A few years back I attended a wedding where the ceremony and reception were held near enough to one another for most folks to walk between the two. The sunlit gazebo where the ceremony was held, in a public park, was decorated for the brief occupation by the wedding with rainbow-colored ribbons and wind socks, and potted plants selected because they might continue to grow after the event. Sensitive to the danger posed to wildlife by bellies full of uncooked rice, some guests threw birdseed at the couple upon its exit from the service.

Admittedly, this was a somewhat low-key affair. Its reflection of tradition was escalated slightly by the appearance of a traditional white wedding gown—procured at a consignment shop local to the bride-to-be’s parents outside of Jacksonville, FL.

The happy couple labored over just where to hold the wedding. They looked at locales that would require everyone to travel (although the guest list might have been more limited), but opted for a park that was centrally located for most of the family and friends: a very small handful of folks flew in for the weekend. Many the guests drove in and returned home the same day—as did the bride and groom. Some carpooled. The officiator, a county justice, actually walked to the Hudson Riverside ceremony from his home nearby.

The bride and groom traveled to their reception not by gas guzzling limousine but via a canoe purchased for the occasion and paddled under their own power with paddles received as gifts that day. As boaters powering by honked their horns when they spotted the bridal gown-wearing paddler setting off into the Hudson, some guests noticed that the bride fished a bit of litter (a plastic Ziploc bag) from the water.

The venue for the reception was selected based on a friendship with the owner who, at the time, was struggling to convert his seasonal business into a year-round concern; and past pleasure at enjoying meals from his kitchen. The chef was give latitude in menu selection, to enlist some local and in-season ingredients.

Natural light also prevailed there inside, though much of the party spilled out onto the open air deck overlooking the water.

Wedding favors, leaf-shaped jars of fresh local maple syrup, carried simple paper tags explaining the syrup had been tapped, sapped, boiled off and bottled on the Greene County Mountaintop (the couple met outside a sugar shack, where syrup was produced, where the future bride worked as an environmental educator).

Many of those who did occupy hotel rooms in the area feasted on leftovers packed as the party ended, although we prefer not to think about the clamshell-style “to-go” containers.

OK, so I more than attended this wedding.

I participated. In fact I said “I do,” that Sunday in May of 2005.

In many ways, I suppose we were ahead of the curve with regards to what have come to be called eco-weddings, albeit as much by nature or chance as by design.

Minimizing the environmental impact of a wedding through the selection of invitations printed on recycled papers with Earth-friendlier soy-based inks, serving of organic or locally-produced foods, recycling or repurposing of gowns leading up to or after the wedding, and through numerous other decisions that are made in planning a wedding has become an “in” thing to do around the country, and the resources are more than readily available to those tying the knot here in the Hudson River Valley and greater Catskill Mountain Region.

The demands of almost any wedding, from the invitation to the wardrobe, to the venue, the menu and beyond can be met here with environmental sensitivity.

While digital photography has become the norm, reducing the chemical impact of traditional photography and processing, some photographers are now offering completely paperless delivery, with online proofing and DVD albums.

For invitations, visit your local stationers, art supply stores or boutiques that sell note cards and papers and you’ll be on your way to a source of invitations and thank you cards created on recycled paper stock.

If you don’t find what you’re looking for, head to the Internet where your supplier may not be local, but you’ll reduce the amount of fossil fuels involved in procurement. And reducing fossil fuel consumption, and a wedding’s impact on the planet and its occupants, is a big part of what eco-weddings are all about.

At New World Home Cooking,on Route 212 in Saugerties, the focus is on what they call “real food” and casually-elegant atmosphere. The facility can accommodate up to 150 guests in the afternoon, or 80 for evening parties, and is the choice for as many as 25 or 30 weddings each year, as many as 50 if you include offsite catering, according to Fern Amster, the general and catering manager.

“All of the food that we use is organically grown, locally-grown, or sustainable,” says Amster. “We really focus on sustainable food,” she says. “When we do a wedding, we never use disposables (plates and such) unless it’s absolutely called for. We’re looking into disposables, but haven’t found anything that’s pretty enough for a wedding. All of our cleaning products, the dishwashing soaps, everything, is environmentally safe.”

Even the flowers at New World, when they supply them, are from their own garden outside the restaurant. “A lot of people are calling about ‘green weddings,’ they find us on hudsonvalleyweddings.com (a source for a number of planet-friendly vendors),” says Amster. “For 15 years we’ve been sustainable, organic and locally-grown. This is all really Ric Orlando (executive chef and owner at New World Home Cooking). His vision was to be an environmentally-responsible restaurant and caterer and now the rest of the world is following his lead and trying to catch up.”

