We recently went to our first ever all vegetarian wedding. It was fabulous.

The wedding took place at the Megalong Valley Heritage Farm in the Blue Mountains. The ceremony picked up on some Lao wedding traditions, like phouk kene, where the bride, groom and guests have white string tied to their wrists while the person tying the string gives them a blessing.

The traditional blessing goes something like ‘may you grow fat and have lots of children’. Realising that he was not allowed to wish either of these things on me, Andy went for the modern version ‘may we always be happy and healthy together.’

The vegetarian wedding was catered for by the bridal party and their guests. Everyone was sent a recipe or ingredient with the wedding invite which they were asked to bring along. The food was really tasty - certainly not the bland, mass-produced effort you get at some big functions. There were a lot of vegetarians at the wedding, but I think everyone enjoyed the food and liked the feeling that they were making a contribution to the special day.

In possibly an Australian first, the wedding was also carbon neutral. Madeline Lyons from local company Climate Friendly calculated how much CO2 was release as a consequence of the wedding (mainly emissions from travelling, but also lighting and cooking for the reception). Climate Friendly then ‘neutralised’ the emissions by supporting a clean energy project to offset the carbon we used. For a less lame explanation of how this worked you might want to refer to their website.

The reception was rounded off with some spirited bush dancing. I discovered that the patience of dancing partners at a wedding is infinite, even when you persist in turning the wrong way or stepping on their feet. Sorry! After the reception some of us retreated back to our tents for a good night’s sleep. Even the bride and groom camped out in a special tent under some Tibetan prayer flags - check out the photos on flickr.

Congratulations Dan and Gus!

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