CAIRO: The season is upon us. No I am not talking about winter, Eid, Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas. The season I am talking about is the “she caught the bouquet!”, “he finally popped the question” and “aren't they too young to get married?” kind of season. Yes, a throng of Cairene Couples are getting engaged and married this time of year. And with that in mind, the question arises: can a couple make their engagement period and wedding more eco-friendly? Of course in the excitement and bustle of this period, not many gloomy grooms or busy bridezillas would resort immediately to thinking green. And if they do, they might feel dumbfounded: How is an engagement party or wedding transformed from average to green? Well there are a lot of articles and tips about this topic and I will be divulging the most relevant ones. And if you're wondering: No, I won't be suggesting that the bride looks like Mrs. Cabbage in a green gown instead of a Snow Princess in her dream white dress. What I will show you here, is that you can still have an elegant and beautiful wedding with minimal harm the environment. There is no point of giving up your dreams of one of the most important days of your life and later resent going green. Fortunately in this situation, with creativity and determination, you can have it both ways. One of the places that provides great articles about this topic is the Planet Green website. Their article on green engagements introduces a lot of interesting tips. Firstly there is one of the biggest factors in matrimonial life: the ring. The energy that is spent on creating this bonding band is extremely high. The manufacturing of gold and diamond could tremendously increase your carbon footprints. Of course, diamonds are a girl's best friend, BUT if a bride is feeling open minded there are eco-friendly options. Why not consider an antique ring? Many brides love the look of a ring that looks “vintage”. Look around into antique shops and high end second hand jewelry stores. Another option is recycling a ring. This is actually not as impersonal as it sounds at all. Why not celebrate the start of your engagement by giving your wife-to-be your mother's ring? If you are not obsessed with the idea of having a traditional diamond-gold ring, how about opting for silver rings for both the bride and groom? According to Nature manufacturing silver is gentler on the environment than gold. Planet Green also suggests other tips for the engagement period. Of course, one of the first things you would want to do is announce the engagement if you're throwing a party or reception, because you would want to invite people. This applies to wedding invitations as well. Think of how many invitations you will need to send out, how much paper will be looked at once and then tossed? The most obvious way to go green here is to send electronic invitations. Not only will this save paper but will also cut down the cost of fuels used to deliver the invitations. A good site to look into if you decide to go this way is www.evite.com. But this is Egypt after all, so perhaps not all of your guests have or use emails (Gedo or old Tant Khadiga for example). Or maybe your parents, who are most likely paying for the wedding, are too traditional to send their most important guests an “email”. The next best thing is to make sure your invitations are made of recycled paper. If you are feeling creative you can make your own invitations using the recycled paper you may buy from A.P.E. They'll let you custom design them and they'll make them on whichever variation of recycled paper you'll choose. There is also a print house in Cairo who wouldn't mind printing your custom made cards on recycled paper! This gives the cards a very personal touch and it could be a very fun process. You can also use a combination of both methods: send your electronic friendly guests electronic invites and reserve the recycled paper invitations to the rest of the guests. One of the most important aspects of the wedding for the bride is the dress and the tux/suit for the groom. Again the most environmentally way to go in this regard is to wear vintage or second hand. You can do this by either shopping for one or adding a new contemporary touch to your mother's dress for example. The same is also applicable to the groom. Alternatively you could rent your wedding fashion. If you feel like your wedding will not feel special enough without a new dress, one way to be more eco-friendly is to buy the dress locally. Many Egyptian brides fly out of the country to buy a dress or order one from abroad. An Eco-bride will avoid shipping or flying solely for the dress, as this has harmful impacts on the environment and will add up to her carbon footprint. We've found this list of contacts for local wedding dress providers. Whichever option you chose, it is important to make sure that you yourself can reuse your dress or suit in the future. Adding a touch to your dress to be able to wear it in the future or making your suit to also be fit for other occasions is more eco-friendly than just nostalgically staring at them in your cupboard every decade or so. Still on the events issue, there are many tips you can integrate to “green-up” your wedding. According to Planet Green, one of the most important factors to make