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The Eco-Chic Wedding

The idea of an alternative wedding fills you with despair. All you ever wanted was a perfect white wedding and the green kill-joy-people place the erosion of the planet on your head. A million pictures cross your mind, Glastonbury in the rain, hippies, a recycled 80’s dress, pea soup, and a one-man acoustic band who walked from the next village.

But, what if we were to tell you that green really is the new white, darling. What if your dreams of the chic, glittering event of your life, were unfazed by new, must-have sustainability? After all, every fairy-tale wedding has a creature-loving heroine at the centre of it…

The average wedding emits 14.5 tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere. Considering the average Brit has an annual carbon footprint of 10.92, your ‘I do’ to a typical wedding will come at a hefty cost to the planet. Imagine hauling 14 cars worth of carbon down the isle. ‘Tis so last season.

Being discerning, you have already joined the organic-wine-swilling ‘it’ crowd. You shop at local markets, have organic cotton sheets and drink nothing but fairtrade lattes. Making the leap to your all-important day, though, is proving a little more scary. But, do not fear. You need not sacrifice your dream-day on the alter of ethics.

We know that the perfect day would not be perfect for you if it didn’t line up with your values. Afterall, you can’t spend a lifetime looking at your ring, wondering what it cost the slave who mined it (as well as your devoted husband). But other choices aren’t so easy. Do you prioritise human rights or the environment? Do you do local or organic? Do you spend more to be ethical or save the money to give it away?

If all you remember is this, then remember your core-values when you face each decision. Determining your values before hand will make decisions easier as you go along.

Hint 1 – Determine YOUR core values.

At this point you can then get help. Anyone who has crossed paths with a bride (or bridegroom) will be well aware of the need they have for big time, no holes barred, help. There are now many green wedding planners and online directories (www.greenunion.co.uk) to help you on you way. Most importantly, you have great, friends around to help. Once you can tell them what you’re after in terms of style and arrangements, then you can let them know your value system – so that everyone’s on the same page.

Hint 2 - Get some help. Look to friends, family or professional help – plan and delegate.

Set the date. Once you have set the date you can start making meaningful decisions about venues, dresses, colours, themes etc. You will then also know roughly what is in season (food and flowers). Once you have a date you have lots of scope to do some serious dreaming. Then simply apply your core-values to the dreams.

Hint 3 – Keep dreaming – still get the wedding you want by keeping in mind your original ideas.

The biggest decision is actually not the dress (as dress shops would have you believe), but the location and venue for the wedding. Beautiful venues exist everywhere, but all your guests are coming from somewhere. You could make the wedding easy on everyone by judging what location is closest to the majority of your guests. That way you cut down the most significant contributor to a weddings’ carbon footprint: travel. You could even find somewhere close to good rail links so that people don’t have to drive.

Also, start asking some pertinent questions of venues. Most venues have standardised packages. But, don’t accept fitting into their mould. Your custom is worth huge amounts to your venue of choice. You can specify local/organic/fairtrade food, decoration materials, flower sources, wines, and even cleaning materials. It’s your wedding and they have plenty of time to make the arrangements. Get it written down in the contract and delegate the job of checking it to a friend. If they don’t like it, move on to a more 21st Century or ethical venue.

Remember to have guest accommodation sourced too. But delegate!

Hint 4 – Location, location, location.

Dress. I’m a bit of a rebel when it comes to ethical wedding dresses. With everything else there’s choice, but being a girl, I know sometimes a dress gets you rather than the other way around. Please don’t wear something hideous that you feel rubbish in. that said, you can try many options before you even begin to look at the wedding magazines and you might well find that - split open the heavens and see angels - dress along the way.

I’ve been chatting with a chain of Bridal stores run by Oxfam. They have thousands of dresses across all the sizes (UK 8-22 remember you get them fitted anyway), mostly designer dresses straight from the catwalk. New, designer dresses, in your size – sounds good. It gets better. They range in price from just £50 ($100) to £250 ($500) (the top end dresses originally cost thousands) and every penny you spend goes to help Oxfam deliver aid across the globe. They also have bridesmaids covered to!

You can also get a dress made with organic fair-trade silk, buy vintage, buy previously worn www.thedressmarket.net, or hire.

Hint 5 – Think fair first.

Hint 6 – Get a conflict free diamond and use re-cycled or green gold.

Hint 7 – Source local flowers to avoid human rights abuses and huge carbon costs of exotic bouquets. Buy, hardy exotic-looking living plants (and then you either get to keep them or give them away as ‘thank you’ gifts!).

Hint 8 – Promote public transport to the location, provide transport, use the same venue for ceremony and reception, and offset guest travel (particularly any flights).

Hint 9 – Design and email invites or use recycled stationary (with email/phone RSVP). Set up a website with info and links all about your big day and gift registries. You can talk about your wishes and even include public transport info, a link to offset their emissions, details about ethical gifts and recycled wrapping.

Hint 10 – Ask for alternative gifts that keep giving. Some people might find this new and hard to understand. We don’t usually brag about it, but, Living Generously is the only alternative gift registry that actually sends the money to the project you choose. This helps guests feel like they are getting something real for you. You could also ask for ethically sourced gifts or just money so you can spend wisely yourself.


So, green can be glam and as lavish or as modest as your eco-chic wedding so wishes.

Further help is available, from www.greenunion.co.uk or just ask Aunt Elgie! Watch out for the newt in our wedding season: Heavenly Honeymooning.

 

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