Green Weddings

The Argument for Green Weddings

What is Stimulating the Interest in Green Weddings?

• Until as recently as 2007 we just did not have a good body of scientific evidence about the issues of Global Warming and Global Sustainability. The IPCC (AR4) Report demonstrated to the world the environmental issues we are facing with a great deal of scientific fact. Today the information is still getting being vetted and disseminated. More couples are becoming aware of the environmental issues related to traditional weddings and seeking eco-friendly weddings.  Current estimates are that 4% of all wedding are green and that amount should climb to 22% by 2013.

• Research by KPMG indicates that 88% of the population is aware of the global warming and sustainability issues facing the planet.
By 2013 up to $70 billion will be spent on all green homes by couples.  These individual will likely also be seeking green lifestyles.

• Weddings, a cultural event, are still being sold as if nothing is happening to the environment. The wedding industry is big and it sells romance and glitter, globally it sells the promise of perfection. Some couples are rebelling the traditional wedding aspect and find the opulence disturbing according to recent research
• While most Couples are still getting married with traditions based on past practices and driven by peer and media glamour, others are seeking simpler weddings according to research.

• Weddings come with a history of transfer of wealth, reciprocating of debts, binding of partners, creation of families, love and contractual obligations and the promise of another generation of children.
• Yet weddings like many other iconic events overlook the aspect of sustainability of the planet.
• A simple American Indian saying perhaps puts the sustainability concept best: “We do not inherit this earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children”. As more couples connect the dots between marriage, children and the environment.  Weddings will change.
• If one of the fundamental aspects of marriage is the creation of another generation, then the wedding must also help preserve the planet for that generation.
• Simple changes in our wedding plans can make the planet more sustainable and create a more meaningful union among couples.  A wedding should not sacrifice the lives of others in its adornment, nor should it contribute to destroying the earth for our future children.
• Based on other industries, the Live Green, Live Smart Institute sees approximately 32% of all young couples looking at green aspects of their wedding
• A smaller percentage of couples are becoming mentors and leaders for their peer group in their desire to be sustainable and socially conscious, giving up the concept of opulence and ostentatious for values based on simplicity, love, commitment, family, friends and harmony with the environment.  This group, which is the leading edge, will drive the future of the green wedding industry over the next three to five years.
• Changes in the economy, greater interest in energy and water efficiency and social reform will drive the industry to change during this same time period


Have A Green Wedding

What do Green Wedding Do?

• They reduce their carbon footprint from traditional weddings
• They preserve natural resources
• They place an emphasis on the value of human life and the social impact on a global population
• The couple becomes a role model for other couples to follow
• The still offer their friends, family and the community an event filled with love, celebration, and tradition
• Reduce or control the impact of waste in announcements, and other printed materials
• Reduce the impact of waste with food and beverages
• Reduce the impact of excess water usage in housing and meal preparations
• Reduce the impact of energy consumption in personal travel, importation of flowers for the reception and ceremony
• Reduce the impact of gift packaging and decorations
• Look for gifts that are lasting and durable
• Look at wedding clothing that is used, recyclable, rented or can be passed on to another generation
• Purchase food and beverages from local and often organic sources, Free Trade or shade grown coffee
• House guest in facilities (hotels, B&Bs, etc.) that are certified “green” and sustainable
• Seek event location that are close to home
• Look at carpooling and busing larger groups to destination locations 
• Seek venues and times that do not require extensive air travel by large groups of people
• Avoid flowers and materials that must come great distances and are raised in energy intensive environments
• Are held in locations where the water and land is protected, where pesticides and fertilizers are reduced or eliminated and water management is part of the event locations practice
• They can be more elegant because they focus on simplicity, and are less ostentatious
• They are fun and focus on family and friends, not on displays of wealth
• They donate money to charity in the name of the wedding couple as opposed to giving guest frivolous table gifts
• The offer a different type of luxury, they demonstrate love and commitment in the process
• They celebrate the way that their cultural and religions dictate, only with an eye toward the environment and social responsibility

Are They More Complex to Pull Off?

• They take more care in planning and can be more difficult for a tradition-wedding planner to undertake
• They require thinking at multiple levels from the invitation and gift registrations to the source of foods and beverages
• They require the couple to examine:  Recycling, reducing, reuse and rethinking, along with the concept of “cradle to cradle” evaluations on all aspects of the wedding
• There is a point in time with any wedding where the participants and guests gain no additional value.  The wedding is no more exciting, the celebration no more fulfilling, the food no better, the drinks no more plentiful.  Everyone becomes overwhelmed and the wedding itself is lost in the process of being “chic”.


