ETHICAL WEDDINGS BLOG CONTRIBUTOR
Your name: Sharon Troy
Wedding date: 11 August 2007
Venue and location: Ceremony at Crissy Field, reception a short walk away at the San Francisco Film Centre, (California, USA)
Budget: More than I care to admit!
Read all Sharon’s posts
What inspired you to have an ethical wedding?
As vegans, my fiancé and I have always been fairly conscious of the environmental and ethical impact of all of our choices, and our wedding seemed like a natural extension of that.
As many of us know, it’s easy to get disillusioned by the wedding industry.
I’ll never forget the first time I sat down for a floral consultation. When I told the florist I wanted simple arrangements with just one type of flower, he rolled his eyes and told me, “You can’t do that.”
I was bewildered and then he handed me a quote for $1800. $1800 for something that grows in the earth all around us? $1800 so you can make a huge profit by buying cheap from farmers and adding a ridiculous number of chemicals to make artificial-looking bouquets made up of flowers I don’t even want?
That was the point where I really started investigating non-traditional options and began to take on a lot of DIY projects that better reflected our values.
What has been the most difficult bit so far?
I don’t have many married friends and I’ve been to shockingly few weddings. So I often find myself not knowing what to expect. Vendors seem to treat me like I should know exactly what I’m doing and I often throw my hands up in the air and yell, “I’ve never done this before!”
What has been the most fun bit?
Getting people involved in my projects! My future mother-in-law is knitting shawls for all the ladies in the wedding party, my Mom is altering my dress, my fiancé’s Grandmother is making me a purse, my bridesmaids helped out to make the invitations, and of course my fiancé, Tim, and I have collaborated on a number of things.
What are your 5 top tips for brides and grooms planning an ethical wedding?
1. Doing it yourself doesn’t mean working in a bubble – get people involved to help out.
2. Research and network – I’ve drawn inspiration from so many other brides.
3. Pick your battles. Part of being ethical is not just being eco-conscious but also conscious of other people’s feelings.
4. Don’t burn out. We’ve had to set aside a number of “no wedding talk” days.
5. Keep things in perspective. It’s clichéd advice, but tried and true: the wedding is one day; the marriage is forever.
Read all Sharon’s posts
sharon,
you have such a lovely healthy attitude. good luck with your wedding (just around the corner!) hopefully wedding vendors will begin to change their approach a little bit—they’ll have to b/c brides and grooms are changing what they want! when i planned my wedding (oct. 2005) i asked my florist for organic flowers (actually, i asked about a dozen)…they all thought i had lost my mind…i would love to hear all about the day…where are you going for your honeymoon?
xo
emily
http://www.ecochicweddings.com
[...] Sharon Stumble it! Posted by Thryn on July 30th, 2007 | Filed in General, Blogroll | [...]
Hi Emily, I just got your comment. Thanks so much for your kind words. We are doing a brief honeymoon at the Stanford Inn, in Mendocino, CA.
http://www.stanfordinn.com/
It’s a vegetarian resort with organic gardens on the premises, which sounds amazing. It’s close enough that we don’t have to fly - we even rented a hybrid car for the drive. I just checked out your site - looks awesome. I’m sure I’ll continue to read even after the wedding. (8 days!)
Hi Sharon - Congrats on the recent wedding! I hope it was everything you had imagined. I’d love to hear how it was and how all your eco-friendly aspects went over, especially the vegan food for your non-vegan guests…we’re planning a vegan wedding for April and have gotten our fair share of groans…Congrats again!