The sun is out, the Leaving Cert is upon us, the place is coming down with scary looking politicians leering out from lamp posts, begging to be loved — so it must be early June.
Apart from the above, early June is bang in the middle of the wedding season and recession or no recession, weddings in Ireland, like baptisms and communions, are special occasions. Even when we are staring bankruptcy in the face, this is one thing we don’t scrimp on.
Over the weekend I saw four weddings parties in full regalia, no expense spared. One of the weddings that passed me by was a new type, and after a little digging around, it seems that there is a new highly sophisticated and recession-proof wedding out there. It is the eco wedding. It is a special wedding for these sensitive souls who want to go one better than their mates but don’t want to be seen to do this by means of flashing the cash alone.
We all know that weddings are about social competition. I have been told of mothers, not only brides, turning into living monsters, ageing years in the run-up to the big day as the intensity of the occasion gets to them. But the madness never stops. And there are new and discerning ways of defining yourself and your wedding.
The latest one — the eco wedding — is wonderful because it combines a one-world concern with the rainforest as well as one worried eye on the practicalities of the downturn.
In these straitened times, many have decided that it is all rather vulgar and tacky to be going over the top with personalised match boxes, a hired Riverdance rip-off troupe and a magician to entertain the guests. That’s all so 2007.
The way to avoid this is to offer your ceremony up to a higher God. The eco wedding is the pinnacle of taste and political ‘right-on-ness’ and like all things environmental, it will set you back a huge whack. But the expenses is justified not because ‘you are worth it’ but because ‘it’ is worth it. The ‘it’ being the type of person you want to be as symbolised by your big day out.
‘Fair Trade Fiona’ wants everyone to know where she stands on logging in Honduras, and the best way to scream this from the rooftops is by setting out her stall at her wedding. All the invitations are made from recycled paper, as are all the place names. Her flowers are in season and obviously she will use only potted plants for decorations — plants which she planted with her own hands.
The dress was crucial. Her dress would be ‘upcycled’, not recycled. Deep down, Fair Trade Fiona knew that the dress would trump all competition. She got it made from organic cotton that is woven to look like lace. Upcycling, the holy of holies for the concerned shopper, means that the designers take material from second-hand clothes — silk and cashmere from dresses and jumpers — and they make them into wedding dresses. Deborah Lindquist is Fiona’s favourite designer. Even Fiona thought it was a bit pricey, as the ‘donation’ as it’s called — nothing as vulgar as price could be mentioned — starts at about €2,000. But an upcycled dress was worthy. She knew it and so would her guests.
Needless to say, her wedding cake will only use Fair Trade ingredients and is made by the organic baker in Portobello. She spent weeks checking that the hotel would only source food locally and an exacting ‘food mile’ inspection was carried out on a rainy Saturday in March to make sure the carbon footprint of dinner came in way under the Green Party’s advised limit.
But it’s not only the ingredients that must not be shipped in from all over the place, she had to find a venue which was closest to the guests so that they didn’t have to travel unnecessarily far, again for environmental reasons. This involved a ruler and a calculator — things she hadn’t used since she sat her maths paper in the Leaving Cert. At one stage she nearly gave up, but Fair Trade Fiona was not a quitter. This would be a sanctimonious occasion, where her guests, mainly unemployed architects, would marvel at her commitment to the bigger things in life, the world, the ozone layer and of course the Indians in Amazon. Guests were encouraged to pool transport to the venue, walking or cycling is possible, the latter getting most points in the internal scoreboard that was constantly ticking away in the unadorned head of Fair Trade Fiona.
Her wedding list was a social minefield. One false move and the whole thing could be brought crashing down. She really wanted a BT shopping list of top-of-the-range things for the new eco village they had moved into, but she couldn’t reveal this inner conflict when everything on the outside was zen and virtuous. So she chose donations to a ‘wonderful charity’ which specialises in literacy courses for the descendants of Mayans in Guatemala.
Luckily for her, the rock didn’t pose too much of a dilemma because certified ethical diamonds are available. The Dublin jewellers Appleby are supporting the Sierra Leone Ireland Partnership (SLIP), an assistance programme run by Irish Aid in the country in which many of the world’s diamonds are mined. So Fiona could even get a rock that had a story.
