A COUPLE who tied the knot yesterday eschewed artificial lights in a hotel ballroom for a natural sunset in a park.
They also opted for a seating plan marked on a chalkboard instead of paper, a guestbook made of recycled paper and rented wedding attire.
They decided to have their big day in a park as it was “natural and beautiful, the way we always wanted our wedding to be’’, said the groom, business manager Kevin Tan, 30.
It also let them do their part for the environment through “green” practices, he added.
“We don’t need many cut flowers as we are already in a park, which has a garden ambience,’’ he said. “It looked lovely and it’s good for the environment.’’
Mr Tan and his wife, Ms Claire Chua, 24, became the first couple to walk down the aisle in HortPark’s new garden, Garden of Seasons.
Yesterday, the garden joined a list of more than 10 parks, including East Coast Park and Fort Canning Park, that can be used as wedding venues.
It will have its design changed every three months to reflect the four seasons. It now has plants and trees of white, silver and lilac hues, to reflect a winter theme.
And, from next Saturday, couples who choose to wed in Hort- Park and adopt at least eight eco-friendly practices, such as using a non-air-conditioned venue or encouraging guests to carpool, can qualify for a new “green wedding special’’.
Under the special launched yesterday by the National Parks Board (NParks), they will get a 20 per cent discount off the $15 to $260 hourly rental fees of venues within HortPark.
NParks is letting more parks be used as wedding venues to “endear parks to the public and help create beautiful memories in green spaces’’, said its director of parks, Mr Kong Yit San.
Park weddings are becoming more popular as more people feel that parks are sophisticated and romantic, said NParks.
This year, 150 weddings were held in parks here, up from 130 last year. NParks already has 90 bookings for next year.
With its latest move, it also hopes to inspire more couples to reduce the large amounts of waste that weddings usually generate.
A typical wedding with 200 guests would generate about six garbage bags of rubbish, mainly napkins and paper cups, said the director of wedding planning service Spellbound Weddings, Ms Anna Lim.
She began to offer green weddings about a month ago, after receiving more enquries about it in the past year.
“People are getting more environmentally conscious. About four in 10 couples consider a green wedding now, as opposed to the ad hoc one or two every year in the past,” she said.
But green weddings cost about 20 per cent more than conventional ones, as many suppliers, such as caterers, do not regularly provide “green” options and have to make special arrangements, she said.
“The green wedding special is a good way to counter the cost issue and get more couples to go green,’’ she said.
On Saturday, NParks and Wedding & Travel Magazine will be organising a fair at Hort- Park to provide couples with tips on green weddings.
A highlight is the launch of bridal studio WhiteLink’s latest bridal collection made of recycled materials, such as weddingcar floral decorations and fabric covers of used wedding albums.
Its designer, Ms Joanne Heng, wanted to change the misconception that things made of recycled materials are ugly and promote the idea of going green. Environmentally-friendly alternatives, such as banana leaves for catering set-ups and potted plants, which are reusable, unlike cut flowers, will be showcased at the fair too.
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