On the longest night of the year, surrounded by family, friends, the woods and a roaring fire, Nick and Leslie promised themselves to each other at the end of their beautiful ecofriendly wedding at Riverside Park.

One year prior, the couple signed a contract to rent the Urban Ecology Center for their winter solstice wedding and the planning began. “Being eco-minded is the foundation of who we are already,” they told me and it helped form what they wanted to do for their wedding. To assist with planning, they attended the UEC’s Eco I Do Green Wedding Expo to get some ideas.

Did you know that the average American wedding produces 400 pounds of garbage and 63 tons of CO2? According to Eco Chic Weddings by Emily Elizabeth Anderson, American weddings are equivalent to 8.3 million cars driving on the road for a year. This includes flowers, paper (invitations), textiles (dress, suits), gas emissions (transportation), and everything else that can occur from the wedding. Holy matrimony! That is a huge carbon footprint on our world!

But have no fear – there are steps you can take to make your special day special for the Earth, too.