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Go Green on Your Wedding Day

With Tips from the Green Bride Guide

by Kate Harrison

You might not have stopped to think about it, but every aspect of a wedding has environmental consequences. From the save-the-date cards before the wedding to the flowers at the farewell brunch, each choice a couple makes for their big day has an impact on the air, soil and water systems of our planet.

With almost 2.5 million weddings a year in the United States, each averaging more than 150 guests, the environmental impact of the wedding industry is enormous. Think of everything that goes into a typical wedding - a single-use bleached white dress, chemically treated, imported flowers, toxic makeup and skin care products, mined gem-based jewelry, and knick knack favors that typically get thrown in the trash, to name just a few - and then multiply by 2.5 million! That’s a lot of waste. If each of these 2.5 million couples made even one or two choices with the earth in mind, those earthfriendly choices would make a huge difference overall.

So how does the modern couple add eco-friendly touches to their celebration without sacrificing personal style and elegance? It’s easy. Here are some of the simpler ways you can decrease your celebration’s impact and still have the wedding of your dreams. Image: McKay’s Photography

Location, Location, Location

Wedding-associated travel can result in serious carbon emissions. One of the easiest ways to cut down on your wedding’s travel footprint is to have your ceremony and reception in the same place. Consider a wedding with about one hundred guests: if each car carries two people, that’s fifty vehicles driving from one location to the next. A single location eliminates those carbon emissions and saves your guests the hassle of going from one place to another.

If separate locations are necessary, you can mitigate the emissions problem by arranging transportation for your guests, such as the rental of a bus, van or trolley. You can also encourage your guests to carpool by setting up a ride share board on your wedding website.

Image: Studio Mathewes

Green Your Gold (and Your Silver and Diamonds, Too…)

Your engagement ring and wedding bands are meant to symbolize your love and your enduring commitment to each other. Most couples carefully choose these jewelry items; they want them to be beautiful and long-lasting, like their marriage. Sadly, much of today’s jewelry, though it looks beautiful, has a violent and dirty past. As more couples learn about the environmental and human damage caused by destructive mining practices and the gem trade, they choose to begin their journey together with more sustainable jewelry choices.

Metal- and gem-mining is a filthy, dangerous business that produces tons of mining waste and releases toxic metals into the environments. Mines are notorious for environmental damage such as soil erosion, flooding, and water pollution. Dangerous, unjust labor practices employed by large-scale mining operations often go unregulated. This makes it hard, if not impossible, for smaller and less destructive mines to compete and stay in business. Mines historically have been breeding grounds for harsh conditions where workers are beaten and tortured, and child labor is common. According to Amnesty International, the sale of “blood diamonds” has contributed to 3.7 million deaths in Angola, Sierra Leone, and the Congo.

In the last decade, the world community, with the help of the UN, various non-governmental organizations and the diamond industry, decided to create a system to prevent conflict diamonds from entering the legitimate diamond supply chain. The agreement that was reached is referred to as the Kimberley Process, a system of mine-to-market documentation for each stone to ensure that from the point of extraction to the point of sale it follows legal, traceable channels.

Even with the Kimberley Process in effect, it is still extremely difficult to know the exact origins of a diamond. While the Kimberley Process has eliminated many of the human rights abuses associated with the diamond industry, some conflict diamonds still enter the market through a loophole that allows rough conflict stones to be certified by the conflict-free country that cuts and polishes them. In addition, the Kimberley Process does not take into consideration the environmental impact of mining, nor does it regulate any other gem or metal mining Image: greenKarat practices. Every newly mined diamond, gem, or piece of metal carries a cost. It seems incongruous to choose a ring with these origins to serve as the symbol for a lifetime of love.

You can find a list of retailers who have pledged to use sustainable and ethical sourcing practices at www.nodirtygold.org. Check out companies like Reflective Images or Ruff & Cut, who specialize in custom fair trade and ethically produced gold, silver, platinum, and diamond jewelry. GreenKarat offers gorgeous modern designs