Conscientious Weddings
Planning that big day?
I obviously have very little experience in the area, but the one thing I will say is I've noticed we sometimes make sacrifices on big picture issues for the sake of one night.
We'll attempt to fulfull the sunnah of feeding others, but then waste so much food. We'll dress modestly but then miss prayer (or pray with a weak wudhu) because we were worried about messing up our makeup.
I don't have the answer and I know it's hard. I do pray though that if I ever make it to the alter, I don't have to trade in my conscience to do it. :-\
A suggestion might be to start small.
A friend of mine recently distributed her wedding invitations - they were printed on 100% recycled paper! Another redirected a portion of her gifts as a donation to an orpahanage (everybody's read the hadith about that which you give being given back to you tenfold by Allah (swt)?)) Yet another kicked off her wedding season with a Qur'an reading gathering.
In the end what matters is that we try.
Small steps you may want to research:
Fair Trade Weddings - (I just discovered this one (i.e. it was the inspiration for this post!)
Conflict Free Diamonds
Union Hotel Guide
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2 comments:
very interesting post. especially since (many, a lot, most?) muslim girls live to get married & there is SUCH an emphasis on weddings. as muslims we should make all aspects of our lives more conscientious/sustainable. (like every masjid should get solar panels)
and for weddings, i say have a bbq in the park.
but this is coming from someone who had a nice wedding and wears a (small) diamong ring.
The recycled paper invitations you can get anywhere. We went to a local print shop for invites and one of the types of paper you can pick from is recyclable (I can't imagine why one wouldn't pick that) and as for envelopes there are several online (and local) places that sell recyclable envelopes at very decent prices.
Contrary to Kermit's belief, it is easy being green.
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