Proposing an Ethical Wedding..
Apr 19th, 2008 by Em
I can honestly say that our relationship can be split into two parts: the blissful two years up to the proposal… and the hectic 3.5 months since!
If I could have chosen one place in the world to fall in love, it would have been Woodford Folk Festival. Living in Brisbane, Australia, since 2000 (and prior to that, Birmingham, England), I have been constantly enthralled by the beautiful surroundings of my favourite city. Just to the North of Brisbane, Woodford lies in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, in view of the Glass House Mountains.
As editor of Soulshine, an Australian independent music website, I have been very much involved in the music scene since 2004. Woodford represents the highlight of the music year for many people in Australia, and it now has an added significance for me! Lachie and I met as we were volunteering together on the same festival bar, and we got together on December 30th, 2005. I must have known I was on to something, as I sent a midnight text message to everyone in my phone book, telling them I had met someone amazing!
Knowing I was moving to Melbourne to be with a sick friend just ten days later, we spent every minute together until the time came to say goodbye. By now we were well and truly in love, and spent the next two months spending hours and a small fortune staying in contact by phone. After moving back to Brisbane, Lachie moved to a house just 70 metres from mine, and our lives were shared from then on. So it was that in September 2007, when I had to return to England, that Lachlan found himself returning with me.
Lachie is a high school teacher, and little did I know that when he went to school, he was plotting with other teachers and teaching assistants how to pop the question. We had talked about it a little, feeling that marriage was our next logical step, and when our second anniversary came around, I hoped that he would seize the moment! However, it was midafternoon by the time we set off for the little town of Kirkby Lonsdale in Cumbria for our daytrip, and the sun was starting to set by the time we sat down on a bench overlooking ‘Ruskins View’. In fact, Lachie was so busy trying to find the right words that it was almost complete darkness when he actually proposed. What a relief!
Of course, it’s only once you’re a bride-to-be that you suddenly realise what that actually entails! My first few forays across the internet in search of ideas left me quite horrified and somewhat scared at what we were facing. We are pretty simple people, and although I don’t consider myself an eco-warrior (despite the dreadlocks!), I was appalled at how opulent and resource-hungry the wedding industry appears to be. Ironically, the more opulence we found, the more determined we became to have a simple, honest wedding that met our basic requirements to be a positive experience and eco-friendly.
In my next post, I’ll describe the arduous process of searching for the right venue.. and share the links to some of the places I found!