Green weddings beginning to catch on in Northwest

When Ali and Phillip Vrbas began planning their June 2008 wedding, the couple quickly became overwhelmed. Not by the work required to pull off a wedding these days, but by the amount of, well, stuff marketed to brides and grooms. Embossed napkins. Paper plates that perfectly match the wedding colors. Paraffin-wax “unity” candles. Save-the-date announcements, invitations and RSVP cards. Trinkets for favors. Not wanting to contribute more waste to the world than necessary, the Vrbases decided to go green. “It was important to me as a young woman to have a very special memorable celebration, but it was also important to me as a teacher and global citizen to protect this planet,” Ali says. “I wanted to not only celebrate my marriage, but the wonderful natural things we want to shelter and grow for posterity.” To reduce their wedding’s carbon footprint, the Vrbases held their ceremony and reception at a hotel, rather than starting at a church or other setting, which cut back on the amount of driving by guests. They rented a van so friends and family staying at other hotels didn’t have to drive separately. For favors, they gave away energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs cushioned in newspaper with a note that read “Thank you for lighting up our lives.” After the big day, Ali donated her gown to charity. Earth-friendly nuptials are one of the fastest growing trends in the more than $40 billion wedding industry. Although they haven’t exploded onto the Spokane scene yet, local wedding coordinators say inquiries are trickling in and it’s only a matter of time before more couples consider Mother Nature in their ceremonies and receptions. “This is a huge trend in big cities,” says Lindsay Murphy, wedding and event coordinator at Beacon Hill Events (www.beaconhillevents.com) in northeast Spokane. “We’re not seeing it as big here yet, but we’ve been educated over last few years about all these things we’re doing to our planet.” As more people examine their lifestyles and change daily habits, they’ll likely want their wedding days to represent their eco-conscience values, she says. Murphy offers several tips to couples wanting to go green: -Use recycled paper invitations, and instead of inserting an RSVP card, ask guests to respond via e-mail, saving paper and fuel. -Instead of sending save-the-date cards, send an e-mail or create a Web site. -Serve food and drinks on reusable plates and glassware instead of paper or plastic, and use cloth napkins instead of paper. -Like the Vrbases did, choose one venue for the wedding and reception to reduce the number of cars on the road. -Instead of giving mass-produced favors like keychains or bottle openers, give a gift of conscience. Make a donation to a favorite charity in honor of your guests and tell them in your wedding program or during the reception. -Register for organic, local or earth-friendly gifts. Web sites like Registerlocally.com and Freshandgreen.com make this easy. -As you research venues, ask employees whether they recycle glass and plastic bottles, and what they do with uneaten food at the end of the event. Beacon Hill donates its leftovers to homeless shelters. -When it comes to wedding décor, “bring the outdoors in,” Murphy says. She’s seeing more couples use items from nature as centerpieces, including tree branches and river rocks. -Serve organic, locally raised or grown food and wines from the region. -Hold an outdoor wedding, where the scenery likely is lovely enough on its own, or find a florist or nursery that specializes in locally grown or organic flowers. Among all the green details in the Vrbas’ wedding, the couple’s flowers generated the most buzz. Instead of using fresh flowers, they hired aNeMoNe Handmade Paper Flowers (www.handmadepaperflowers.com) to craft their bouquets and boutonnieres. Most of Spokane-based aNeMoNe’s flowers are made from 100 percent recycled paper or paper made from renewable sources like the Daphne papyracea shrub, which regenerates itself annually. The company custom crafts flowers depending on a couples’ tastes, and also rents out table arrangements to brides on a budget. “Our rental program helps keep costs down and keeps us close if not under the cost of live flowers,” says aNeMoNe co-owner Mary Eberle. Eberle often helps couples find ways to make their weddings greener—beyond the bouquets. She suggests making centerpieces do double duty: plant herbs in small pots, cluster them together on tables, then send each guest home with one as their favor. Eberle says handmade soaps make great favors, and recommends finding local companies that produce them, like Mountain Madness Soap Co., of Coeur d’Alene (www.mountainmadnesssoap.com). Not everyone in the Spokane wedding industry has seen the green movement appear at the altar yet. Mary Ann Slade, who owns the Art of Weddings (www.artofweddingsbridal.com), a Spokane Valley bridal fashion store, and who has produced 24 bridal fairs, says the trend hasn’t shown up in her shop. However, she is seeing couples being more budget conscious than eco conscious these days. “People are looking for things that are nice but not as expensive,” Slade says. “They’re watching their pennies, and rightly so. Young couples starting out have other uses for their money.” Luckily, going green and saving green often go hand in hand. Slade says more weddings are being held outside, whether in public parks or backyards. Couples seem to be inviting fewer guests to cut costs—not to mention fuel for transporting them there. “One of nicest weddings I ever went to only had six people,” Slade says. “It was held in the parents’ living room, and the reception was right there. It’s one of the few I remember well, and it was intimate and meaningful.” Spokane residents Kyle Stine and Marissa Berry didn’t set out to hold a green wedding, but they’re glad the decisions they’ve made based on their budget will be less harmful to the environment than some events. They’re holding the wedding and reception at the Masonic Temple in downtown Spokane. They’re using china, glass drinkware, real flatware and forgoing traditional favors. Even the centerpieces are reusable decorations from their caterer. Stine and Berry, who will wed March 28, live prudently, only filling one sack of trash between them each week. So why would they go into debt or transform themselves into wasteful consumers for a one-day event? “We’re paying for our wedding ourselves, and we don’t have a dowry,” says Stine, an electrician and member of the U.S. Air National Guard. “Besides, we’re just not over-the-top kind of people.”