Ladies and gents, the weather is getting warmer, the days are getting longer and for many rose-blushed brides-to-be the season of matrimony is upon us.
For those not quite in the know Spring is wedding planning season -- and why not? Who doesn't turn their attention to all things new and exciting when tulips are in bloom and basements are awash in ground-water flooding (snow melt, in case there are those who have spent their entire responsible life in a multi-floor condo complex).
And, right on cue, comes a new book to help even the most traditional weddings become clean, green environmental machines.
Now, I just want to say upfront: I did not buy this book. The book was offered as a review selection from Random House. With that admission up front, I feel quite comfortable in stating that this book truly is a great preliminary overview and introduction into thinking green about the whole wedding day. First, the book dismantles the notion that green weddings are part of the granola and patchouli crowd. It allows us the ability to imagine the big day in all its apparent, traditional glory without sacrificing our values.
For example, author Emily Elizabeth Anderson starts off by explaining the enormous financial impact the wedding industry has on our economy. This brief overview helps us, as consumers, understand that our economic vote really does have an impact in how the marital industry conducts itself. While many organic, ethical or sustainable options currently have a premium attached to them, the notion that green weddings are an exception, rather than the rule, does not need to persist. Just as organic food, once the luxury of the well-heeled or the green-thumbed, is now a staple in all good grocery stores in North America, so can green-wedding options become part of the norm. What Anderson does is help us a) see our power as consumers and b) help this power become a less-stressful reality with simple, universal and easy to use options.
For example, Anderson suggests methods for cutting the cost, while sticking with sustainable choices (her suggestions are in italics, my added rational is not):
*Using in-season flowers. This saves on price (out of season flowers must be exported and are at a premium) and certainly eliminates the massive environmental impact of shipping in non-local flowers.
*Eliminating the save-the-date card. This not only saves postage (think about 150 invites/cards at $0.52 a piece PLUS stationary cost!) but also many, many trees. While many people recycle these days, the fact is the reduce option (out of reduce, reuse and recycle) is the most effective sustainable option. Even with recycling, trees must be harvested and used to produce the paper and eventually this recycled paper must end up in landfill (wood-pulp paper can only be recycled 5 to 7 times before the fibres are too weak to make new products). A paperless option eliminates this entire cycle and helps keep waste to an absolute minimum.
*Don’t purchase items you will only use at the wedding; instead, invest in dresses, shoes, or glassware you will alter and reuse. This was a mantra my mother taught me many, many moons ago. In fact, my prom dress is STILL a staple in my cocktail attire (yes, yes, it is a classic cut and a powerfully sexy dress!) and a constant reminder that a well thought out purchase can be reused many times without losing its charm.
*Opt for ethical jewellery options - such as non-diamond based (or Canadian mined) jewellery and ethically mined gold adornments. This is, perhaps, one of the most powerful suggestions in the book -- because the stigma around the diamond is so strong in our culture. The fact is diamonds do have a nasty environmental and ethical history. Even with media awareness, the diamond industry is still on tenuous ethical grounds, given the poor working conditions and the continued guerrilla warfare that occurs in diamond-mining nations. As such, Anderson's suggestion to scrap the sparkly is akin to a revolutionary coup in wedding culture -- a suggestion whose time has come. I particularly appreciated her generalized and fairly apolitical insight into the difficulties of gold and diamond industry and her "this celebrity does it" examples.
And there are other, many, many other, suggestions found in the book.
Now, saying all this, I would be remiss to not offer two, albeit, minor criticisms about the book.
First, the book is a PRELIMINARY overview. For the rather affordable price (under $20) it is an excellent prepatory source for the happy couple-to-be. However, the exact sourcing out of sustainable options must still be done by bride and groom. Thankfully, however, the book does provide a plethora of online sources. Second, I found the discussion on honeymoon options rather juvenile. The fact is, one of the major sources of environmental damage is travel -- particularly global travel. Yet, many of Anderson's options included jetting off to some remote, green-tourist site without mention that getting to and fro is perhaps the most damaging aspect of the trip. Still, Anderson did offer questions to help people BEGIN the process of questioning their choices, even in the transportation aspect of wedding-day options, and this, to me, is the start of conscientious change.
All in all, out of four RRRR's I would give this book a three RRR rating.
Eco-Chic Weddings
Simple Tips to Plan an Environmentally Friendly, Socially Responsible, Affordable, and Stylish Celebration
Written by Emily Elizabeth Anderson
Category: Reference - Weddings
Format: Trade Paperback, 168 pages
Publisher: Hatherleigh Press
ISBN: 978-1-57826-240-3 (1-57826-240-2)
Pub Date: January 2, 2007
Price: $16.00
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