stayed
the whole night.”
It
is hard to predict if pot will become more or less popular at weddings
in the future. Mark Buddemeyer, a Colorado budtender whose nickname is
actually Bud, expressed doubts that marijuana would ever become widely
acceptable at weddings.
“We’ve
got to get to the point where smoking is classier than drinking,” he
said. “A bride blowing out a big cloud of smoke is not necessarily
attractive.” (Of course, you do not have to inhale to get high anymore.
You could drink one of Dixie Elixirs’ THC-infused sparkling beverages
that come in trendy flavors like pomegranate or watermelon cream.)
Others
wonder if it’s really necessary for a bride and groom to heighten,
lighten, deepen or in any way alter the experience of getting married.
Isn’t promising to spend the rest of your life with someone enough of a
high? The Becks made a pact not to get stoned (or tipsy) before their
ceremony. “It does change your energy,” Mrs. Beck said. “It does change
your ability to engage. For the wedding, you’ve got to be there.”
One
thing that can be said about weed weddings is they are likely to
generate less waste. While many centerpieces, boutonnieres or bouquets
are typically thrown out, ones made out of marijuana buds will probably
not be discarded.
For
the wedding at Get High Getaways, Ms. Osborn made the bride’s bouquet,
which included several buds of S.A.G.E. Zeta. After the wedding, Mr.
Dyke said, the newly married couple hung the bouquet in a closet at home
to dry it out, and intend to smoke it on their wedding anniversary next
year. Mr. Dyke likened it to the tradition to saving a piece of wedding
cake in the freezer and sharing it on the first anniversary.
This practice could be a new way to relive the day. As Mr. Dyke put it, “You catch the same buzz you had on your wedding day.”