The honeymoon was local of course. She had booked a tepee — one ‘crafted’ by the same people who made the tent in which Kate Moss sleeps at Glastonbury — in the Burren. Going local with no running water was the pinnacle of commitment to her lifestyle manifesto which would be effortlessly on display on the big day. Let’s hope the weather stays fine for her. Yes we may be in a recession but some things are going to take some time to change, no matter who wins the elections.
The big day out will be the last thing to get the chop as the credit crunch tightens.
“the big day out will be the last thing to get the chop as the credit crunch tightens”,..
BULLSEYE DAVID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The commodification of all aspects of Western life is a key component of capitalism. In the old Celtic days, a couple would pass their hands through a hollowed out ‘marriage stone’ and when they hands touched they were pronounced man and wife – now that’s my idea!!! Then around the world in 80 days (only kidding). But seriously, you should ask yourself serious questions when your wife to be starts quoting over a grand for a weddding ring, and anything from 5-10,000 for a weddding dress, that’s not even mentioning the 4000 wedding guests (it was mooted at one point… Read more »
Subscribe. Let the games begin again.
RawPull – there are economic tetronic plates moving under our feet now that have never happened before and the insignificance of the above article makes me wonder has dmcw been, journalistically speaking, subpoenaed to the quiete room by the editors.The relevance of the above wedding etc seems to show that his editorial paradigm has moved a square elsewhere on the pitch and is it political .I can only discribe what I read as full moon farrow where the theme loses sight of the ball and wobbles with words of Juliet and her wishful dreams. There are Elections friday .I mean… Read more »
Been married twice, never spent more than about 500 US on either wedding and with gifts (which I didn’t request), money and other, we definitely ‘made a profit’ on both occasions. Anyone who goes and spends 25k or 50k on a wedding is a sick puppy and needs to think about what is really important in life. This sort of obscene behaviour is apparent in all aspects of modern Irish life.
Caricautre. Poor article.
Paddy.
No talk of love? Oh yes, we talking about gimmickry, where lack of uniqueness (real personality) is masked with an expensive element. Aaah… has the “chocolate fountain” lost its flavor already? What savory sewage. No mention of the idiotic practice of incessantly taking photographs (which no one will ever look at), to kill the boredom. We’d never be that lucky to be spared Arc Eye ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc_eye ), just when you’re trying to nod off in comfort. A twenty thousand pound dress will never disguise a twenty stone arse and likewise for a fine suit made from money and a… Read more »
http://gawker.com/5277737/all-francis-ford-coppola-wants-is-a-wife-who-cooks-and-cleans
Do men on this site want to become a Man ? Do they want to Bide time ?Well, Ireland is now ripe to develope for the services of arranging ‘secret affairs’.Because Ireland has a low divorce rate and is socially conservative and intollerant to infidelity this makes it a great market to make it a success .Already over 6,000 irish Adulterers have signed up before the publicity blitz has begun.This proves that Ireland is closer to Boston and not Brum. A Mr. Biderman is cannibalising a human behaviour that has been around as long as marriage itself.He is Canadian .
There’s something a bit 2008 about this article. Has it been pulled off the shelf to replace a pithy election-bender the editor didn’t like? Or is David wary of an unspoken delicate balance he doesn’t want to upset?
John Allen’s moon wobble seems to be manifest in Westminster events today. Could this be a Tipping Point in Irish politics too? The next 48 hours will be crucial to outcomes in both seats of government.
Talk about serendipity!
It takes a lot of hard work,dedication and some ongoing sacrifice to be a good Consumer.Americans are good consumers and Irish people before the bust became great consumers.Irish people worked and spent pre-boom…We then adopted the American idea of equity release loans to supplement our consumption,which we ran in tandem with personal loans,credit cards loans etc…Im sure the great exporters of the World like China,Germany etc.loved the fact that we were here to support there export driven growth models.We were prepared to risk the roof over our heads,prepared to have both parents working flat out,prepared to have our Children reared… Read more »
Malcolm – There is a Big Crack taking place this week ( in Irl & UK ) end and the Moon Pull no doubt will show up that .There is no wobble officially happening at least not this time . If you remember I said before that other leaders presided over great systemic changes namely : Kohl , Gorbechev & De Clerk and almost at the same time they saw their collapsing nations become ungovernable and lose their systemic powers that they held to then .All of these leaders were Pisces so is Gorden Brown and what happened then is… Read more »
Let’s adapt…. make onedownmanship fashionable.
