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My So-Called Carbon Offset Life

In case you hadn't noticed, sometimes in this blog, we have to write about things in which we don't have truly PERSONAL experience.  While our tips are researched and vetted and carefully considered, sometimes, we just honestly can't say that we have a personal clue about the topic at hand.  To date, this has probably been most challenging when talking about kids and babies (and the occasional time we need to try to understand men's shaving needs).  But today, we launch Wedding Week...

Two 33 year old singles trying to fathom what it REALLY takes to put on a wedding...  (Although, I gotta say - by the time you are 33, you've seen enough weddings that you do tend to have a pretty good clue). Obviously, we have lots of information and thoughts to share.  We just don't have a whole lot of our OWN stories on this front.  (Love and sex?  Sure.  Sign us up.  I could write about love for years.  Marriage?  Not so much.)

So, I throw it out to you Biters out there.  We need you.  Please chime in this week if you have additional stories to share about greening the world of weddings.  We've got 5 days of tips, covering everything from carbon offsetting the festivities (my favorite idea, and honestly the one that will have the most positive overall eco-impact) to dresses to the best places to register for gifts..

Let us know your thoughts.  (As always, we'll let you know ours).

-Heather... off to stare blankly at my calendar in bewilderment because I have NO weddings on deck to attend in 2007...

Posted by: hstephenson on 02/11/2007
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Stephen Cataldo  on February 12, 2007 at 06:23 PM 11
Carbon Offsets are a lot like recycling... if they get you to think about your impact, they're great; if they get you to feel like "I'm done," they're a problem. Wedding carbon-offsets would best be done by detailing to the guests what actions need to be offset by how much. You might discover, for example, that you don't really want to mine gold or diamonds if that tiny ring releases a mountain's worth of pollution, or realize that you want to celebrate once on each coast (1 couple rather than 50 guests flying) if flights turn out to be the biggest carbon burner. But just blanket-carbon-offsetting takes the steam out of real greening efforts.
Miranda  on February 12, 2007 at 06:37 PM 12
To the person with the question about the I Do foundation, it's real! A very green couple we know asked their guests to donate to it in lieu of gifts and when we did we received both a notification from I Do and a thank you from the bride and groom. BTW, I got married in a (fair-trade!) sundress, which I have worn several other times, usually to our anniversary dinner or other related family events. So if you can't get a somehow organic dress, just select a style you may want to wear again, or that can be tailored in some way for reuse (cut shorter, lace removed, etc.)
Miso Vegan  on February 12, 2007 at 07:44 PM 13
I can also give I Do Foundation a thumbs-up. My dress is being hand-made out of organic bamboo fabric, and in style that can be hemmed to a shorter sundress length afterwards. It's also machine-washable, and dye-able if I ever get tired of ivory.
Miso Vegan  on February 12, 2007 at 08:36 PM 14
(Hope this doesn't end up being a double-post.) I'm excited about this being wedding week at Ideal Bite. I am planning a wedding that's vegan, organic, and low-impact. We are keeping it small to be able to afford organic: 50 people. City parks for venues. My father is making the favors. My dress is of bamboo fabric; my fiance's clothes are hemp. (Emilibee, we share a wedding date!) I could write a book on the challenges and hurdles of trying to do an eco-friendly wedding - and I'm in the "greenest" city of all, Seattle. I can only imagine how difficult (impossible, even) it is for couples in less eco-minded areas. By the way, Katie, my fiance will be taking *my* last name - which was a name I created and took on legally years ago, so I'd never dream of changing it to someone else's. :)
Lori  on February 14, 2007 at 03:05 PM 15
Let's not forget that a used wedding dress can be donated to www.makingmemories.org which sells these dresses to grant wishes to women with terminal breast cancer. Also, you can check out their website and see where sales are being held by city so you are doing two good deeds for the price of one. I donated my wedding dress a few years ago because I liked what was being done with the money and wouldn't you know it, June of 2005 I was diagnosed with breast cancer.
sergey  on February 18, 2007 at 10:33 AM 16
Russia 628240 Tumenskaya obl. Sovietskiy city jeleznodorojnaja Str.22a-87 kornev sergey please.please.please.please.5$...$ uoy life or deadh
Cristina  on February 27, 2007 at 11:25 AM 17
Hi everyone. What a great website! My green friend sent me a Bite invite because my fiance and I are planning a wedding which we'd like to be as green as possible. As for the name question, we're in the arts, so my fiance was 100% confident I should keep my name and was the first to say that. I worry a bit about what it would be like to have different names if we had kids, but I've heard that it's becoming the norm. Nice to hear about the telemarketer bonus! And as for favors, we've decided to buy trees for all of our guests through Trees for Life (and Macy's lets you also donate to them every time someone buys something off your registry-- again, being in the arts, there are cooking things we'd love to have but could never dip into our pockets for). We've also registerd at NOVICA, which I highly recommend! I don't know how green it is-- especially since it involves shipping, but it's fair trade, which I feel strongly about. We're cutting down on paper as much as possible with e-mail and one card/envelope with RSVP by phone or e-mail. Does anyone know about the PCF invitations at Formal Invitations.com? We found beautiful invitations at Paper Source, but they couldn't guarantee how much of them were recycled material. Many of the sites we've seen with recycled paper invitations are really pricey. Any thoughts?
Miso Vegan  on February 27, 2007 at 01:53 PM 18
Cristina, You might consider the place where I'm getting my invitations made. It's a job-training program at a battered women's shelter. They hand-make paper from recycled materials (and can add "botanical elements" like dried flowers/leaves). They're *beautiful* and they can do anything you ask. Including making the RSVP card a postcard so - no envelope waste! www.womancraft.net And, their prices are very reasonable, cheaper than a lot of typical wedding invitations. They will send you samples to consider before you make a decision. Congrats!
Miso Vegan  on February 27, 2007 at 01:57 PM 19
Is anyone else concerned about giving guests seeds, plants, and/or trees - being, for one thing, seldom organic and for another, seldom native to where the guest lives?
COGWE  on June 06, 2007 at 08:28 AM 20
Hello there GREEN Wedding people, I am writing to introduce myself. My name is Daphne and I am the one and only GREEN Event Planner in the beautiful state of COLORADO (at least that's what they tell me) I'm excited to be a part of something so new, innovative and well, hopeful crew of people. If anyone knows of anyone in Colorado who is having an event or a wedding, please have them contact me. www.coloradogreenweddings.com Happy Wedding Season, Daphne
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