When planning our wedding, I read a lot of interesting articles about how to plan a “green”, eco-friendly event. In general, I am always open to learning new ways to reduce my carbon footprint.
I was sifting through the latest issue of Parade Magazine yesterday. In the “Ask Marilyn” section, Marilyn vos Savant made an interesting comment about efforts to greenify weddings these days. She pointed to air travel as one of the main reasons that weddings have a larger footprint than other events their size. Her suggestion: “To really go green, couples could invite only local guests and beam the event to everyone else via webcam.”
For me, it posed some thought-provoking questions, and I’d love to hear what others think about this. I am not one to judge anyone for their choices. My maid of honor and bridesmaid flew from New York to LA to attend our wedding. Mr. G’s aunt flew from Korea to LA to attend. A few other friends flew from out-of-state. The remainder of our guests were local.
Would you sacrifice having your long distance loved ones attend your wedding, for the sake of reducing your carbon footprint? And as long as we’re on the subject, would you trade a lavish international honeymoon to stay local and “green”? Where do you draw the line?
Krista
I think close family & friends want to travel from afar for your wedding. So to NOT invite them would be very hurtful.
If you're really upset about your carbon footprint, you could offset your guests' flights. It's not as expensive as you'd think.
honey my heart
i've never thought of off setting the wedding's carbon footprint by having far away guests stay home/watch via web cam. while i'm all for living green, i dont think i could do it. for me, it would be ever so special to have my 2 remaining grandparents at the wedding. this requires them to fly in from the philippines. so to offset this, we won't be traveling internationally for our honeymoon.
Mara (The Wedding Cabaret)
great questions! Our families would have been quite insulted with the webcam. But I do like the idea.
thelessthandomesticgoddess
@Krista: I do think close family and loved ones would be very sad if they couldn't attend. But I'm not sure I know what you mean about offsetting expenses? Isn't the point not to fly at all?
@honey my heart: I feel the same way. Since losing my grandma, I've come to realize how powerful it was that 2 of my grandparents were able to attend our wedding.
My Dream Ring
I'm going to be honest and say that no I wouldn't do it. I can't wait to see my out of town family and friends, some I havn't seen in years. And as for the local honeymoon, nope to that to because I support my local peeps as is, I shop local and we visit lots of places around here, so I think we deserve our honeymoon 🙂 KWIM
-J.Darling
With so many ways we can reduce our carbon footprint in the world, I think missing out on time with family face-to-face shouldn't be one of them. Time is so very precious. I think people forget that in this digital age, there is still some necessary and magical about a actual in-person encounter. We "connect" digitally to more people, but really CONNECT with fewer people.
There is a difference between a text message and a phone call. One means more than other. There is a difference between a phone call and an in-person visit. There is a difference between an e-mail and a handwritten letter.
If folks REALLY wanted to reduce their carbon footprint, changing an everyday habit will have more effect than missing 1 event.
Kiana
Absolutely not – I don't agree with doing this at all. I would be hurt if I wasn't invited and given the choice to attend a loved one's wedding just because I'd have to fly. What's the point of EVER flying to see your loved ones if all you care about is being green. This is a big life event and if your loved ones want to be there in person to support you and your future marriage, let them and find other ways to be green. If you don't fly as much to reduce your carbon footprint, a wedding and other large events should be the exception. Family is one of the most important things to me, so I feel pretty passionate about this. And I completely agree with J. Darling's comment as well 🙂
thelessthandomesticgoddess
I feel what you guys are saying. It seems quite dramatic to not invite family and friends to your wedding in an effort to be "green" (whatever 'green' actually means…because I'm still not always clear on it.) I don't imagine that watching the event via web cam does it much justice. 🙂 Lawrence's coworker was married in Japan, and the company watched it on webcam. But that was only because no one could afford to make it to the wedding (and also most of them weren't formally invited).
Great discussion! Thanks for offering up your opinions. 🙂
bridechic
You pose an interesting question. And just as I'm composing an article about traveling with your gown. First off, the friendly skies have become so overbooked and crowded we may just need to look at other options like train travel. It's going to take some time though . . . one of the reasons brides are so happy a lot of the time is that all her loved ones are gathered in one place.
Krista
Oh no, there's a way to offset carbon from a flight.
Here's how it works:
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Climate_Change/What_You_Can_Do/carbon_neutral.asp
And here's more information:
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Publications/offset_vendors.asp
Baically, you're investing in sustainable energy to "off set" the carbon released to the environment by your actions. Some good examples are wind farms or a company that uses solar energy instead of coal. (Planting trees aren't a generally recommended example: sure, the trees absorb CO2, but when they die it's all released back to the environment.)
Drop me a line if you want more info on "carbon offseting". It's not that expensive!