Marriage vow to honor earth

On her wedding day, Rachel Newell will wear a "green" white silk dress.

It's one of a dozen ways she and Patrick Lytle will make their September wedding a reflection of earth-saving, green practices.

The Golden Valley couple have chosen locally grown food, potted flowers (to plant later), wine from Red Wing instead of California or France, and a naturally lit afternoon garden ceremony and reception in a single location -- Otsego's Riverwood Inn -- where table scraps will be composted.

As environmentalists, Lytle, 29, and Newell, 28, wanted their wedding to rely on resources used frugally. They agreed that starting their lives together by planning a green wedding would "set a tone for us about how we will go forward with our lives," Newell said.

The dress was important. Newell said she wasn't ready to skimp on a bridal gown to go green. Shopping with her mother and sisters, she found the perfect dress: "You try it on and nothing else will do," she said.

But the pricetag was high and a second-hand dress better fit the green goal of avoiding waste.

Then the stars aligned to make her dream dress "green."

She bought it, had it cleaned by hand (without chemicals) and fitted at a fifth the cost of buying it new, eliminating the labor and production of silk for a new gown.

"The dress was meant to be," she said.

Having the gown work out so well boosted the couple's confidence that they could have the wedding they wanted while making wise use of energy, food, money and other resources. But Lytle said he has not worried that going green would hamper any aspect of their celebration.

"Rachel and I live a fairly green life right now, and planning this event has been a natural extension of what we find appealing," he said. "Being green and elegant, as it turns out, is not that difficult if you are mindful of it. We've been able to hold onto a lot of traditional ideas and looks."

To choose fresh locally grown food for the reception for 130 guests, the couple hired the Chowgirls, a northeast Minneapolis caterer that specializes in green weddings. Two years ago, green weddings made up 20 percent of their business; now it's 35 percent. At a tasting to select their menu, Lytle and Newell sampled roasted vegetables, pork tenderloin with black cherry marmalade, spicy meatballs with cilantro and mint, and sheep's milk blue cheese.

Strong encouragement for the green wedding came from Lytle's father, Peter Lytle, founder of Live Green, Live Smart, a Wayzata-based environmental organization.

After helping set the standard for green home construction in 2007 with an award-winning green remodeling of a 1948 Minnetonka rambler, the elder Lytle encouraged his son and Newell to plan the "world's greenest wedding" and set the standard for ceremonies that set a green direction for couples.

Research shows that green weddings lead to green houses, Peter Lytle said. "When you get married is when you make your decision on what kind of domicile you are going to have. They start making decisions about doing composting or recycling or putting in water-saving appliances or green paint in the baby's room."

Newell said she has caught the Lytle family passion for green ways. The wedding plans have "helped me to realize that we do have an impact and we have a choice on the impact that you make," she said.

Laurie Blake • 612-673-1711