Wedding planner winners
Apr 30th, 2008 by Katie
We are delighted to announce that the winners of our Sally Steele Weddings’ DIY wedding planning DVD competition from our March Ethical Weddings newsletter are Ruthe & Jonathan who are getting married in Galway, Ireland next May 2009.
As they’ll be wedding planning from a distance (living in England but marrying in Ireland), the DVD should come in very handy!
Read what Ruthe had to say about their wedding plans so far…
“We have decided to keep our day as eco-friendly and simple as possible, so are keeping caterers and venue local and are staying away from hotels and the hype that has become the norm for irish weddings in Galway.
Old style Irish wedding
I believe I would find this dvd to be useful as we are planning an ‘old style’ traditional Irish wedding. This includes a small ceremony for immediate family in the morning on the beach followed by a wedding breakfast.
Later on in the evening we will host a wedding party for all our friends and extended family and neighbours. Apparently this was the norm 50 years ago when everyone lived in the same village! We need to have a registry office cermony three months in advance and will follow up the main day with a barbeque and bonfire party at my parents’ house, marquee included depending on the weather.
Distance wedding planning
My other reason for finding the DVD useful is that I will be living in England from June whilst organising a wedding to take place in Ireland, with guests travelling from all over the UK to Galway for the weekend itself.
As we have decided to spread out the event over a weekend rather than pack everything into one alcohol-fuelled day, as is more common here, there will be free hours in between events, so making our guests’ stay as enjoyable as possible is another consideration for us to include in the planning.
Finally, my partner hopes to wear a traditional Irish 3-piece suit, along with the groomsmen. I bought my dress on ebay, it is a sample dress so has been tried on but never worn! His mum is altering it for me.
Eastern influence
Both my partner and I also have influences in our lives from India and would like to incorporate this in some way into the wedding party, either through decoration of the venue or reflected in the bridesmaids dresses, a clash of eastern and old Irish perhaps?!
Therefore, any advice for planning a simple, charming old Irish wedding weekend, with a subtle hint of eastern influence and a large dose of DIY would be very warmly welcomed in our house!
Our budget for the wedding is £7000, (€10,000), so we will not be using a professional ethical wedding planner, yet I have to admit if I could justify the cost then I probably would!
My main reason though for not hiring a planner is because of my career background in events organisation. I am actually enjoying organising the wedding myself and feel I am good at it, or at least I should be! I see the organising as a buzz rather than a source of stress. ”
We wish Ruthe and Jonathan all the very best with their wedding planning - and look forward to reading their review of the wedding planner DVD next June, after the big day!
Take care,
Katie
Get planning tips from other green brides and grooms in the Ethical Weddings Forum