Here, green is the new white

Sharri Arlin and Paul Jerue do not run with the pack.

So the 26-year-old couple from South Philadelphia did not get married on 7-7-07, that chock-full-of-luck day so many other young romantics chose, hoping for a little cosmic help beating the divorce odds. They didn't make it to Giants Stadium for the Live Earth concert, either.

But indirectly, they participated in both global events by showing up at the White Dog Cafe last Saturday to be interviewed as finalists in a competition for a free wedding.

A free green wedding in Isaiah Zagar's Magic Garden.

Jerue and Arlin had always thought the iconoclastic artist's open space on South Street - a trippy urban glen built of shattered glass and found objects - would be the perfect place to get married.

When Jerue came across an ad for the contest on the Internet early last week, he turned to his girlfriend.

"You're not going to believe this. What do you think I'm looking at?"

"Porn?" she replied.

"No. Try again."

She shrugged. "I'm out of ideas."

So he read her the contest rules. That night, they drafted a 150-word essay presenting their green credentials. Within 24 hours, they got the call for the interview.

The ugly side of the nation's $161 billion wedding industry, environmentalists say, is manifest not only in the uncomfortable shoes and familial conflicts over whom to invite and what to do about the seasick-green ceramic fish statue that your mother's best friend will expect to see gracing your mantle.

It's also in the big, fat carbon footprint.

There's a need to rethink one of our culture's most splurgy traditions, said Pam Rogow, one of the judges in the competition. Rogow, 56, is president of GreenFest Philly, an environmental festival that will be sponsoring the wedding, to be held Sept. 9 in the garden on South Street.

Thus the winners will get to celebrate their union without pesticide-laden flowers. Without a sweatshop wedding gown. And without an emission-spewing stretch limo.

The idea of the free wedding as a commercial gimmick has been around for awhile. Every September, the Today show gives one away to increase viewership. This year, Brandon, Vt., is throwing one - complete with a free pre-nup and teeth whitening - to help boost the town's tourism business.

GreenFest's ulterior motive is also commercial: raising the profile for earth-friendly products and services. Whole Foods will donate a vegan wedding cake. Eyes Gallery will donate fair-trade gifts. Carolyn Verdi, the wedding planner, will recommend recycled-paper invitations. The organic floral arrangements will be delivered by pushcart. ChriStevens, the caterer, will prepare organic food. And after the honeymoon, Organic Home will provide 10 free eco-friendly cleanings.

But because the objective is also to set a new trend for mainstream weddings, Rogow says, the chosen ones have to be more than just perky and pretty if they are going to persuade the pack to run with them.

She and two other judges - Meena Raval, 45, a bookkeeper for a nonprofit that organizes farmer's markets, and Crystal Johnson, 37, an environmental analyst - have interviewed a half-dozen couples from the area so far.

Among them:

A bride dreaming of a hemp wedding dress dyed with spinach.

A gay couple from the Main Line trying to increase recycling on the Main Line.

A Punxsutawney machinist and his fiancee who are planting trees with her children from a previous marriage.

And a Germantown woman who makes jewelry from seaweed, and her groom-to-be, a server in a restaurant that serves healthy food.

"We want to make sure they're not 'green-washing,' " said Rogow, explaining that there are poseurs about, only pretending to reduce their impact on the environment. At the other extreme, she said, the panel will avoid enviro-militants.

"We don't want to be eco-snobs," Johnson said. "We want a healthy, balanced couple."

"Once we pick our couple, we'd like them to become known in the city, and beloved," Rogow said. She paused. "Maybe that's a stretch."

A decision will be made by July 30.

Arlin and Jerue didn't know it, but even as they were shown to the table at the White Dog with the judges, they were already on the short list.

Waiting for the interrogation to begin, they looked a little nervous.

"How long have you been engaged?" The first question landed with a thud.

"Um. Since yesterday?" Jerue confessed. After dating for the last six years, they were beginning to think about it.

Close enough.

More important, the judges wanted to know: "What kind of soap do you use?" (whatever Arlin's mother picks up at Price Club). "Do you compost?" (you betcha). And "When you painted your bedroom, did you use low-V.O.C.s?" (too expensive).

That Arlin, an artist, and Jerue, an associate production manager at the Prince theater, even knew what V.O.C. stands for (volatile organic compounds) impressed everyone. So did their primary means of transportation: He rides a bike to work; she takes public transit. They use their Toyota mostly to take Ruggles (a rescue pup found chained outside an animal shelter) to the park, and to make a monthly trip to Pottstown to recycle No. 5 and No. 6 plastics that Philadelphia's program doesn't accept.

For a panel about to make romantic dreams come true, the judges confessed a relative lack of personal experience with the fairy-tale thing.

Raval and her husband exchanged vows before a justice of the peace. "I can't even remember what I wore," she said. Rogow's 14-year relationship had a false start. "I got cold feet at the last minute before the wedding," she said. They later went through with the wedding, but the marriage ended in divorce.

Johnson and her longtime boyfriend, Ezekiel Zagar, had been planning to get married in his father's fantastical garden this year. But when they learned she was pregnant, (the baby is due in November), they decided to wait.

Never mind. Their credentials are green. And whoever said you need to live out a fantasy to know how to create one?

Applications will be accepted online through July 20 at greenfest@urbangreenpartnership.org. Winners will receive a private, cost-free environmentally sound wedding, for up to 60 guests.

Ceremony and reception will be held Sunday, Sept. 9, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Isaiah Zagar's Magic Garden on South Street near 10th.

Contestants must submit an essay of 150 words or less explaining:

1. What makes you green? How do you practice sustainability?

2. Who are you - both as individuals, and as a couple?

3. How can you be contacted? Provide your full names, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses.

All ranges of environmental conscientiousness will be considered, as long as the couple are honest, flexible and future in-laws will not throw a fit about the short notice and lack of control.

A decision will be made no later than July 30.

An estimate of the value of the goods and services is not yet available because sponsors are still coming forward.

GreenFest Philly will be held the same day.

In 2006, about 6,000 people attended the block festival. Organizers expect 10,000 this year, and have expanded it to four blocks, South Street from Seventh to 11th.

Early sponsors include Environmental HomeStore, Sun Technics, PhillyCarShare, Cutter's Mill Natural Pet Foods, Whole Foods and the Delaware Valley Green Building Council.

GreenFest Philly is a project of the Urban Green Partnership.

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To pose a question to wedding planner Carolyn Verdi about green weddings, go to http://go.philly.com/carolynverdi.

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