Green Weddings in Star-TelegramBy Liz Stevens Star-Telegram Staff Writer Soon after my husband and I were engaged, we traveled to Santa Fe, N.M., to check out possible wedding locations. We weren't looking for an environmentally friendly venue (at the time, we'd never even heard the term "green living"). But we instinctively fell in love with just such a place. Sol y Sombra, a gorgeous property in the hills above the city, was the final residence of an ailing Georgia O'Keeffe in the 1980s. The grounds were a designated wildlife habitat and included a passive-solar greenhouse and an organic farm. There was one caveat to holding a wedding there: All of our guests would be required to take a short tour of the property's natural wastewater treatment system. Fine with us. Not so fine with my mother. In the end, we wed in a hotel -- lovely nonetheless, Mom! -- with no thought toward making our nuptials green in any way. But that was six years ago, long before Organicweddings.com was getting press coverage in the major bridal magazines (as it will this spring), before national newspapers like The New York Times were writing about environmentally friendly weddings (as it did last summer), before Eco Chic was a twinkle in my eye. Today, the Houston-based Green Hotels Association, whose members strive for lower energy use and waste reduction, has grown to approximately 250 members. A half dozen are in Texas, including Dallas' Southfork Ranch and Hotel. And companies like Ecoparti.com sell biodegradable confetti. Both Spiral Diner in Fort Worth and Jeanette Prasifka, owner of Crosby Cafe and Catering in Dallas, will do organic, vegetarian or vegan wedding cakes. Organicweddings.com went online in February 2002 and offers eco-conscious couples a resource and sounding board for their wedding decisions. Made-to-order wedding gowns are constructed from non-petroleum-based natural fabrics (hemp and silk) and are free from chemical treatments. The Web site's gift registry consists of earth-friendly products like backyard composters, candleholders made from recycled bike and car parts, and a hemp-covered beanbag chair filled with recycled polystyrene beads. And in December, company founder Michelle Kozin published a book, Organic Weddings: Balancing Ecology, Style and Tradition (New Society, $24.95), which includes a number of green wedding "case studies" and resources. Sales of wedding-related paraphernalia come to nearly $70 billion a year in the United States, Kozin told Real Money magazine last year. That's "an enormous opportunity to encourage the 2.3 million couples who marry every year to consider the environmental impact of their wedding choices," she said, "and it's a wonderful way for couples to influence others." Even seemingly innocent wedding details, such as flowers and rings, can give pause to the green bride: Imported flowers come from countries where pesticide use might not be as regulated as it is in the United States, compromising environmental and worker health, according to Grist, an online environmental magazine. Gemstones and metals require mining, which consumes vast amounts of energy and often has destructive effects on the environment. Surf the Internet and you'll find lots of easy ideas for greening a wedding: Send "save the date" cards via e-mail, or direct your guests to the invitation you created at Evite.com. After the wedding, they can even go back to Evite to view photos from your big day. Use recycled paper invitations. Companies such as Andover Accents offer paper with seeds that guests can plant after the wedding. Arrange to have the ceremony and reception at the same location, to cut down on fuel use. Buy or borrow a used or antique wedding dress. Purchase a secondhand gown from the Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation, for instance, and part of the proceeds go to fulfilling a wish of a terminal breast-cancer patient. The organization will hold a gown sale June 4-5 in Austin, with time and location to be announced. Have guests donate to charity instead of buying wedding gifts. Or, instead of purchasing favors for everyone, donate that amount of money in your guests' honor. The I Do Foundation, online at www.ido foundation.org, can help with both. |
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