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Have a Simple, Small, Green Wedding
by:
Debra Lynn Dadd
A
wedding is one of life's major rites of passage. It is certainly
something to celebrate! Today, wedding books and magazines
promote large weddings so that more and more wedding products
can be sold. Wedding expenditures run into many thousands of
dollars. And after this major outlay of money, most of what is
purchased is never used again.
On the Spring Equinox 2004, my ex-husband (yes, that's right! my
ex-husband!) Larry and I remarried. We had been together for
almost seventeen years, and had divorced several years ago when
our relationship problems seemed impossible to resolve. But we
still loved each other, so we figured out what to do to make
things better, and are now happier than ever.
In planning our wedding, we wanted to keep it simple, small, and
full of meaning. We wanted a ceremony and celebration that would
be easy to prepare for and manage. We wanted an intimate
occasion, surrounded by our closest friends who would
participate with us in the intention of our union. And as we
planned our wedding, we used the same guidelines for health and
the environment that we practice in our daily home life.
Since most books and articles are about planning big weddings, I
want to offer some tips on planning another sort of wedding that
can be beautiful and meaningful in it's own way.
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Make it your day. Each wedding can and should
be a unique expression of the couple getting married. So
create the day just the way you want it, to please the two
of you.
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Choose the wedding traditions that are
important to you. When it comes right down to it, the
essentials of a wedding are the two people to be married,
the minister or justice of the peace who performs the
ceremony, the ceremony itself, and the guests who witness
it. Everything else is decoration and tradition. Learn about
wedding traditions and choose to do those that will make
your day special.
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Write your own ceremony. The entire reason for
having a wedding, really, is the ceremony. The most
important aspect of a wedding is not the decorations, but
the vows and intentions that are stated in the ceremony and
that you give to each other. Research the time-honored
patterns to wedding ceremonies and follow this pattern in
your own personal way.
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Invite meaningful guests. When you have a small
number of guests, you can spend more time with them and
really experience their presence. Minimum is just the two of
you, the minister, and a witness. Invite family and friends
with whom you have real relationships. Eliminate those that
might be invited out of social obligation.
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Have your wedding at home, either indoors or in
your garden, or in a park. Rather than spending a lot of
money on floral arrangements, we put that money into tidying
up our back yard and planting perennial flowers that we are
still enjoying today.
Looking back on our wedding day, we are very pleased with our
simple, small wedding. We were able to relax and enjoy the day
and experience the love and support of our best friends. Best of
all, we still had energy left for the honeymoon...
For many more details on planning your simple, small, green
wedding (including choosing flowers, rings, clothing and
reciption, and photos of Debra's wedding), visit
http://www.debraslist.com/wedding, and click on "You
are invited to... My Simple, Small, Green Wedding". Debra is
also available as a consultant to help you plan your wedding.
Hailed as "The Queen of Green" by the New York Times, Debra Lynn
Dadd has been a consumer advocate for products and lifestyle
choices that are better for health and the environment since
1982. Visit her website for 100s of links to 1000s of nontoxic,
natural and earthwise products, and to sign up for her free
email newsletters.
http://www.dld123.com
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