Tragedy and Inspiration

As many of you know by now, if you are anywhere near a radio, TV, or the internet, Japan has been devastated by an 8.9 earthquake and the ensuing Tsunami that followed.

While Mike and I, and all our personal friends, as safe and unharmed by events, you can’t help but feel terrible about the devastation which has followed in the wake. Flooding, fires, homes and live just swept away.

So while there is very little that we can actual ‘do’ to help the situation there is always fundraising and donating as a means to help. Of course Mike and I want to give money to help, and we can give a certain amount, but on a wedding budget it is not the easiest thing in the world. This was when we had a wonderful revelation.

We had always planned on making a donation to a charity instead of guest favours. We had many reasons for this, but the main reason was that on weddings you spend a lot of money on food and decorations for yourself and the guests already, so why not give to something else entirely? I like to think that the guests feel better knowing that they had a good time and some good was done, rather than having take home some sort of well-intentioned, but probably less-than-useful gift.

Having already decided that we were going to give money to a charity, but having not decided which one yet, has give Mike and I a great opportunity. Not only can we give the original amount that we planned, but also give the amount which we had budgeted into the wedding as well .

So while it isn’t much, considering the vastness of the need and the rebuilding to come, Mike and I feel slightly better knowing that a part of our big day was used to give back to the country we have called home for nearly 2 years.

So a Donation will be made to the Red Cross Japan Relief fund both from Mike and I, and on behalf of all our wonderful guests who will be with us on that day, and even those who we know will be far away as well.

Thank you Japan for all the experiences we’ve had, and I hope this helps a little.