Our love shall be evergreen, couple vow
Expensive rings and lavish hotel banquets do not show love in its simplest and truest form, say a couple who married yesterday on January 1.
That was why they opted for rings made of leaves, and a vegetarian afternoon tea celebration in which guests had to bring their own cutlery and cups.
Their love of nature was almost as passionate as that for each other, but Mok Ho-kwong, 29, and Cheng Pui-shan, 30, said their unusual celebration was not because they lacked the money to be extravagant.
Rather, they wanted their love to be the centre of their guests' attention, they said.
Mok, founder of a school that teaches environmental protection, slipped a ring, made of several delicately and tightly bound leaves, onto Cheng's ring finger in a school in Tuen Mun where they first met.
'We didn't hold this green wedding because we are poor, but because we wanted to express our love for each other using what's closest to our heart,' Mok said.
'Some people may choose to show their love for their husbands and wives using valuables like golden or diamond rings, but that's not our idea of the expression of love.
'To me, marriage is simply the commitment to live with the one you love for the rest of your life.'
Even the usual marriage vows were inadequate for the couple. Though they did recite the traditional vows to meet legal requirements, they both wrote and read 'green' vows, promising each other that they would farm regularly, take sunset strolls along the farms, and practise yoga together.
'We're not tradition-defying young minds who aren't happy with anything,' Mok said. 'Some traditions are worth keeping, and we have kept some that we think are meaningful to us.' They said the wedding was also intended to raise environmental awareness.
