ethicalweddings.com

For today’s post, I’m delighted to welcome another green groom into the Ethical Weddings fold!

Neil, Sustainable Tourism Manager for South West Tourism, tells us a bit about the last weeks leading up to his wedding…

The Final Countdown…

With just over five weeks to go, it’s probably an ideal time to reflect on the progress towards our ‘ethical wedding’.

It feels a little uncomfortable calling it that; one, because there are numerous things that could have been done more ethically, and, secondly, it exaggerates our intentions.

When I proposed to Anna on 1st January on a sunny beach in Devon I didn’t really have ethics in mind. But I guess it’s just been part of the decision-making that we usually follow anyway.

As part of our Christian faith we try to make ‘ethical choices’ but wouldn’t pretend that we always do. And some choices that are ‘ethical’ are primarily because, if we’re honest, we like them - and the ethics is an added bonus.

There’s also a work angle for me - I work in sustainable tourism (see www.visitsouthwest.co.uk/feelgood) so there’d be questions asked if we’d not gone down this route.

Ultimately, though it’s about our desire to have a great day that’s a benefit rather than a burden.

A Taste of the West

Food and drink was probably the first thing where ‘ethics’ came to mind. We’re so lucky down here in the South West that we were determined to give the reception a local flavour with some of the top-notch food and drink that we love.

We thought that hiring a venue and then getting caterers in would be the best way but we ended up using a venue (Reed Hall, University of Exeter) that was a member of the local food and drink association so already using plenty of local food. Our dessert is the West Country classic - scones, clotted cream, jam and strawberries!

We decided to organise the drinks ourselves. We’ve had great fun deciding which of the local drinks to go for - in the end selecting Luscombe St Clements & Ginger Beer (appreciating that many of the ingredients aren’t local!) and Elderflower Bubbly (as a non-alcoholic option for the toasts) and Heron Valley Apple Juice. Both are local suppliers based in South Devon, as is the Ashridge Vintage Cider which we are using for the toasts and the Sharpham white wine.

My dad enjoyed the wine-tasting and we got shown round the barn where the cider is made in ‘champagne-style’. For our red wine, as with our tea, coffee, wedding cake ingredients, and even my socks(!) we’ve gone for Fairtrade.

This has meant an awful lot to me ever since I got to stay with a coffee farmers’ family in Costa Rica that was benefiting from a fair price. (That’s also why one of our gift lists is with World Vision). And to give our guests a taste of the west to take home with them our favours are mini-jars of local, award winning jam.

Plain Sailing

As I said some choices have turned out ethical rather than been the initial motive. As Anna was dreaming of her vintage car (not very green, I know) I spotted the most direct route to the church - the canal that runs by my flat.

I’ll be making use of the local canoe hire company to travel from a pub near my flat to the church (we’ll there’s a 3 minute walk uphill from the canal) to travel to the wedding. This is on the strict condition that I don’t wear my proper suit and don’t share the canoe with my accident-prone best man!

I can’t go into honeymoon destinations (a secret) but given that we’re something of a “Can’t fly (Anna), won’t fly (Neil)” couple, we won’t be jetting off, although I have a feeling that with accommodation being a lot more luxurious than normal our honeymoon print will still be sizeable.

We’re aware that most of our guests are travelling cross-country to the wedding and, realistically, will arrive by car so we’ve arranged for offsetting through Climate Care. Not ideal but better than nothing.

We’ve encouraged people to use independent accommodation rather than immediately plumping for the chains. There are some great places around Devon - especially those in the green award scheme that I’m helping to get off the ground down here. Wish there were a few more with the award in Exeter so that we could only recommend those. Give it a couple of years (there are already over 100 in Devon).

Getting Set

With 5 weeks to go there’s still plenty to do but we can’t wait. It’s taken more time doing these extra touches - and maybe cost a little more - but we’ve had so much fun and it will add so much to the day. Just a house move to sort out first of all!!!!!!!!!!

Neil

www.visitsouthwest.co.uk
www.swtourism.co.uk