John Allen, like I said some time ago, I think you are a keen observer (with a solid finance background) more than an astrologist. What you are saying all along has been alluded to over the last few weeks and months across the media. It was never too up front becasue of the audacious nature of it. No one wants to acknowledge the elephant in the room – whether it’s the Derivatives, The Consumer Breakdown or the plain fact that trade has simply shut down for the last year or so in a synchronised manner. A few others have named… Read more »
Philip – thanks and I agree with your comments . As I see things morphing presently it would seem to indicate that the wisdom of Islam may be what we all need with qualifications.I realise that my statement will open a can of worms .However we may have no choice because we have allowed too much to happen to our Irish ways now that there is no turning point and going back.After to morrow and when the Yes vote is carried through everything we have known will change forever but this time it will be faster than we have ever… Read more »
David, Its all very interesting but essentially you are saying the Irish are obsessed with status and branding. So what? tell us something we don’t know! Don’t you think that perhaps lashing out at these fools is counter productive and makes you look like an even bigger snob than they are? Indeed if people are going to spend stupid amounts of money on a big wedding, its no bad thing that pop culture has at least convinced them to not arm Liberian child soldiers. Besides, you are looking at the wrong end of the scale. The Leadership Deficit and this… Read more »
David said { We all know that weddings are about social competition. } That is 100% correct. I am rolling here in laughter. Status Obsession. All temporary nonsense. And I mean temporary. I know of couples spending 20 grand on a wedding and it all been proven as totally unnecessary in less than 12 months. So much for getting all the little details right…when the couple split as soon as they are supposed to be settling down. Getting the main issue wrong, and doing it with aplomp and style. Well that is the Ireland of the boom-bust era. Obsessed with… Read more »
The Irish are obsessed with brands and that means foreign brands as we don’t have any of our own except for Guinness which is synonymous with the drunken irish stereotype. We’ve never had a Rolls Royce, Mercedes, Ferrari, Philips, Lego, B&O, Nokia, Ericsson, etc to latch onto for national identity. So we’re always looking up to some foreign brand or other. It’s very difficult to sell an Irish product here if there’s a foreign competitor on the market, they prefer the foreign product irrespective of quality. It’s a peculiar trait and from experience, I’ve found that it’s much easier to… Read more »
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=aBWMuYMHhfXw&refer=uk
[…] also has a broad bitchy streak – as evidenced in his latest column about eco-weddings. ‘Fair Trade Fiona’ wants everyone to know where she stands on logging in Honduras, and the […]
Very droll, David. Unemployed architects indeed! Ireland changes but stays the same as new pieties replace the old. I have looked at a few houses lately and sometimes I ask about the energy rating but it’s really just for form’s sake, to have something to say, as I assume they are all equally bad. But my instinct would be to avoid anything with solar power — it’s bound to break in a few days and there’ll be nobody to fix it. Ditto spotlights and the rest. We could leave the ‘traditional’ Irish wedding as it always was (as in the… Read more »
http://trueeconomics.blogspot.com/ – We have gone from the Gulp to the Burp stage.
Very funny…. Fair trade Fiona… Reminds me of a couple who went veggiementalist….. my friend used to drop over for a rasher sandwich when it all got too much… then I learned from another friend that his girlfriend was also cheating on the veggies. She’ll grow out of it. Im becoming a post green myself… Chemical Garry. The thing is all this green stuff is worthy but its not very good, is it? Creasote might give you cancer but it works much better than this new green rubbish. And examples like biofuels shows how policies based on good intentions can… Read more »
John ALLEN, a few seem to be questioning the (((wobble))). I do not. Ever since the February 09 (((wobble))) where you urged caution and “to go slow”; that Tuesday, black ice on the road whipped my car into a tree: the car died(write-off) and I lived. This week, my students have had their examination paper leaked and deferred until Saturday, the culmination of the moon-pull. All have been upset and I had many phonecalls and facebook entries from them, as I tried to calm them down and convince them that all will be well. The (((wobble))) may not affect everyone… Read more »
david,
stick to economics.
cliché riddled and bad sociological comment are not ur strong point.
it adds to a shrill and snide sort of superiority amongst ur acolytes.
in fact it is what makes ur books so tedious.
POliceman meow, are you going to issue an arrest warrant..!!!
