When it comes to wedding trends, green seems to be the new “something blue.” To a growing number of environmentally conscious couples, the Big Day involves more than choosing the right dress, menu, music and venue. It involves watching their carbon footprint and minimizing their impact on the planet.
A budding interest in green weddings reflects a different type of vow couples are taking these days. Not only are they pledging devotion to one another but to the world around them.
An environmental writer for The New York Times, Navarro found “a smart new world of couples who were making conscious decisions to have green weddings,” as she writes in her book, released earlier this year.
She found a movement of brides and grooms who calculated mileage to offset carbon emissions, donned recycled wedding gowns, opted for local, seasonal, organic menus, served Fair Trade coffee and delighted their guests with socially conscious party favors.
“There are options that are different shades of green. If you can’t afford organic, then go for local. The idea is not to buy an organic peach from California for a Florida wedding,” says the author. “Look at the produce and items from your local area — you can be very green by doing that.”
Navarro had a wedding she describes as “on the lighter side of green” in 2005, before her green-consciousness had evolved. In fact, in an effort to save her guests travel expenses, she had two weddings, one in California and one in her family’s native Puerto Rico, where she served island fare on her reception menu.
Two years later, a catch phrase had taken grip of many Americans’ social consciousness: global warming. Navarro notes that 2007 brought an avalanche of environmental news, from Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth to “Live Earth” concerts. Suddenly, the vox pop was abuzz with terms like green, eco and carbon footprint.
The wedding industry produces a lot of things environmentally minded couples may not feel so good about. The amount of disposable wedding-day details, beginning with the fancy, multilayered invitations, is staggering.
“You don’t want to create a lot of garbage that winds up in landfills,” Navarro says.
When it comes to trash, she suggests green-intentioned couples play reporter when selecting a venue.
“You want to choose a place that is close to most of your guests. But you also want to ask the venue what it does with the trash. Do they recycle? Do they compost?”
While green weddings still are in the minority, there are signs that they are heading into the mainstream. Navarro points to a survey earlier this year by David’s Bridal, which found about 45 percent of engaged women or recent brides would or did incorporate green elements into their weddings.
Terms such as carbon emissions and composting don’t exactly conjure the ambience a bride might envision. But then again, there’s always candlelight. That’s romantic. And green.
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