If you search for “ethical wedding,” you’ll find that for most people the term is synonymous with a “green wedding,” “eco friendly wedding,” or otherwise environmentally conscious wedding. However, there is more to an ethical wedding than environmentalism.
Environmental concerns are definitely important component of any ethical wedding. As I discussed in an earlier post about planning non-traditional weddings on a budget, the consumption and expenses that inevitably accompany any wedding are an ethical decision. When we pay for goods and services, we directly support and tacitly endorse those and not others. This is always an important consideration when spending large quantities of money on equipment, food, services, venues, etc.
But why should ethical wedding just mean "green wedding"? As far as the environment is concerned, there is nothing that separates a wedding from any other large gathering marked by consumption.
Ethical weddings are about more than just environmentalism
Equating ethical weddings with green weddings strikes me as unnecessarily limited. Weddings involve much more than just consumption. The symbolic and ceremonial nature of wedding ceremonies is clearly of the greatest importance to everyone involved. Because of the great importance that society places on weddings and marriage, we must be aware of many ethical concerns besides the environment. For example: the role of individuals, personal identity, community, religion, society, family, gender equality, etc.
Because we attempted to make our non-traditional wedding reflect our values, this blog addresses all aspects of planning an ethical wedding, not just environmentalism. For example, in an earlier post I approach the topic of how equal responsibility for the wedding planning process reflects our commitment to gender equality.
Generally, an ethical wedding is one that embodies the values of the couple planning it. Accordingly, there are many kinds of ethical weddings—as many as there are couples!
Ethical weddings often equal non-traditional weddings
You may discover that in planning an ethical wedding you’ve inadvertently planned a non-traditional wedding, and vice versa! This is because traditional weddings embody a certain set of values and beliefs. Therefore, I will use the terms “non-traditional wedding” and “ethical wedding” as more or less interchangeable.
While traditional weddings (of any tradition) accurately reflect the commitments and values of some couples, many find that they don’t easily fit this pattern. These misfits can then either follow the traditional path (perhaps out of respect for family and tradition), or they can decide to begin making changes. Thus a non traditional wedding is born!
The number and the size of these changes depends on the the couple’s values. For some this might mean writing their own vows, changing the order of the ceremony, choosing a particular officiant, or getting married outside. For others, bringing their wedding in-line with their values might mean scrapping all of the traditions and starting from square one!
In my next post I will discuss the first and most important step in planning your own ethical, non-traditional wedding. In later posts, we will address writing your own non-traditional wedding vows and generally creating a non-traditional wedding ceremony.
1 comments:
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