Dreaming Green

Ever since I found Eco-Chic Weddings by Emily Anderson, I've discovered more and more wedding-related sites that show how easy it is to have environment-friendly and sustainable weddings. Its all a matter of determining what you want and finding the right people who can help you source what you need.

As I read through these sites I find that yes, there definitely are numerous choices and suppliers who can give you want you want: eco-friendly, organic, handmade,conflict-free, recycled...the web is full of them! Unfortunately for me, the sites are mostly in the US. Even more unfortunate, cheap for them does not necessarily convert to cheap at home.

So, one of the challenges for our wedding would be to try to incorporate as much of these ideas as I can...no, make that, as much as Allan, my sister and my brother can (this bride will be organizing everything from miles and miles away).

Eco-Friendly Attempt #1: Reduce Paper Waste

The main thing that I'm hoping for is to be able to at least use recycled materials for the invitations. Locally (in Manila), I've only found one possibility and the prices are extremely budget-friendly. The downside is that we're a bit limited in terms of designs. I am also exploring sourcing the invitations here in Dublin. I've found Daintree which will allow me to choose and customize my own invitations and even print them at home. The downside is that this breaks our PHP budget.

I'm still in the process of thinking about other paper products like Table numbers, Programme, Missalettes...but I think those will be easy enough.

Eco-Friendly Attempt #2: Same venue for the ceremony and reception

This is something that we can't follow unfortunately. We've found the church we wanted and unfortunately the available venue is not what we're looking for, so sorry, I have to make up for it some other way.

Eco-Friendly Attempt #3: Use local flowers

I know absolutely nothing about which flowers are local and which ones are not. I tried recalling some of the flowers that my grandmother had in her backyard and decided that no, Gumamela and Santan do not make a very attractive bouquet. I'm sure though that there are other people out there who know far more than I do in this area, thank God!

There are other areas I'm exploring at the moment, but I realized I might end up giving away some details for the wedding that I'd like to keep secret...For now, these are what I'm working on. I'm wondering if other Filipina brides are wondering about the same things?