Green Wedding Planning Process

Green Wedding Planning Process (6 to 12 Months Before the Wedding)

• Announcement of the engagement (let people know it is a green wedding your are planning, do the announcement on recycled paper or FSC certified paper, use soy ink or send a electronic announcement to computer savvy individuals
• Select the date and time of day certain times of the year and early in the day wedding use less artificial light and heating or air conditioning)
• Green weddings are smaller the guest list will range from 50 to 125 individuals
• Think about who will come and the impact of making people fly or drive great distances at an inconvenient time.  Is it necessary to invite every relative and obligate them to make the trip (this increases your weddings carbon footprint)? Send them a DVD of the wedding or do an online video for the convenience of older individuals and distant friends and relatives. Make a personal phone call to tell them you are thinking of them at this special time.
• You don’t need to make final decisions on the guest list at this stage
• Green weddings are smaller the guest list will range from 50 to 125 individuals
• Think about who will come and the impact of making people fly or drive great distances at an inconvenient time.  Is it necessary to invite every relative and obligate them to make the trip (this increases your weddings carbon footprint)? Send them a DVD of the wedding or do an online video for the convenience of older individuals and distant friends and relatives. Make a personal phone call to tell them you are thinking of them at this special time.
• You don’t need to make final decisions on the guest list at this stage
• Begin thinking about the honeymoon.  Is there a location that is ecologically friendly, will it take incredible amounts of energy to make your honeymoon perfect?
• Focus on the final guest list: Must the wedding encompass everyone you and your families know?  Big weddings are energy intensive and environmentally insensitive.  Invite only those people you really know well, guest who will share in your love not just for the moment but will support you for the rest of your lives.
• Select the Caterer: Begin by looking for food and beverages that are local, when possible organic, avoid seafood that is no longer sustainable or damages the environment thru farming practices (i.e.: shrimp, grouper, trout, etc.). Think of more vegetarian dishes (meats are very energy intensive to produce and in some views less humane). 
• Look for wine from boxes (reduces carbon dioxide emissions) and liquors in bottles that can be recycled.  Arrange with the caterer for composing food and biodegradable paper products and recycling of cans and bottles, donations to needy of excess food
• When buying any food or beverages look for bulk items and avoid buying in small packages that increase material usage.
• Avoid buying water in plastic bottles, buy a filter for the tap if necessary and offer water kept cold in coolers. Buy sodas in liter bottles or better yet for large weddings use a soda vend system.
• Don’t use excess ice to cool beer and sodas, buy only the ice you need.
• Don’t offer rice to toss (it kills birds), toss small white grains they can eat for tossing
• Early in the process select your music, a band, a DJ.  Think about noise pollution, the energy to keep large speakers operating, lights flashing? How long do you need to keep music playing?
• Select your flowers: Can you find locally grown flowers, can they be in pots and reused or donated to a local nursing home after the wedding? Do you need flowers grown in energy intensive environments from Columbia, south America, shipped to the Netherlands flower markets, then shipped to the US costal flower markets and finally to your florist, all along moved by next-day plane, all being kept refrigerated?
• Some items may come from parts of the world that depend on your purchase.  Think outside the box on this one.  Is this a purchase that may improve the life of a person in another part of the country or world if you buy it?
• Plan your memories: Select a photographer that uses a digital camera (fewer processing chemicals needed).  Think of fewer printed photos and more videos and computer disk photos).
• Planning the reception by interviewing the hall, hotel, and center: Ask about how they are green or could become green for your wedding?
• If you go to premarital counseling at your church ask the leaders or counselors to start talking about green weddings and lifestyles as part of the counseling course. Be proactive with your counseling course.

Section where you use food photos, selecting food

Wedding Planning (Month Three or Less)

• Get the invitations out and if necessary send a set of “How to be Green” instructions to individuals that you want to encourage to be green (suggest carpooling, if gifts are not being purchased from your registry suggest the kinds of items you want like appliances with Energy Star or Water Sense labels). Direct people to the Live Green, Live Smart Institute Web site to better understand what green weddings are all about.
• Your goal should not be to change guest’s attitudes, to teach or lecture them on green, only to have your own green wedding. You can always return a gift.
• Green wedding planning is not just limited to the bride and her mother or a planner. 
• Green weddings embrace the practices of cultures that bring together both families and friends to help with the wedding planning and often help with food preparation and setting up tables, serving food, getting the events organized.


Wedding Planning (Month Two or Less)

• Now is the time to begin checking with the hotel, hall, church or synagogue on their compliance with your sustainable needs.
• How is the caterer doing? Are you going to help with the food shopping at the local farmers market, will they do this with you, what is their menu looking like, can they prove to you where the produce comes from? Is the coffee shade grown or fair trade? Are you sure you are not making more food than necessary?

Section where you use food and selecting flowers photo

Bridal Showers and Bachelor Parties

• This is a good place to get your friends and family to start thinking green.  Tell them what you want in advance; don’t let this portion of the celebration become counter productive to your green wedding. 
• Ask if a party is held to think about recycling, waste reduction, and carpooling options, gifts that are put into reusable gift bags and gifts that meet your real needs.
• Another way to say we love you to a couple that may already have everything is a donation to a selected charity.  In some cultures a donation for food to the homeless is considered paying forward for happiness of the couple.


The Big Day

• Although this is your day, it is a day you share with friends and family, so no matter what goes right and what goes wrong, it is still a special day and everything you have done to this date will be acceptable to your guests.
• You will never be 100% green, sustainable or socially responsible so don’t even try, just make a difference, 20%, 50% and even up to 75% green execution reduces your footprint and gives your children and those that follow you something to be proud of.