Rise of the Anti-Bride

by Anne Marie O’Connor

Here, three brides who managed to escape the clutches of the bridal industrial complex and have truly personal weddings.

GREEN SCENE

“Environmental responsibility is extremely important to us,” says Heidi Bechtold, of Rochester, who’s marrying Nic Gengler in July. “We try to buy things locally as much as possible. We also try to buy organic as well as fair trade coffees and chocolate. I drive a hybrid, but whenever possible I ride my bike to work.

“From the start, I felt that I couldn’t live with myself if we spent ridiculous amounts of money for one day,” she says. “I went to Ecuador last year to volunteer and when I think of what even $1,000 can do for people there, I just couldn’t live with myself if I let things get out of hand. So from the start, we set a firm budget of no greater than $10,000. Even that took some time for me to accept, but I realized that we did not want to economize on catering and rentals and end up with poor service or bad food.”

Every element of Bechtold’s wedding had to pass an eco and cost analysis. Their venue was easy: the ceremony and reception will take place on July 19, 2008 at her parents’ farm in upstate New York. “We are encouraging our guests (150 are expected) to camp after the wedding, for fun and to hopefully eliminate the chance of people drinking and driving,” she says.