Green Weddings
By Rafferty Baker for CBC News
How Elizabeth May is making her wedding low-carbon
May is marrying John Kidder, 71, a farmer who grows hops in Ashcroft, B.C.
John Kidder and Elizabeth May are planning a low-carbon wedding in Victoria.
When the leader of Canada's Green Party gets married, one might expect her to plan a wedding that skips some of the nuptial trappings that aren't in line with an environmentally conscious lifestyle — and that's exactly what Elizabeth May is doing.
Today, which is Earth Day, May is tying the knot with John Kidder, a 71-year-old farmer who grows hops in Ashcroft, B.C. The couple is trying to keep the event as low-carbon as they can.
Here are some of the things they're doing to make the wedding's environmental footprint lighter than most:
1. Emission-free shuttles
The Electric Vehicle Club of Victoria is helping out, according to May.
"I basically have a whole lot of deeply committed EV enthusiasts who are volunteering to ferry guests between the cathedral and the reception," she said.
She and Kidder are also chartering an electric bus to pick up about 50 people from the ferry terminal and bring them to the event.
2. Re-used flowers
The ceremony will be held at Victoria's Christ Church Cathedral, and according to May, they'll be able to re-use all the flowers left over from Easter Sunday.
3. Potluck reception
"We're not wealthy and the idea of having a zillion people for a sit-down meal is pretty hard to do on a budget," May said. "But potluck is certainly going to be — it makes it doable to have a lot of people."
This point may be easier on the bank balance than on the planet, but if people take home their extra leftovers to eat later, it could reduce the waste associated with large feasts.
4. Locally gathered centrepieces
May said the flowers for her hair and bouquets are being locally gathered.
"[They] are all being put together by friends locally from flowers in their own gardens," she said. "They're also decorating the hall for us with flowers from gardens."
May said the centrepieces will have re-used Mason jars in place of new vases.
5. Discouraging family and friends from making the trip
One of the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions from a wedding is all the travel people have to do to gather in one place. May and Kidder are trying to reduce the amount of travel associated with their wedding.
"I am encouraging friends in other parts of the country to stay put and we'll get to them," said May. "So my brother in Cape Breton is not coming."
She said she and Kidder will get on a train to make their way across the country. Separate receptions will be held for their friends in Toronto and Ottawa.
Only someone with a coal heart could look at Elizabeth May and John Kidder on their Earth Day wedding day and think anything but “O! how this spring of love resembleth/The uncertain glory of an April day!” The couple’s radiant joy was the stuff of poetry as they exited Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria, B.C., before sharing an enthusiastic kiss in the rain in front of a cheering crowd. May, a first-time bride at age 64, wore flowers in her hair and a cream-coloured dress matched to her groom’s suit. The federal Green Party leader had sketched her dress’s design herself. She wanted to celebrate spring, dressmaker Sue Earle of Salt Spring Island told media; the tulips, peonies and ferns embellishing the dress were meant to suggest having just walked through a garden.
Choosing Earth Day to plight their troth was poetically political. May, a high-profile environmental activist before entering politics, had organized for Earth Day since its inception in 1970 when she was in grade 10. Kidder, a 71-year-old B.C.-based technology entrepreneur who runs his family’s hops farm, helped found the Green Party of B.C. in 1983; it was the first Green party in North America. The two met in 2013 when May, MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands, supported Kidder’s ultimately unsuccessful run as a provincial Green candidate. Love bloomed when they crossed paths last September at a Green Party policy convention. Kidder popped the question within a month. “I had a crush on him, and he had a crush on me,” May gushed to media. He was equally smitten, finding her “charming in every way.”
The love-match offers a hopeful reminder that renewal is possible, even when least expected. “I’m in my 65th year; to find true love is a miracle,” May said of her engagement. What May called #mybigfatgreenwedding on Twitter would also prove a model for eco-conscious, low-carbon nuptials. Guests were encouraged to arrive by bicycle, bus, train or ferry, with emission-free shuttles provided; Easter Sunday flowers in the church were repurposed; the flowers for hair and centrepieces were culled from local gardens; the reception was potluck; instead of gifts, the couple asked that donations be made to selected charities. Far-flung friends and family were asked to stay put and not burn carbon. The newlyweds will honeymoon on VIA Rail, traveling from Vancouver to Ottawa.