This is my first green wedding

"It's my first green wedding" a guest says enthusiastically, dipping an organic grissini into homemade houmous. She didn't buy a dress for the occasion and left the car at home, at the request of the bride and groom.

Mandy (30) and Jonathan (29) wanted their marriage, held at the beginning of May in the English countryside, to be the world's cheapest. "We always try to live a sustainable and ethical life" explains Jonathan, an environmental consultant from London. He travels to work by bike, she cycles whenever she can and their son wears washable nappies. "We wanted to keep our CO2 emissions down for this day as well", he continued.

"A wedding with 150 guests and two air tickets for a honeymoon releases roughly 14.5 tonnes of CO2" says Michael Buick, of the British company Climate Care. "That's nearly 4 tonnes more than one English citizen emits in a whole year." So Mandy and Jonathan encouraged their guests to take the train and, above all, setting their own example.

Their invitations were printed on recycled paper and their confetti was biodegradable. Mandy created her dress from two which she had bought from a charity shop and she dug out last summer's sparkly flip-flops. Jonathan hired his three-piece suit. She arrived at the church in a hired hybrid car. Mandy's wedding ring came from an antique shop and Jonathan's was found on e-Bay. Jonathan pedaled the couple over to the village hall on a tricycle after the ceremony. At the reception, all the drinks were organic, including the gin, and the appetizers were all made from seasonal local produce.

The guests fell under the spell of this chic, simple, ecologically sound wedding and it's becoming the trend in England.

Green is the new white

Everyone you talk to about weddings says 'green is the new white'. Over the last few months more and more internet sites and forums have appeared offering good ideas to help future brides and grooms plan an ecologically responsible reception. Rosie Ames, a 'traditional' wedding planner based in Devon has sensed the trend and 4 months ago refocused her business by creating GreenUnion, a wedding planning service specialising in eco-chic weddings. "I've been getting more and more enquiries in this direction" she explains, couples who want an organic wedding buffet using local produce. "A wedding takes time and energy to organise" says Rosie, "An eco-wedding takes even more!"

She has refused to work with a cake maker who was not able to tell her where his flour and eggs came from. Equally she said no to a jeweller who worked with China. "He didn't know under what circumstances his products were made. He'd never visited their workshops." Her partners must meet not less than 4 of the many criteria of her charter, including collecting rain water, insulating their premises, donating to charity and trying to conserve local traditions.

The hardest thing is to find good providers of services, but more are appearing every day. Mandy and Jonathan agree. "We found a fisherman who smoked his own trout, an organic butcher just next door and a company specializing in the production of wild flowers for the bouquets" enthuses Jonathan "and the bridesmaids lent a hand in making the wedding cakes."

The idea is that the wedding has minimal impact on the environment and maximum benefit to the local economy, giving support to local producers or to ethical businesses. But eco-weddings are not just the latest trend, it's obvious that we must reduce our consumption of energy to counteract global warming - it's up to us now to change our behavior.

An eco-wedding closely resembles any other

Your guests aren't the eco type? A wedding like this can heighten awareness, without preaching. In general the guests appreciate their hosts' love of organic food, and are delighted. On the outside, an eco-wedding closely resembles any other, but knowing that everything has been hand-crafted, and chosen for being the most pure and eco-friendly warms the heart. And it needn't cost a fortune. Mandy and Jonathan spent a total of £6000 (8800 euros) "Three times less than a conventional wedding in England" stresses the young groom. They had time to do lots of things themselves. Obviously this type of wedding could cost more , and the more you can do for yourselves, the cheaper it is. At least you know where everything has come from. Mandy and Jonathan's wedding is proof that an ethical wedding is not necessarily more expensive than any other.

They're not hippies

But Rosie recognises that most of her clients are comfortably off. " They are often between 25 and 45, have good jobs, usually both work and most live in the cities. They might have bare feet under an organic cotton dress but they're not hippies" she assures. And, people aren't going to the Seychelles or Mauritius for their honeymoon anymore. Jenny, future green bride's perfect idea of a honeymoon is to go to China, but she feels guilty. "Do we have to choose somewhere less gas-guzzling and forget the idea or can we allow ourselves a Chinese adventure?" she asks on a wedding forum. Is there a way to take an ethical trip?

Mandy and Jonathan have resolved the dilemma. They worked a week on an organic farm in Spain in exchange for room and board before treating themselves to a week on the beach, and they went by train!