Your article on the greening of weddings was encouraging as far as it went [“Green Is the New White: Conscious Couples Say ‘I Do’ to Eco-friendly Weddings,” April 17, Xpress]. However, the environmental impact of “destination weddings” is not remotely offset by avoiding conflict diamonds or using local flowers.
Why not have really small, local weddings where the couple or major family members live, instead of a destination wedding with its huge carbon costs? Why not eliminate the wedding registry and ask guests to donate to a cause/fund? Why not rein in the bridal industrial complex, by wearing a dress that can be worn more than once or encouraging family members to forgo buying new clothes for the event (for example)?
These changes, I suspect, would have an impact really worth talking about.
— Jeanne Devany Cummings
Asheville