D Moon – in last few days we have seen among the following : airbus crashed into sea army soldier seriously injured exam errors extremely hot weather lions slaughter against SA and more Tim – we have to be careful during the passing to ignore is like drinking and driving .The precautions to be taken include : Go SLow Relax More Eat SLowley Drink More Water Drive More SLowly Avoid Strong Drinks Dont exercise too much Double Check Everything more than normal Dont Spend Drift Dangers Mind goes asleep quickly Hunger Pangs increase Hard to sleep on Fri and Sat… Read more »
Will ‘shrek’ and Donkey get their wake up call for eviction from the Big Brother House tommorow……..you decide….vote give them a kicking in the local and EU elections.
Don’t be patronised by the peasent class politics for peasent class people any longer, its not just the catholic church that needs to wake up and smell the coffee, don’t put up with this ‘dictionary democracy’
http://www.motivationalz.com/pictures/identity_crisis.jpg
http://michaelgreenwell.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/motivator1228853.jpg
I find strange confort in the following a la National Lampoon – have a nice weekend… Go placidly amid the noise and waste, And remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof. Avoid quiet and passive persons, unless you are in need of sleep. Spin your Wheels. Speak glowingly of those greater than yourself, And heed well their advice, even though they be turkeys. Know what to kiss, and when. Consider that two wrongs never make a right, but that three do. Wherever possible, put people on hold. Be comforted that in the face of all aridity… Read more »
Good discussion on Vincent Brown last night with 2 American economists (one of whom called Galbraith) and an Irish economist based abroad. They covered most of what has been said here: the US led attempt to reflate the world economy (and the possible danger of another bubble), debt (the Americans didn’t see it as necessarily all bad). They discussed the subsidiary debt at Anglo and the Irish gov’s approach that this should be protected as some sort of matter of honour but there seemed to be some sort of agreement that whether the bond holders were left to burn depended… Read more »
The clock is ticking on bond bubble collapse.
http://www.drudge.com/news/121656/chinese-students-laugh-geithner
I’m entirely on Fiona’s side even as I enjoy this amusing debunking of Greener-Than-Thou pieties. DMcW: You forgot the menu. Never mind smoked salmon canapes, I assume there was no ‘fish’ of any description? Fiona, like me, having just absorbed the horrifying prospect of a fish-less sea for our offspring? http://endoftheline.com/ But we need have no fear, as the ‘celebrity class’ are on the case: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/celebrity-diners-say-no-to-nobu-1697320.html I assume this piece is linked to David’s recent soiree in Dublin where the attempt to ‘square the circle’ of economic growth with ecological ‘externalities’ was drunkenly debated? Having reduced itself to ridicule with… Read more »
Dilly – The Financial System is not obsolete .We are .The Bolts are working , the NUTS are not especially Irish Wans. Remove all Board of Managements of ALL Irish Banks and start AGAIN.
The shadow of tragic fate has passed over and all the main players are still on the stage. Perhaps it is time to put doom and gloom behind us and plan for a recovery next year. America is fundamentally sound, based on its geography , natural resources and enterprising people. It will emerge from recession first. Russia is fundamentally unsound based on its mostly barren geography, border disputes and traditional oligarchic dispositiion. China will always struggle to keep its diverse populations pointing in the same direction. Its profits will be reinvested in its army and internal communications. India will always… Read more »
Just found out that Prof.Krugmann is in Ireland. And he says that Ireland has a long hard slog to get through over the coming decade.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0605/economy.html
I have not agreed with everything that Krugmann has said about economics. I do agree with him concerning property. But not on nationalizing weak banks (just look at what a money pit ANIB has become – are INBS, EBS any better ? ). It would far more sense to let these three week banks disintegrate into nothing.
Anyway, I have forwarded the link in case anybody is interested.
I wonder how Seanie-Pat FItzpatrick is getting on these days? No doubt enjoying the benefits of his pension, which he earned through his excellent leadership of Anglo. A pity none of the Irish media seem to be even trying to report on his whereabouts, his pension must have helped keep a strong legal team on retainer in case anybody tries to publish anything about him.
In any other country he would be hounded by the media, not in dear owld ireland, where the golden ciircle rules and the PAYE say nothing.
History – In our moments of now we are in a cycle where at one end as if it were , we are putting finishing financial touches to Industrial Abuse of children and at the other end we are sending into slavery those children that have to pay for it .
