Eco Weddings are IN!
| The Gazette |
Saturday, June 02, 2007
The modern North American wedding is a joyous, extravagant and increasingly consumerist occasion.
It costs $27,500 U.S. on average, includes about 160 guests, and involves more than 40 different professionals. There's even a nickname for the self-absorbed, money-is-no-object bride: They call her Bridezilla.
In her just-published book One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding (Penguin Press), New York journalist Rebecca Mead investigates the modern U.S. wedding and the multibillion-dollar industry it has spawned.
The whole purpose of this growing industry, she says, is to encourage brides to become obsessive, extravagant, self-centred creatures.
"Just about everyone knows someone, or knows of someone, whose wedding plans have taken on the proportions of a military operation, whose wedding costs have ballooned beyond economic prudence, and whose attention to wedding day production values would put a Broadway set designer to shame," Mead writes in One Perfect Day.
But for renegade couples who want to buck the consumerist trend, there's a growing selection of environmentally friendly options.
Here are a few green-wedding ideas from Eco-Chic Weddings (Hatherleigh Press), by Emily Elizabeth Anderson.
The rings: The production of a single gold ring can generate 20 tons of mine waste, Anderson writes. Diamonds often originate from areas in sub-Saharan Africa where the profits from their sale are used to fund guerrilla military activity.
Opt instead for faux diamonds, such as the synthetic stone Moissanite, which looks real but costs a fraction of a diamond's price. Choose recycled gold. Have your engagement ring serve as a wedding band as well. Or get Granny's ring - a jewellery designer can create something new from it.
The gown: A typical wedding dress can take 15 metres of fabric or more. Often, it's made in China using child labour and/or environmentally harmful chemicals. And it usually costs more than $1,000.
Go local and buy a gown made by a Quebec designer. Choose a dress you can wear more than once. Think bamboo, organic cotton, hemp, silk or linen - all sustainable, naturally produced fabrics in not-quite white, which means less chemical processing. Consider a recycled or rented dress.
The bridal registry: Create a registry to cut down on unwanted gifts you'll never use. Better still, register with companies that encourage sustainable and fair trade practices, like Dix Mille Villages. Or be totally selfless and ask for charitable alternatives to gifts.
Bonbonnieres: Admit it - nobody ever uses those tacky little wedding favours. Dispense with the bonbonniere altogether and make a donation on the guests' behalf. Make a little sign at the seating-card table that says where the donation went.
If that's too revolutionary, give something edible, like biscotti or truffles. Keep packaging to a minimum.
The invitations: Some stationers recommend the so-called "wedding wardrobe," which might include up to 10 different pieces for a single invitation.
Consider a simpler invitation, perhaps using tree-free or chlorine-free papers, or artisanal paper from the assortment at Au Papier Japonais on Fairmount Ave. The Crane stationery company, for one, makes wedding invitations from organic cotton. Include a "please recycle" note on the back. Or go digital and send e-vites.
Flowers: The toxic chemicals used on flower farms in Central and South America poison the soil and groundwater.
Choose organic flowers. Sierra Eco flowers are grown on farms that practise environmentally responsible growing methods, recycling and waste disposal. They also offer workers wage security and access to education and health care. In Montreal, Sierra Eco flowers are available from Fleuriste Centre Ville in Central Station and Fleuriste Salaberry in St. Laurent. Or find locally grown flowers in season.
The menu: It is humanly impossible to eat everything at most weddings these days. Sushi, smoked salmon, tapas for cocktails, a pasta first course, soup, salad, the main meal, followed by dessert, then a sweet table. It's way too much for even the biggest gourmand, and tons of it ends up in the Dumpster after the party's over.
Simplify the menu. Shorten the cocktail hour. Dispense with the porchetta sandwiches at midnight.
The honeymoon: The average amount spent on a honeymoon is $3,700, and almost two-thirds of those trips are to foreign locales.
Investigate green hotels. Go to the website greenhotels.com to see if a hotel or resort supports organizations that pay fair wages and follow good environmental practices. Check www.blueflag.org or www.greenglobe.org, two sites with environmental information about international destinations that promote sustainable development.
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