Amy Jackson, at Amy’s Take-Away & Catering, in Lanesville, offers the following insight: “Green catering goes on on two levels, the catering company itself, the practices it engages in, the food choices it makes; the other is what goes on (at the event). Every food decision that one makes is a political decision. If you’re buying food out of season and from long distances away, fossil fuels are being used to ship those ingredients to you. If one buys locally, and seasonally, you’re supporting a sounder environment. I can take things and freeze things from farms in their peak, and in the dead of winter pull it out. People say ‘wow, this tastes like it’s fresh from the farm’…composting all green waste from my kitchen…. Wine and champagne bottles from a wedding need to be recycled and not put in a landfill. A lot of weddings will rent glasses and dishes, and that’s a good choice for those concerned about our footprint.”

Cakes, or sometimes cupcakes, are a part of most weddings and here too there’s an opportunity to lessen the ecological impact, or as Jackson says “footprint” of treating your guests to treats.

Craig Thompson at Shandaken Bake (www.shandakenbake.com), says he mainly bakes within the market season. “I try to make things that are currently being grown,” says Thompson. “That’s pretty much my philosophy, following the growing season. I’m certainly striving to be more ecologically conscious and more green, composting egg shells and vegetable matter, things like that. Right now my strong suit is buying from local producers, showing people who aren’t focused on it the joys of (eating) what is growing in season.”

When a spa or day of pampering is part of your plans, seek out natural alternatives within the $9 billion-plus industry. Organic spas are springing up coast to coast, offering everything from nail polish removers made from soy and corn to biodegradable slippers.

In Cooperstown, Goldpetal’s Ellen White Weir, a member of Pride of New York, Northeast Organic Farmers Association, Northeast Herbal Association and the National Aromatherapy Association, relies on the common pot marigold and lavender to create aromatherapy oils, body sprays, balms and more. For more information, visit www.goldpetals.com.

If the flowers are for design, Stem Life by Stephen Bruce Design in Stone Ridge has a reputation for excellence through his work in New York City designing arrangements not only for weddings and special occasions, but also for boutiques, department stores, museums, galleries and publications. Visit www.stephenbrucedesign.com.

WildFlowers’ Richard Simms, featured elsewhere in this issue of the Guide, has observed that while many brides are looking for locally-grown flowers, seasonal limitations often come into play.

For wedding favors, consider Heather Ridge Farm’s pure raw honey, produced by honeybees feasting on century-old fields of mountain wildflowers, heirloom apple blossoms, wild thyme, berries and heather. See www.heather-ridge-farm.com for more information.

If syrup or local honey isn’t your taste when it comes to wedding favors, chocolate is another popular choice. While you won’t find the cocoa plants growing in Woodstock, you can find fair-trade organic chocolates nearby, at Lucky Chocolates in Saugerties. The boutique chocolatier will help in flavor selection and custom labeling to complement any couple’s tastes. See more at www.luckychocolates.com or call 888 582 5910.

And we haven’t even talked about the rings…

It’s estimated that one 10-gram gold wedding band can be tied to three tons of toxic waste from mining and processing. Heirloom pieces or estate jewelry can help lessen this impact.

Then there are the diamonds…visit www.conflictfreediamonds.org to learn more about the move to create demand for certified conflict-free diamonds, those that are mined and produced under ethical conditions and its profits are not used to fund war, and can be traced from the mine to the consumer.

The decision to wear a previously-owned wedding gown can track to selection of an heirloom garment, if the bride’s body type and tastes matches grandmother’s, perhaps (alterations are, of course, an option); or to cost - a consignment shop gown, or one won on E-bay should surely fetch less than most new ones. But its also an ecologically-friendly choice, reducing the need for natural resources and fuels that go into the creation and delivery of a new gown and in most cases, lessening the demand for the overseas labor that go into them.

After the wedding, donating gowns to charity or donating the proceeds after selling or consigning for sale, can create a positive impact, taking the eco-wedding trend one step further. The Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation (www.makingmemories.org) sells donated gowns to rain money for research.

Across the country organizations have sprung up to help repurpose traditional bridesmaids gowns—OK, so not every eco-wedding will include a team of six satin-clad maids, but if they do—why not spare their closets after the fact. In New York, the Cinderella Project of the Capital Region, based in Waterford, helps connect the gowns with prom-bound underprivileged teens. E-mail cinderellaproject@nycapp.rr.com or visit www.fairygodmothersinc.com for more information.

Not until recently have I considered all they ways in which our wedding was “eco-friendly,” though ever since we’ve reflected how it came together quite organically. In the years since our own wedding, the missus and I have seen the plants continue to grow at the homes of our families and friends. The decorative rainbow fish windsocks are fixtures near front doors from Far Rockaway to our own front porch and beyond. Even the ribbon has been reused, or stored awaiting its next chance to adorn. The canoe, still bearing traces of “just hitched,” and other graffiti, continues to serve us both on the water and as a conversation starter when carried to it.

Even those leaf-shaped syrup jars, not mostly empty, have been kept often resting on sun-filled kitchen windows. We special-ordered our locally-produced syrup favors through Trapahagen’s Honey and Gourmet Shop on Route 23A in Hunter. If you’d like to do the same, e-mail Traphagen@mhonline.net or call 518 263 4150.