“It was in August 2010, the Ann Arbor couple (Engel and Dyer) were married in a “green” outdoor marriage ceremony and reception near the Huron River fit to pay homage to their shared passion of the ecosystem and the outdoors.

The trend toward green weddings certainly isn’t new, but experts say it has evolved to allow couples to incorporate their personal preferences and still afford a wonderful wedding.

Most people are curious about what a green wedding is. When they hear about what it really entails, they often end up going a different route. Our heroes Engel and Dyer decided they wouldn’t be able to keep everything perfectly green, but were going to try their hardest. And the most essential element was to make the day informative as well as fun for guests.

They planned the marriage ceremony at a science and nature center where tours were offered to guests in the hour before they walked down the aisle. The tour featured different water and energy conservation technologies used at the center like the solar-panel arrays for electricity, solar-powered heating and water heater systems and no-flush compost toilets.- this was certainly brave!

The couple also focused on little details they said made a big difference.

- The bride wore an heirloom – a vintage green dress that had been her great-grandmother’s in the 1930’s.

- Her ring was made with recycled gold and had a beryl stone instead of a diamond.

- Her makeup was certified organic.

- Guests were given local lavender buds – rather than sachets of rice – to throw in celebration.

- Tables were covered with local wildflowers and locally sourced foods.

- Leftovers and unused food were recycled (by sending to local farms) or reused.

- They found a generator that was solar powered and able to generate enough power to run the lights and the audio system they needed for the band.

For all their efforts, they still made some choices they knew weren’t the most eco-friendly options.

While they served Michigan white wine beverages and a Michigan sparkling cider, they couldn’t find a red from the state they liked. So they decided to have a burgundy from the U.S. And they could have gone with email invites rather than printing and mailing invitations, but Dyer said she felt paper invitations were important – on recycled paper, of course.

What can You do to ‘green up’ your ceremony day?

While green weddings are becoming more famous, planning and pulling off the event can be a challenge.

Sorting through claims of environmentally friendliness when shopping in the present marketplace can be a big obstacle for ordinary purchases, let alone for such an emotionally charged and personal event as a wedding.

The best way to reduce the impact of an event is to start a life cycle analysis on different elements of the wedding. For instance, where is that food coming from, how much energy is expended to produce it, how does it get to your plate and where do the leftovers go?

While meat typically takes more energy to produce than fruits and vegetables, considering how far some fruits and vegetables must travel might let them have a larger carbon footprint.

About the writer – L. Thomason posts articles for the

<a href=”http://www.eventplanningcareers.net/”>event planning careers</a> blog, her personal hobby website focused on suggestions to help people figure out how to organize a green event to spend less energy and reduce carbon footprints.

http://www.eventplanningcareers.net/Leslie-Science-and-Nature-Center.JPG

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