Going green for a wedding

Our love is in bloom, like the flowers we planted for the ceremony. The catered food is locally raised and we hope you can make it — via public transportation.

When Julie Mayfield and Jim Grode exchanged vows on a granite mountaintop, they also made a promise to Mother Earth: They would have a green wedding.

They walked down the aisle at the Arabia Mountain nature preserve just outside Atlanta without leaving a lasting footprint.

Guests carpooled in hybrid cars. Locally grown, organic food was served on corn-based biodegradable plates.

And the newlyweds bought "carbon credits" to offset the carbon emissions from their Ecuadorean honeymoon.

"We knew we wanted to stay connected to nature," said Mayfield, an environmental attorney. "We wanted it to be as green as it could possibly be."

Global warming has created the new cool factor for matrimony, as many couples surrender the tradition of the white wedding day for the environmentally hip standard of going green. Goodbye, limo; hello, Toyota Prius. No more fancy embossed invites with fringe and ribbons when recycled paper will do. And while no one's yet forsaken a registry at Macy's in favor of one at Greenpeace, some guests are calculating the carbon dioxide emissions of their wedding travel and then donating a matching sum to recipients like wind farms. It's the inconvenient truth of the latest wedding trend.

"It's the next big thing," said Dena Davey, director of marketing for the Association of Bridal Consultants, which serves the $60 billion annual industry.

"We are getting lots of calls from bridal consultants who are starting to research it. It's in magazines, blogs, everywhere."

Davey said while the association does not track the number of wedding consultants planning green weddings, many are offering green options.

Americans are recycling more, consuming more organic food, swapping incandescent lights for compact fluorescent ones and cruising around in hybrid cars.

As Americans grow more eco-conscious, observers say, it's a natural step for couples to design Earth-friendly affairs. That's why more brides and grooms will be pouring organic wine and champagne and setting up recycling bins at their wedding.

Big day reflects beliefs

When Anna and Matt Cherry of Atlanta got married in October, they circulated MARTA routes rather than road maps. And after the wedding reception, guests blew bubbles as the Cherrys stepped onto a westbound MARTA train at the Inman Park stop to begin their married lives.

"We feel like one of the best ways to reduce air pollution was to get people to take public transit, so there I was in my wedding dress," said 26-year-old Cherry, who works for the Sierra Club and whose husband is an urban planner. They also gave guests cherry saplings as favors and served hometown brew Sweetwater beer.

Megan Bosse, a 31-year-old technology attorney who lives in Atlanta, is planning a wedding at a Palmetto organic farm that allows bride and groom to select the seeds of flowers and watch them grow as their wedding day approaches. Bosse and her fiancé, Andrew Desautel, a personal injury attorney, also plan on serving free-range chicken and cheese produced by local farmers.

The "Save the Date" cards were printed on recycled paper, and she and her fiancé are planning on honeymooning at an eco-friendly resort in the Maldives.

Still, like many couples infusing green measures into their wedding day, Bosse said she isn't trying to make a statement or push an agenda. She even shies away from calling herself an environmentalist. She and many others say they do it simply because it feels like the right thing to do.

"I've been concerned about the environment for a long time," said Bosse, whose wedding and reception will take place at Serenbe, an inn and organic farm about 40 minutes outside Atlanta.

For Bosse — who intentionally buys gifts locally, shops at farmers markets and does her research on the chemicals used in the batting of furniture before making the purchase — the wedding was another life event where she wanted to make positive, deliberate decisions.

Bridal Guide magazine Associate Editor Valerie Berrios said planet-friendly weddings reflect people's greener lives and heightened awareness about climate change.

A decade ago, to be eco-aware likely meant getting jeered as a "tree hugger."

"Today, if you call someone green, it's not a diss, it's cool," said Berrios.

Additionally, weddings provide a chance for couples to educate family and friends about environmental issues and to promote green living.

But going green comes at a cost.

Catering with organic, locally produced veggies and free-range chicken can cost twice as much as it would otherwise, according to bridal experts. And soy-based ink for invitations and organic flowers for the bridal bouquet can take longer to find than traditional choices.

