Keeping It Real, and Green

It’s only been two months, but it feels like I’ve been doing this wedding planning for a year.  I’m still amazed at the amount of work and time it takes to put up a wedding event.  And the prices..my golly!  Anything with wedding in it does have a whole new, higher and exponential inflation rates wrapped around it.

But fiancé and I (mostly me) are not to be intimidated, nor budged.  After all the research and wedding fairs and a few meetings in between, I’m more positive and can say that it is doable; a green, sustainable yet fun and memorable wedding 🙂

Some efforts we’ve taken to this pursuit, so far:

• An e-Save-the-Date
  • There are numerous design templates on the net that are editable and FREE.  Some sites I used are canva, evite, weddingchicks and of course, pinterest.  I chose a minimalist design with some greenery and floral touches and used our color scheme gradient as background colors.  Save-the-dates do not have to match your overall wedding color scheme and theme, but it won’t hurt to coordinate them a bit.  For destination weddings, best to send it early, at least 6-8 months before the wedding to give everyone time to make travel plans.
• Few formal invitation printouts on seed paper or recycled paper
  • Some people are still not keen on using e-Cards or digital platforms to announce formal events.  Luckily, most of our guests are millennials or xennials so this won’t be a concern.  For some of our older guests, we are planning to use formal printed invitation cards using these special papers.  Send these out 3-4 months before your destination wedding for good measure.
• A wedding website
  • A wedding website is probably not as popular in the Philippines as it is in the US or elsewhere, but I’m glad there are many platforms out there that are available globally.  I opted for a simple, classy theme in digital album form from wedsite.com for posting updates/announcements, a photo/video gallery, travel tips and accommodation options for our destination wedding and added another 2-3 page website with an almost similar minimalist theme from theknot.com as a one-stop site for wedding event details and RSVP management.  So far so good!:)
  • Sample page: theknot.com and wedsite.com
• Buy RTW or off-the-rack wedding gown
  • The options are limited locally but fortunately, there are a few relatively new shops that are going in this direction.  Getting designer gowns few seasons or years ago definitely won’t hurt the eye and put a big hole in the pocket.  I’m also eyeing gowns that can still be altered to be wearable even after the wedding, or maybe sold or rented out.
• Buy custom shoes that can still be worn after the wedding
  • Other goals are to not kill my feet in one day, be able to dance or at least walk during the duration of the event and buy shoes that are of excellent quality and will last for many years.
• Use greenery with some flowers instead of all-out flower arrangements for the ceremony and reception
  • I’m not so into flowers anyway, plus I’d rather use potted plants/flowers instead of plucked bunches for a one-day event however special.  Styling with greenery, when done right, can actually look very organic, minimalist and classy.
  • View from prep site/wedding hq 🙂
  • 
• DIY additional décor, place cards and other items where possible.
  • This can be a way to indulge the artsy in you and also be a good bonding time with your family or wedding party.  Some ideas would be biodegradable confetti, calligraphed place cards, DIY candles, brooches, etc.
  • Reception lighting pegs
  • 

So there you have it!  A wedding as green as it gets:)  I hope to encourage others to tread lightly with not just their own weddings but with our daily footprint, one step at a time:)

Of Weddings and WhatNots

I’m getting married!!!  Ok, it’s been almost a month since fiancé asked (hilariously, I might add, details in another post), and we haven’t announced to people except some family and friends.  There is this unspoken agreement that we want to enjoy this time and keep it to ourselves until possible, maybe until before the save-the-date 😉  We’ve done a bit of planning as well; We plan to be hands-on and not spend too much on the wedding; we’d rather put more funds into our nest egg.  That being said, I know that the wedding will still be pretty costly and probably the most expensive celebration we’d have for a long time.  We plan to focus on finding a good church/venue for the ceremony, a good place with a garden or mountainside that bundles in good food (being the foodies that we are) and making it unique and personal and memorable without breaking the bank.  So far so good! 🙂

It only actually felt official when we already finalized the date last weekend, after checking out churches and venues for the past two weeks and realizing that all we wanted to book were available one weekend (just!) in March 2018.  This is really happening! 🙂

I was pretty realistic and was not really expecting that we’ll get all we want, but lo and behold, things seem to be falling into place! 🙂 🙂  We managed to book a church we’re both happy about, a chapel overlooking Taal volcano and most of Tagaytay, and Antonio’s for a dinner celebration.  Yes! 🙂

Chapel on the Hill , Don Bosco Batulao in Nasugbu, Batangas

Garden at Antonio’s Tagaytay

I just love the Scripture on the wall, reminding us of what matters most..:)

Another thing I want our wedding to be aside from being special, personal and memorable is it being green/eco-friendly.  Maybe zero-waste is a remote possibility, but we’ll try our best.  I’ll DIY a few things because hey, I didn’t even know I’ll get married until late last year, nor did I really think I’ll find someone.  Cheers! 🙂