“My friend is having a green wedding,” an acquaintance said.
Everyone present chimed in. How cool! How exciting!
Of course, being me, I piped, “Ah! Green wedding. Also known as just another wedding that cost twice as much.”
“Well, they’re using all these recycled materials and stuff. You know, being really green about the whole process.”
I chuckled.
The acquaintance, at this point, was getting annoyed with me. “Well, she’s a very environmentally conscious person. They want their wedding to be good for the environment.”
“The bride and groom and two witnesses carpooled to the courthouse and get married by a judge, now THAT’s a ‘green’ wedding,” I added.
The acquaintance glared at me. Someone else changed the subject.
Am I right?
You and your fiancee, 2 witnesses, your parents, and a judge. That’s the LEAST amount of waste and carbon footprint one could generate for a wedding.
Brandon pointed out to me later when I told him about the conversation.
“Sure. What about all of the guests driving in to the wedding in their gas guzzling cars? How is your little ‘green’ wedding going to off set THAT.”
Exactly my point.
Having a “green” wedding because it’s trendy and then you go right back to live your normal, not-so-green life? What’s the point? Well, I guess with a “green” wedding, you can now show everyone just how socially responsible you are.
After all, for some people, being socially responsible is not something they really want to be, they do it because it’s just another fad.
That’s just me. What do you think?
I take your fad, and raise you Religion. Being Green by purchasing green things is about the equivalent to going to church… often done to be seen doing ‘the right thing’ and to allow one to claim superiority because of it.
I see your point, and going to the courthouse would probably be the greenest option available. But at the same time I can’t help but think that although green may be a fad, it’s a good fad. Some people feel that they have to have a full on wedding with all the fixin’s for emotional reasons, and if they are, they might as well use some compostable plates and serve sustainable food.
Environmentalists have actually marketed “green” to become a fad, so mainstream society would adopt greener behaviors and products. I think it’s great in a marketing sense, and if someone has a green wedding (even if they’re doing it to follow the trend), and encourages others to be just a little bit “greener” in the process, if it means just making a small change like switching to buying post-consumer products, then I think that’s a good thing.
Sure it’s sad that some people are doing it to follow the crowd and not necessarily to save the planet, but at least the fad is a beneficial one.
Thanks both Linda and Traci for the feedback.
Linda, you’re right, doing better and being more conscious of the environment is a good thing. I don’t have a problem with people doing their parts i.e. using recycled stuff for the wedding. It’s that flaunting thing that bugs me. Oooh look at me I’m doing a green wedding. But yeah, I’m silly like that. 🙂