Still, experts say competition and demand ultimately will make it easier to create green weddings.

Berrios said couples can weave several green measures — such as encouraging guests to carpool and setting up recycling bins — that cost little or no money. And in some instances, going green can save money.

"If you have a wedding outside, let nature be your decorations," she said.

Trying to offset impact

Eco-marketing is a bandwagon many companies are trying to board. However, their participation has given rise to criticism over "greenwashing" — taking advantage of the trend without offering real environmental benefits.

An investigation by the Financial Times in London, for instance, revealed widespread problems with carbon offsetting programs. There's little regulation, opening the door to fraud and selling the same "carbon credits" more than once.

But this hasn't deterred companies from promising green measures as a way to gain a competitive edge.

Many honeymoon resorts promise to make the blissful getaway "carbon neutral" by supporting the production of clean electricity by sustainable sources such as wind farms rather than fossil fuels like coal and gas.

For example, at Hotel Mocking Bird Hill in Jamaica, a program called "Happy Marry Tree" plants two trees for every couple on their honeymoon to offset the carbon emissions of their traveling.

Expedia and Travelocity both introduced new programs that let travelers buy carbon offsets. At Travelocity, cartoon "eco-bunnies" tell prospective travelers they can "zero out" the carbon emissions from their trips by making a donation to plant native trees. ($10 supposedly offsets an average trip including air travel, a one-night hotel stay, and rental car for one person; $40 negates the effects of air travel, four-night hotel stay, and rental car for four people.)

Several green registries allow brides and grooms to register for everything from reusable bags to a compost crock and sheets made with organic cotton as well as make donations to green causes.

Jeff Gold, founder of the Georgia Nature Center in Watkinsville, suggests couples plant trees locally or look for other hands-on ways to offset the environmental bruises from the big day.

Ultimately, he said, it's better to reduce the impact on the front end.

"It's like polluting a lake and then paying money to clean up the lake vs. not polluting the lake to begin with," said Gold.

For Mayfield, the 40-year-old bride who married on Arabia Mountain at sunset, making her wedding all-green was a personal challenge. She wanted to prove it could be done.

She and her groom kept a list of five principles that guided them throughout the wedding process that included "Keep Things Small and Simple" and "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle."

"We try to live a sustainable life," said Mayfield, who picked March 31 as their wedding date because the tiny white diamorpha flower would be in full bloom on the granite outcrops of Arabia Mountain.

"We take MARTA to work every day. We sleep with our windows open many months of the year. We don't use wrapping paper. We reuse things. This is a philosophy for us. Our wedding was a platform to show it can be done for weddings, too."

Meanwhile, the Bosse-Desautel service will be built upon the same premise.

"We are just trying to do what we can with our choices," Bosse said. "I think that now it's easier to do something about it."

And so as their love blossoms, the couple will tie the knot in a field of bright yellow zinnias and marigolds they planted especially for their day.

GUIDE FOR GREEN WEDDINGS

1. Keep things small and simple.

Each person you invite is more miles traveled, more food and more waste.

2. Buy local produce and products locally whenever possible.

Why get orchids shipped from Hawaii when you can use an in-season flower from a local farmer?

3. Use green transportation.

Provide information about public transit and encourage carpooling.

4. Skip the mini-frames no one will ever use.

Give party favors that guests will enjoy and reuse, such as fair-trade coffee and chocolates or reusable totes.

5. Eco-honeymoon.

You can keep going green on your honeymoon by choosing a destination hotel that uses low-wattage bulbs, solar power and other Earth-friendly measures.

Source: treehugger.com

GOING GREEN

Resources for planning a green wedding in Georgia:

• For a list of caterers that use organic food, go to www.georgiaorganics.org.

• Destinations: Serenbe Southern Country Inn's gardens (serenbe.com) in Palmetto and the Atlanta Botanical Garden (atlantabotanicalgarden.org) host green weddings. The Georgia Nature Center recently created a stage for weddings, and it has facilities 100 percent powered by solar power and wind power. For more information, go to www.naturecenter.com.

• For more tips, go to www.greeneleganceweddings.com or treehugger.com.