If life was a LEGO movie, that'll be us, me with the robot hair, my wife in her T-Rex suit. We just got married! No amount of anticipation prepared me for the change in perspectives and priorities, and a change in questions.
A few months before, in one of our brainstorming sessions on pillow tok, this jumped out at us:
We didn't want a typical wedding - stressing about an exotic pre-wedding shoot, hosting it at a hotel, or buying generic gifts for guests. What was important was making our vows in church, creating social impact, and having environmentally sustainable options.
We paired guests up in carpools to minimise use of taxis or grabs to the restaurant. We paid a premium for the coffee cart to use ceramic and glassware instead of disposables. Gifts were reusable metal straws, or honey from the charity MINDS. For the flowers, my wife and her friend DIY-ed with tropical flowers grown in the region instead of air-flown European ones to reduce our carbon footprint.
Finally, we made a donation to a milk and diapers fund that supports infants from families in challenging circumstances.
We're glad we celebrated our wedding in ways that communicated our values and contributed to people in positive ways. As memorable as it was for us, we’re certain that it wasn’t the best day of our lives. Better days lie ahead! How sad it would be if this was the peak and it all went downhill from here.
Our hope for all of you who are thinking/talking about marriage is that you take time to step back from the noise and figure out for yourselves what’s meaningful to you in your wedding celebration and to stay true to that, because a wedding is a day and a marriage is a lifetime!
Love,
Nick + Shihui
PS: We're making a baby - pillow tok!