singapore wedding

GREEN AND ENVIABLE

The world is balding, the sea levels are rising, but together we can do something to help reverse the effects of global warming – by starting with your big wedding!

Text: SUMMER LEE

Planning a wedding is hard work, and to ensure that it is environmentally friendly takes just a little bit more effort. The idea is simple – minimal wastage, minimal pollution and less carbon footprint.

To save you from swimming blindly in the sea of oblivion and help you dive headlong into execution, we have compiled a comprehensive guide below to put you on the green track.

Venue

Outdoor venues are recommended because they do not require air-conditioning. By saving energy, we can reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases. You can hold your wedding in the morning or evening when the weather is cooler. Available for rent at affordable prices, there are several locations around Singapore providing the ultimate breathtaking landscapes. For example, tucked in the eastern suburban estate, the Bedok Reservoir Park features the Floating Deck erected right above the reservoir water. As the name suggests, the Floating Deck gives a pelagic illusion of hovering over water. It is conveniently linked to the reservoir banks by three wide boardwalks and can support a maximum of 250 people.

If you are inviting just a handful of close friends and relatives, Fort Canning Park has for offer the Picnic Terrace that ensconces your guests in its lush greenery. It comes ready with picnic-styled wooden seats and tables that can be covered with nice tablecloths preferably not bought but rented from your caterer in line with the green practice of reusability. Being eco-friendly is often associated with higher costs. But at HortPark, a popular site for wedding receptions and dinners, couples can enjoy a 20% discount off the venue rental if their weddings incorporate at least eight environmentally friendly practices, as part of the Green Wedding Special initiative launched by the National Park Boards (NParks).

To further cut costs, you can send out e-invites that are practically free yet as formal and polite as the traditional wedding invitation cards. If you must send out paper cards, do print them on environmentally friendly or recycled paper.

You can also rent your gowns and suits from reputable labels that use only organic or recycled materials. White Link, for example, offers such gowns for rent at rates 30% lower than its usual gowns due to the lower material costs involved.

Settings and decorations

Local florist Nobleman suggests using fallen leaves and dried plants to decorate the reception and dinner areas. Potted plants, it noted, is also helpful to the environment as the plants can be reused.

For the centrepiece on each dinner table, instead of using floral arrangements made with freshly cut flowers and leaves that will go to waste at the end of the day, you can choose sweet-smelling potted flowers to save the day. These flowers can be taken home or transplanted to gardens and yards after the party. Set up a kids’ corner and think of games that revolve around protecting the environment. One suggestion is to station a “nanny” there and get the children actively involved in a quiz that focuses on issues like climate change, ozone depletion, pollution, waste management and recycling.

Green practices

If you are ordering food from a buffet caterer, chances are that you will be using non-biodegradable disposable tableware. Instead, consider using banana leaves or cornware, a comprehensive set of 100% biodegradable tableware made from corn and yam which can be easily purchased from major supermarkets in Singapore. Other alternatives include reusable melamine and porcelain ware.

After your reception in the afternoon, get your guests to take home the leftovers, or do charity by delivering the uneaten food to welfare homes on the same day.

Study your menu carefully and check with your caterer to make sure that the ingredients used in the dishes are from regions near home and not air-flown. This is to slash as much as possible the carbon footprint – the measurement of the total greenhouse gas emissions caused directly and indirectly by a person, organisation, event or product according to the UK Carbon Trust definition, air travel, by this definition, is a high-emission activity.

Having said that, you should try not to invite overseas guests to your wedding and stomp further on this already delicate planet. Share your wedding moments via electronic platforms like Twitter or Facebook.

You can also hire a bus to pick up your guests from certain MRT stations to limit pollution from exhaust gas if many of them own cars. But if they must drive, talk them into car-pooling.

Throwing confetti, in ancient Rome, is a blessing of good luck and fertility for the couple. But this has now become a tradition that many find unfriendly to the Earth. What do you do with the zillions of minuscule flakes that come and go in less than five seconds? Some old practices, if not exactly helpful, are better thrown out the window.

Proud to be green

Lastly, get the recognition that you so deserve for your hard work. Ask your MC to explain the green details about your wedding and let your guests feel proud and special to be part of the good cause.