Louisa Pearson: The average green is more likely to be in a cart than a carriage

Published on Tuesday 29 March 2011 18:02

Have you bought your Kate and Wills wedding memorabilia yet? Best I've seen so far is a pair of woolly gloves by Scottish designer Donna Wilson. One glove says Wills, the other says Kate and has a ring on the appropriate finger.

Elsewhere, I was wowed by chocolate sprinkle portraits of Kate and Wills on top of two cups of cappuccino. These items are the tip of the iceberg. I've been eyeing up some Union Jack bunting and getting misty-eyed at the thought of holding a street party where everyone will have a right old knees-up. Then I read something about needing a license for a street party so have decided to string the bunting above the telly instead.

One thought consumes all of us regarding this wedding. No, not what the dress will be like, but rather, what will be the carbon footprint? OK, so that was a lie. I'm as intrigued as the next girl as to whether Kate will plump for a meringue or something long and sleek.

Seemingly the "average" wedding has a carbon footprint of 15 tonnes. I've decided this figure is meaningless for two reasons. One, there is no such thing as an average wedding, and two, the weight of a gas doesn't clearly translate to one's impact on the planet. What are we visualising? A giant cloud of invisible gas?

Kate and Wills will reportedly have almost 2,000 guests at Westminster Abbey, 600 at the wedding breakfast and 300 at the evening reception at Buckingham Palace. I know we've agreed not to talk about carbon footprints, but this one is going to be sizeable.

At least Kate's return journey from the abbey will be in a horse-drawn carriage, something that's all the rage among eco brides. Well, the average green bride is more likely to be in a cart than a carriage, but it's the thought that counts.

And it has never been easier to have a green wedding. The internet is packed with sites like www.greenunion.co.uk and www.ethicalweddings.com which give advice for every aspect of the big day.

If you don't fancy a horse-drawn carriage, might you consider a rickshaw, tandem or hybrid vehicle? Your floral displays can be be seasonal and locally grown, or perhaps you'll take it a step further and opt for pot plants?

Green couples are holding ceremony and reception in one venue to minimise on transport and are e-mailing invitations or using stationary made from paper implanted with wildflower seeds (www.thegreenweddingshop.co.uk).

Like Wills and Kate, green couples will opt for donations to charity rather than gifts.

The majority of us are likely to experience more weddings as guests than as bride and groom, so how to be green? Ladies will remind themselves not to buy a whole new outfit for every wedding they attend and we will all endeavour to arrive on the big day by public transport. Confetti will, of course, be biodegradable - dried flower petals are big news.

But I would advise caution on one suggestion I encountered - birdseed. No matter how concerned we are about the planet, no-one wants to see the bride being dive-bombed by seagulls on her big day.

&#149 This article was first published in Scotland on Sunday on 24 April 2011