Kate L. Harrison - The Green Bride Guide: How to Create an Earth-Friendly Wedding on Any Budget

Copyright 2008 by Kate L. Harrison Cover and internal design 2008 by Sourcebooks, Inc. Cover illustration and design by Olivia Wolf Author photo courtesy of Mohamed Ismail

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Harrison, Kate L.

The green bride guide : how to create an earth-friendly wedding on any budget / Kate L. Harrison.

p. cm.

1. WeddingsPlanning. I. Title.

HQ745.H245 2008

395.2'2dc22

2008021154

Printed and bound in Canada.
WC 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To my familyold and new.

F irst and foremost I would like to thank all of the people who helped me through the writing process: Pam Liflander, who coached me on how to write a proposal and get an agent; my agent, Kate Epstein, who worked tirelessly to get this project off the ground; my editors Shana Drehs and Sara Appino at Sourcebooks, who did a wonderful job getting this book ready for market; and the friends and family members who gave me ideas, feedback, and spelling lessons. In particular I want to thank David Mann, who read with a fine-tipped pen and a sharp mind; my mother, Ruth, whose love of all things floral beautified both my wedding and the flower chapter; my nephew Joe Rosen, who checked all of the Web addresses; and my brother, Webmaster H Alex, who helped me take this book to the next level with thegreenbrideguide.com. I also want to extend a special thanks to my parents and grandparents, who made my own green wedding possible. (Dadhere is to another good first step! Ms. Carver would be proud.) Finally, I want to thank my husband, Barry, who believed in me and supported me from the get-go and who acquainted me with the awkward aardvark, captain of the passive-voice police. You are the best.

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

APPENDIX

I n the fall of 2006, when my husband, Barry, and I began thinking about and planning our own green wedding, we were surprised by how little information was available to assist us. I read every book and article I could find on the topic and spent hundreds of hours surfing online for green ideas, supplies, and vendors. It was an extremely frustrating and laborious processbut we were delighted with the results! To save others from having to go through the trouble, I decided to compile my efforts into this comprehensive resourceThe Green Bride Guide.

Throughout this book I have tried to include some of the answers to the why of different choiceswhy local, why organic, why fair trade, etc.but first, the biggest why of all:

I should mention off the bat that Barry and I are both environmentalistshe's an environmental historian, and I work in environmental law and policy. However, when we announced our plan to have a green wedding, my father's first response was still, Why would you want a green weddingaren't weddings supposed to be white?

Although the confusion about green the color vs. green the concept was cleared up quickly, my father's skepticism remained. This is the first hurdle. Although green weddings are becoming more popular, it is inevitable that some of your friends and family members will not understand what a green wedding is or why you would want to have one. So let's begin with a few reasons why one might choose to have a sustainable event.

Sidestepping the Wedding Industry. Put the emphasis on industry because that is what it isa $70-billion-a-year industry. Many writers have discussed the phenomenon of being thrust onto the wedding conveyor belt, and even well-intentioned, thoughtful couples can find themselves getting sucked in. Weddings are complicated beasts, fraught with emotions, expectations, social conventions, and etiquette, and it is all very powerful stuff. Brides feel a lot of pressure to make everyone happy and are willing to spend whatever it takesabout $30,000 these daysto make their wedding perfect. Many couples go into debt (on average about $25,000 worth!) to pay for their weddings, so it is not surprising that ConsumerAffairs. com reported that 80 percent of couples cite money as the leading source of wedding stress. With a financial burden added to an emotionally demanding situation, it's no wonder the mythical Bridezilla lives on.
Part of having a green wedding is conserving resources-including money. This is not to say that a green wedding has to cost less than a comparable weddingsome cost more, and some cost lessbut part of having a green wedding is thinking about who you are, what your values are, and what kind of wedding you would want if the industry were not constantly telling you what you should want. When planning a green wedding, you have to be prepared to take a step back and make choices based on a different set of values.

Supporting Green Business. The wedding industry has spent a lot of time and money selling a certain look so that you will buy its products. These products include expensive single-use bleached white dresses, disposable aisle runners, chemically treated imported flowers, toxic makeup and skin-care products, mined gem-based jewelry, individual packets of rice, little plastic picture frames with your names and the date engraved on them, and all manner of disposable flourishes and trinkets. With almost 2.5 million weddings a year in this country alone, the impact on the environment from our weddings is substantial.
Weddings offer an amazing opportunity to make a difference. In addition to saving energy, conserving resources, and decreasing pollution, imagine what a boost $70 billion a year could give to sustainable businesses. If we are going to combat the environmental problems of this century, we need to change the way businesses operate. We need to create demand. Other than a house, a wedding is generally the most expensive thing a young couple will ever buy. By spending your wedding dollars on green goods and services, you send a signal to companies that it is time to change their ways. By simply bringing your awareness of environmental and social issues to the negotiating table with you, you can affect the impact of every purchasing decision you make and have each dollar you spend work to support your beliefs and values.