MIREYA NAVARRO of the NY Times asks how green is your wedding?
When you take into account the air miles of your guests, the food and all the gift wrapping you typical wedding does not make for the most eco friendly of events. But what can you do about it while still making it a beautiful event? Quite a lot according to bride Kate Harrison and they are all simple.
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Use hydrangeas, berries and other local and seasonal flowers for her bouquet and the decorations, instead of burning up fuel transporting flowers from faraway farms. Design an organic autumnal menu (same reason). Find a vintage dress to avoid the waste of a wedding gown that will never be worn again.
Green weddings are becoming very popular and some very unique business are springing up to cater for this need.
Gerald Prolman is founder of OrganicBouquet.com, an online organic florist. His Web site has doubled its sales yearly since it began in 2001, added a wholesale business last August to meet growing demand.
Eric Fenster, an owner of Back to Earth, an organic catering company in Berkeley, said that since he started his business in 2001 the market has expanded to make weddings a third of his business.
Bridal magazines, too, have recognized the trend, and a new online site, Portovert.com, made its appearance last month, catering to “eco-savvy brides and grooms.”
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Janet Larsen, the director of research at the Earth Policy Institute, an environmental research group in Washington, said that every little bit helps. “All the actions add up,” she said. “Anything individuals can do to reduce their overall environmental footprint can make a difference.” Joshua Houdek, 32, and Kristi Papenfuss, 35, are planning a “zero waste” wedding for 250 guests in August. It will take place on a farm and include compostable plates and utensils, organic and fair trade-certified food, locally brewed beer and organic wine and wedding rings that are “100 percent reclaimed, recycled, ecologically responsible gold,” said Mr. Houdek, who works as a Sierra Club organizer in Minneapolis.
What about costs though? Going green doesn’t have to be any more or any less expensive.
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Some couples make tradeoffs so they can afford to go green. Sarah Minick, 29, an environmental planner in the Bay Area, and Siddhartha Mitra, 27, a doctoral student at the University of California at San Francisco, kept their wedding last July on the small side, about 75 guests, so they could offer an organic menu, which they said cost about 10 percent more than traditional food. The couple had their ceremony and reception in a natural setting that required few decorations, the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley. They went less green on the favors, though: they gave non-native tropical plants because they thought them more beautiful than locally grown varieties and felt their guests would enjoy them more, Mr. Mitra said.
“We’re really happy with how it turned out,” the bridegroom said. “It reflected us.”
So what about it? Will you be going green for your wedding?
Planning a wedding can be a stressful enough time already. Can you add something else to your plate?