As someone deeply conscious about how we need to reduce our impact on the environment, I embarked on the mission to create our wedding with a minimal carbon footprint. With a bit of creativity and a lot of help from God, we made our green wedding in Singapore a reality. Today, I’m excited to share how we managed to plan a sustainable wedding and inspire others to do the same.

We had our The Starry Night themed wedding at The Armenian Apostolic Church of St. Gregory the Illuminator, also known as The Armenian Church, the first ever church planted in Singapore. Located at 60 Hill Street, it is a central location for many and conveniently located near City Hall and Clarke Quay MRT Station. We opted for a garden lunch reception on the premises, under an open air tent which comfortably accommodated 180 guests.

Organising lunch outside an F&B establishment certainly meant greater logistics management and higher costs, and we did not use a wedding planner in order to save money. However as a whole we tried to keep the day’s proceedings as minimal as possible by omitting practices we deemed unnecessary. Such as the “gatecrash”, flower children, confetti, bridal car, groomsmen and bridesmaids. We did have a simple tea ceremony on the premises before the church wedding though.

In total we spent just under $35,000 (including attire, hair and make up), which is a bit on the high end considering the number of guests and how church weddings are typically cheaper to organise. But renting a national monument comes at a cost, however it was the tentage and furnishings that were the largest cost, followed by food. There was also a last minute add-on of flooring due to the muddy grounds, which set us back around $3,200, but one must always expect the unexpected when organising events outdoors.

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If you are a keen gardener and on the lookout for inspiring vegetable gardens to visit, these are my top recommendations of edible gardens in Singapore! Here you will find an interesting variety of herbs and also tropical fruits such as passionfruit, guava, starfruit, and also edible flowers, vegetables and spices. Some of them are not open to the public but offer tours on occasion.

These gardens are located at commercial buildings which include a hotel, mall and office block, and open spaces on the premises of a restaurant, national garden and urban farm.

1. Parkroyal Collection at Marina Bay– This garden has a lovely collection of fruit trees, edible flowers, herbs and vegetables. Featuring more than 60 varieties of edible plants, this attractive chef’s garden (pictured above) is accessible via Peppermint restaurant on level 4. At the entrance, inform the staff that you are there to view the garden and they will direct you towards it.

2. 1-Arden Food Forest at CapitaSpring – Recognised as the highest urban farm in the world, the 1-Arden Food Forest stands as a remarkable chef’s garden that is truly unparalleled in Singapore. The garden features clever interplanting techniques that give the appearance that the garden looks lush despite being harvested from. Produce from the garden is used in some of the food establishments within the building. Members of the public are welcomed to visit on weekdays from 8.30am – 10.30am and 2.30pm – 6pm excluding public holidays. To access the garden, take the lift to level 51.  

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