Andrew’, ‘..and how the next Irish gov manages the triangle between it’s main partners US/UK Eurozone’. I’ll make a go at that one,.. it trades away more of our national sovereignty to a supranational agency called the EU in a faustian pact to maintain ECB print run on euro’s to pay for POnzi’s Rep’s sucking on the bosom (toning down my rhetoric due to indirect reprimand from stalwart poster) of easy living easy gratifying and no intention of opening up a chapter in innovation unless the ruling order maintain total control over it. It, arranges for Ireland winning the european… Read more »
Very poor and cynical article. As the veteran of many an Irish wedding I have yet to encounter any such wedding, wedding dress or bride. If sneering is a talent, you’ve got it in spades! It was that same sneering that caused me to drop the “pope’s children” about half way through. Discussions of breakfast roll man and his eccentricity, without any positive comment concerning the hard work and toil of that same individual and continual inclusive statements of what we do as a nation, when I as an individual did not do these things. It’s sickening how a rich… Read more »
So as to keep up the balance, between all the serious events in Ireland these days whilst providing the people with pointless trivia to feed their delusions, RTE also provided indepth analysis of the preparations of the Irish soccer team. No analysis is needed. But there was a lot of minutea that could be considering irrelevant – in patricular with reference to ‘il gaffero’. In fact the level of detail was at times irrelevant. There are only two details that matter. The result-which we will not know until after the event, and the level of support(inversely related to the level… Read more »
I really like this article . I left Ireland in 2004 for a new life in Australia . I have had friends visit me here who have turned from normal people into ‘ fair trade fiona ‘. The last time was 18 months ago from a good long time friend who dispite hating FF when I knew him to discribing them as providing a job for everybody and even if they are corrupt they are running a booming economy and should not be questioned . One thing that stuck out was that people from the ‘ ol sod ‘ had… Read more »
This link here is presenting the reality regarding the consequences, in real time, too keeping POnzi Rep afloat on bond issuance.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aSYSPbqle0R8&refer=europe
Anglo’s Pot Parrots – is it rude that the Auditors E&Y should bite again at the Irish Taxpayer and holding an Earnest & Young face to apply to audit the illfated bank after contributing to the decimaton of the savings of thousands of Irish Families especial Earnest & Old decent Irish taxpayers .What is their motive? Are last years working audit papers exposing a crack in their integrity that they do not want anyone to find ?What is so sundry in their workings that were not as sundry at all but very material and significant ?How was their memory stick… Read more »
Quote from Irish times link above….
‘…..Moody’s said that it believed Anglo will require ongoing support from the government to absorb any remaining risks in the balance sheet and also continuing support to give the bank sufficient flexibility to restructure and establish a viable business model again.’
Translated…..
The irishtaxpayer is paying for too fix, the very crooked bank that engineered the property bubble destroying the local community.
At this link is the truth writ large on where we are at in this society, whatever else one may hear on hopes and aspirations the truth as it is is in this link and the facts relating to unemployment stats.
This is the big story and is not being covered anywhere in it’s guts.
http://www.latimes.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-eu-ireland-unemployment,0,1039901.story
I had an interesting idea recently. Honestly! That Bertie Ahern is actually the leading exponent of marxism in the history of Ireland but we couldn’t see it correctly until now. We just needed the seeds of communist comraderie he planted to take root and blossom into wonderful luxuriant debt filled trees. Some will say that figures like Larkin and Connolly were more direct exponents and this may be the case. This overlooks the brilliance of the Drumcondra man’s craft. Let’s look at the evidence: – Bertie has recently been visiting south american states to discuss how he can help them… Read more »
Listening to the results coming in. The Right Hook on Newstalk. FF in serious trouble. FG on a roll-pushing through previous barriers. ILP picking up votes from FF and GP. Independents are up and down. George Lee will increase the number of economists in the Dail to two – both in FG. Not sure how this will influence policy. But it will create problems for Lenihan and Coughlan. Michael Martin putting a positive spin on it again-just like he did after Lisbon I. I wonder will there will be a reshuffle of the clowns in the FF front bench. I… Read more »
I really think Ireland has gone completly nuts . People going mad with property was bad enough but what hope is there now ? They are pumping billions into Anglo . This is cash that we don’t have . Yet we are throwing billions at a bust business . Even FF say it is bust . It costs more to keep a bust business alive than to wind it up ? How much more will it cost ? I left school in 1983 after the Group Cert . I managed to get a job and went on to own my… Read more »
Soldiers of Destiny
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