With This Recyclable Ring Tab, I Thee Wed

Lavish weddings are driving us into the next Ice Age.

Well, not really. But kind of. American couples spend $72 billion on weddings every year. Bridal dresses are made of satin, which is often stitched with polyester, a petroleum byproduct. Far-flung friends clamber to board jetliners, which expel all sorts of nasty fumes into the air.

Happily ever after?

Not if the Gulf Stream stalls.

Into the breach comes Portovert, an online magazine devoted to the eco-savvy bride and groom. With the understanding that American weddings leave a large footprint on the environment, the magazine's content will address ways to throw the wedding of your dreams while doing minimal damage to the planet, says head honcho Meghan Yudes Meyers, a freelance writer, 1997 graduate of George Washington University and resident of Herndon, where the magazine is based.

"It's not your typical green publication," Meyers says. "Portovert is a made-up word that sounds elegant -- and we want people to have an elegant event -- but on the back end it means 'gateway to green.' "

Content will be free and refreshed monthly at http://www.portovert.com starting Wednesday. This fall, Portovert plans to publish a "book-a-zine" (on 100 percent recycled paper) and host a Hallowgreen Ball, with proceeds benefiting Potomac watershed cleanup. No word on whether costumes must be recyclable. Either way, I'm going as Aluminum Can Man.

-- Dan Zak