Love, honor and obey. Reduce, reuse and recycle. Brides and grooms, and the $73 billion wedding industry that caters to them are paying more attention to the environmental implications of their choices. It is a trend that was barely on the cultural radar screen a couple of years ago. Couples concerned about global warming are scaling back and thinking green as they plan wedding venues, menus, flowers and transportation, helped by a multiplying array of websites, stores and catalogs.

Twenty-something brides blog about using hybrid cars instead of Hummer limos, about dumping mailed response cards for e-mail RSVPs. Some couples ask retailers not to wrap gifts in yards of paper and ribbons that will just be thrown away. The truly committed can choose wooden wedding rings carved from downed trees, and biodegradable confetti called Ecofetti. Washington flower designer Sidra Forman says half of all couples now ask where flowers for the bouquets and centerpieces are coming from and whether they have been organically grown using fair-trade practices.

Millie Martini Bratten, the editor in chief of Brides magazine, said that over the last five years the interest in green weddings has blossomed from a desire to incorporate a few green elements, like a vegan menu, to making sure the entire celebration won’t contribute to the depletion of natural resources. This may include finding halls that recycle, hiring caterers who use locally grown ingredients, decorating with potted plants that can be transplanted and using soy-based candles, rather than those of petroleum-based wax.

Here are a few eco-friendly ideas to get you started in your green wedding plans:

• Calculate the mileage guests will travel and offset their carbon dioxide emissions by donating to programs that plant trees or preserve rain forests. According to Terra Pass.com, “carbon dioxide emissions from guest travel are the single biggest environmental impact from your wedding.”

• Use hydrangeas, berries and other local and seasonal flowers for her bouquet and the decorations, instead of burning up fuel transporting flowers from faraway farms.

• Design an organic autumnal menu with food purchased from your local farmer’s market. Hire a caterer that will accommodate your choices, and use venue that recycles; set up a recycling station for your trash of paper, aluminum, and plastics to be sorted.

• Wear an heirloom, or find a vintage dress to avoid the waste of a brand new wedding gown that will never be worn again, or choose a gown made of silk or hemp.

• Get creative with your resources. Use decorative centerpieces from edibles such as a vase of lemons or limes, or an array of artisan breads. Rent chairs made of bamboo, a fast-growing renewable resource, instead of other pulps or plastics.

• Print invitations with soy ink on paper made of 100 percent post-consumer waste, and place cards handwritten on pressed magnolia leaves.

• Scale down and cut down your guest list. Throw a wedding with say, with 200 guests instead of 2,000, or even 20 guests instead of 200. Small can be grand.

According to a survey in 2006 by Conde Nast, Bride’s publisher, there are 2.3 million American weddings each year, with an average cost of $27,852. According to a survey at Brides.com, 60 percent of respondents said the environment was important in planning their wedding; 33 percent said they were planning to have a green wedding. In its 2007 February/March issue, Brides magazine carried its first major article detailing how to have a green wedding, such as…

• Serve soup in cucumber cups, leaving no bowls to wash.

• Instead of toss-away favors, send guests home with a jar of gourmet honey or other gifts.

• Choose an organic wedding cake carried in on a bamboo platter… and more!