Where in the World?

Most people have a general idea of the wedding location pretty early on. For us it was a bit more difficult.

We are expats, living in New Zealand while Mr. Veggie pursues his PhD. We live in Raglan at an eco retreat. Gorgeous? Absolutely. But the idea of having the wedding here wasn't really an option for us. The carbon footprint of having even just our immediate families fly around the world was too much to think about. Not to mention the price tag. Also, since we don't get to see most of our friends very often, we want to be able to include as many people as possible in the wedding. So, New Zealand... out.

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Once Mr. Veggie Farmer finishes his PhD we are planning to move to Nicaragua. We have lots of friends there already and just love it. Maybe we could have our wedding there. That's a lot closer to home for most of our friends and family and would give them a chance to visit our future home. Gorgeous? Ummm, yes. While the flights might be a bit expensive, things are so cheap in Nicaragua, that the overall pricetag might actually be manageable. Oh, but there's that little problem of malaria. Anti-malaria meds can't be taken by kids under 5, and we have 3 neices and 2 nephews that fall into that category. Nicaragua... out.

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So, we turn to the US. Before we left we lived in New Hampshire. Mr. Veggie's parents live in Massachussetts and he has other family in Pennsylvania. My parents live in New Jersey and I have tons of family in Washington D.C. If we stick to the mid-atlantic we will be in driving distance for most folks, and possibly bike/bus distance for some. No shots or meds required (well, it might be wise to take some if you're traveling to NJ -hehe). Gorgeous? Can be (and that picture is in New Jersey!). So that settles it. We will get married somewhere between D.C. and New Hampshire. Now to find a venue.

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Things that we kept in mind in terms of the location of our wedding:

- Minimizing the total carbon footprint of travel for our wedding (not just for us, but for guests too). For us this meant finding a location that was drive-able for most guests and hopefully bike-able or bus-able for some. As we start to narrow down venues we will try to choose one that has public bus service.

-Natural beauty. We want an outdoor wedding in a gorgeous setting to celebrate our love for each other, but also to honor the earth.