your wedding greener is to invite less guests. The more people you invite the more invitations you will send out, the bigger the venue you will need, the larger the number of the people who have to commute to the wedding. Trying to cut down on the guest list will minimize all the abovementioned things and thus make your special day much more intimate. An important thing to consider is the wedding venue. A trend has started where couples are deciding to throw weddings on the outskirts or even outside of Cairo. But a more green option is trying to have your wedding in a location that is closer to most of your guests, which will cut down on their transportation use. Whether you go with this option or not, it would be an environmentally sound idea to arrange for transportation (ex: shuttle buses) or carpools for your guests which will cut down the use of vehicles. Your more daring guests who are closer to the location could even cycle in, but make sure you arrange for bicycle parking at the venue! Another thing you can think about is to chose an outdoors venue and have a morning wedding or reception. This would help with cutting down the notorious use of electricity in indoor venues. When it starts to get dark you might opt to use more candles than artificial lighting which would give a romantic and intimate feeling as well. Another way to cut down electricity and create a warm setting is opting for acoustic music instead of the electricity sucking options. This works especially well for smaller gathering such as engagement parties and bridal showers. For other small gatherings, like your Henna night for example, you could opt against catering, blaring lights and a frenzied DJ. A beautiful evening could be accomplished with home made seasonal, organic and local food, a candle lit atmosphere and your bridesmaids taking turns tapping away at the drums, playing guitar or going crazy with their 'sagat'. This would definitely be a more memorable and unique night instead of the traditional flashy celebrations. There are many more eco-friendly ways to make your wedding personal and give it a memorable touch. A very nice idea I read on Planet Green was to have your guests grow and bring flowers to your weddings instead of the traditional flower arrangements. By growing them in their own gardens or pots at home these flowers would be very personal and give the opportunity for the guests to contribute. It will also save the fuel needed for delivering flowers! Besides that you can make sure that little things are not taken for granted. For example if you have a guest book make sure it is made of recycled paper, use digital cameras instead of film, make sure the venue uses reusable plates and opt for set meals for the number of guests that RSVP instead of an open buffet where food could go to waste. Still have leftovers? Donate to the food bank, or give them to your composting friend for her organic flower beds. These intimate touches are far more personal and green than extravagant things such as ice sculptures which are ultimately a waste of water. Something else you can think about is the wedding cake. A lot of the modern towering cakes are held together with plastic or fiber tubes to maintain the structure and they use inedible decorations. Opt for cakes that don't use any supporting materials such as a French wedding cake (croquembouche) or even bake your own! This could be a fun project and your best-man or maid of honor could supervise it. That way you could even make sure organic ingredients are used. After the wedding you can celebrate the beginning of your new green life together by going on a honeymoon to eco friendly locations. Of course the closer your destination is to home the less traveling you will do which will decrease fuel expenditure and your carbon footprint. As featured on Eco Options Egypt there are many guidelines for eco-tourism. Also, as Egyptian custom, you will be getting a lot of visits from family and friends to congratulate you on your wedding. A good idea is to have a house warming gathering where the people closest to you can enjoy this important social interaction. You can use the guidelines above to make this gathering eco-friendly as well. If you know that some of your guests will be buying you gifts and you are comfortable enough to talk to them about it, make sure to tell them about the necessary eco-friendly products you've been meaning to buy so no redundant gifts come your way. Marriage is one of the most important milestones in a person's life. If you really are passionate about the environment, it will be extra special if you take steps to make sure your new life as a couple is environmentally friendly from the get-go. It could be a lot of fun and will definitely put a unique, creative and intimate touch on things. Plan exciting and green events, make your thoughts known to your friends and family and promote eco-friendly wedding trends. The most important aspect of all this is to have a heart to heart talk with your significant other and make plans for a green future that you will enjoy together. Ultimately, if you decided to one day have children, you can know that by having an eco-wedding, you have initiated as partners the many steps to make sure they inherit a more sustainable lifestyle and planet. Eco Options Egypt
