Popping the question- but at what environmental cost?

For most couples, finding the perfect engagement ring is the very first step in the process of spending the rest of your lives together. The ring is a promise to the other person that they will be loved, cherished, comforted and cared for their whole lifetime. For generations, diamonds have traditionally been the ideal stone for an engagement ring- representing commitment and everlasting love. 

However, over the past few years, the demand for diamond rings has dwindled. The stone, once prized for being an icon of luxury and treasured for its rarity and value, is no longer as popular as it once was. With increasing awareness of the issues surrounding the procurement of diamonds among millennials who are looking to get married, couples are now turning to alternatives that are equally beautiful and infused with great sentimental value of their own for their engagement rings.

Recently, we spoke to our friends at Luna, a Singapore home-grown company which produces handcrafted Moissanite engagement rings, to find out the reasons for the dwindling interest in diamonds. Here’s what we found out!

Reasons for the declining demand of mined diamond jewellery

Millennials looking to get married are now sourcing for alternatives to diamond engagement rings because of the growing awareness of environmental and ethical concerns with regards to the mining and processing process of diamonds. 

According to a study conducted by Bain in 2012, diamond mines produce immense amounts of greenhouse gasses, pollution and mining site waste. These elements contribute to the growing climate change crisis occurring worldwide. The mining of diamonds continues to be an immensely damaging activity to its surroundings and the world overall, creating environmental hazards in countries in which mining is carried out. 

Most people are familiar with the term “blood diamonds”, and many are growing increasingly aware of the humanitarian issues surrounding diamond mining. Many companies producing diamond jewellery are not able to track the source of their diamonds or ensure that their diamonds are sourced ethically. 

According to the Human Rights Watch, there have been reports of the use of child labour in the diamond mining process in less developed countries, mistreatment of the local population in the area, often troubled by political instability, corruption and the funding of war crimes. The Human Rights Watch has also labelled diamond mining as one of the worst forms of child labour, exposing children to extreme levels of danger working to extract diamonds from the earth. 

Choosing alternatives- and which ones may be the best for you!

Moissanite, discovered by a French scientist in 1893 in traces of meteorite, is naturally present in small amounts in nature. In 1995, a patent was granted to produce lab-grown Moissanite. The cost of a Moissanite stone can be a tenth of the cost of a diamond, and this meant that the stone became more popular as an option for more couples.

Moissanites are lab-produced and impossible to differentiate from a diamond- in that they are visually identical. Both stones are comparable to each other in their levels of colour and clarity. Our friends at Luna have shared that Moissanite stones are sometimes even more visually attractive than diamonds due to their highly refractive properties- producing beautiful fiery rainbow flashes that cause them to appear more “sparkly” or “glittery” than diamonds!

More about Luna

This year at Knotz SG’s Bridal Fair in January, held at The Secret Patio at Duxton Hill, we met the Luna team while we were on-site greeting many excited couples looking for various options for their wedding. We were inspired by their philosophies- a genuine belief in the celebration of love, as well as a strong conviction that this celebration should not come at the price of the environmental degradation caused by the negative impacts of diamond mining. With 40 years of jewellery design and crafting experience, there’s sure to be something that catches your eye.

We at Chris Chang Photography have witnessed and captured on camera countless beautiful rings from proposals and ring exchanges during weddings. We know how integral this small but extremely significant piece of jewellery can be to a couple, symbolizing their eternal commitment to each other. We’re proud to be collaborating with a company that is driven with a common passion for celebrating love, and compassionate about the world we live in.

For all of our blog article readers, we’d like to welcome you on behalf of Luna to enjoy 12% off Luna products with the code CHRIS12. This discount code will be valid till 30th April 2022. 

Visit Luna’s website at www.forluna.co to find out more!

Chris Chang Photography X Ling's Palette X Astique Clinic

Hi Everyone, hope you are doing well and staying safe. I finally have the time to work on this blog post to feature a recent Giveaway photoshoot. Happy to work with our good ol’ friend at Hui Ling at Ling’s Palette. We are also working for the first time with Astique Clinic. Being a guy I have yet to visit an aesthetic clinic before for any treatments. After speaking to the friendly staff there, I got a better understanding of how their different treatments can help enhance the results of hair and make up for my brides.

In early March, we did a shoot with CY & Natalie, our lucky winners of the giveaway. Here are some images from the day!

How to continue your wedding planning during COVID.

We will make it through this together. 

It has been more than a week since the circuit breaker measures here in Singapore have come into play and we are all hunkered down at home waiting and watching for the virus to pass.  It has been a time of uncertainty for us all especially for those of us who have been planning for our weddings. Even though having to postpone your wedding date is a logistical and financial nightmare I always believed to make the best of whatever situation we are in and make the best of it. 

Here are something which we can do during this season for our wedding plans. 

1. Work on those handmade wedding favours. 

One of the most memorable things which I remember a couple doing for their invitees is to write personal letters to each and every one of their 300+ guests. They gave out the letters personally to their guests during the banquet! If you are good with your hands why not try your hand at giving your guests hand made wedding favours to add a personal touch to your wedding celebration. Lets put all the extra time on our hands to good use. 

2. Taking the time to re-plan your wedding. 

Often times there is a lack of time to plan for our wedding and we follow tried and tested "templates" for our wedding day resulting in itineraries which all look similar. With more time on our hands perhaps we can reinvent the way we want to celebrate our big day! Think about what you really want to do for your wedding day instead of following a template which your friend passed to you. Perhaps due to the outbreak, you had to change your wedding venue or reduce the number of guests.  You can consider having an outdoor wedding, a smaller more intimate wedding instead of a large and lavish wedding banquet. Having multiple small parties instead of 1 large one to keep the number of people smaller per session. Time to get creative. 

3. Doing your pre-wedding photoshoot closer to home

With overseas travels being difficult in the short term, doing your shoot locally in Singapore would be a better choice. Often times places which hold significance to us are in Singapore, for example, where you both spent time together, courted and got engaged. Including them as part of your pre-wedding photoshoot would be very meaningful. This is, of course, to be done only after the circuit breaker, for now, please stay home.

4. Including live streaming of your wedding.

This might sound crazy but with the possible limitation on the size of large gatherings in the near future live streaming your wedding can be an option. Some of our guests may also be a little concerned about large gatherings post-COVID, live streaming may be a way in which they can still witness your wedding. 

5. Believe that things will get better.

We are inundated daily with the number of new cases of COVID, the new and stricter measures by the government, financial impact and more. This can cause the best of us to feel depressed under the barrage of bad news. However, I strongly believe that better days are ahead and we need to keep reminding ourselves that lockdown will not be the new norm for us all. We are in this together and we will overcome this together as well. 

To celebrate the better days to come, both our companies Chris Chang Photography & The Wedding Express are giving away 1-hour couple shoots (total of 2) once the circuit breaker measures are eased up. To stand a chance to win this session, simply fill in the below form. Winners will be selected once the circuit breaker is lifted. 

Chris Chang Photography: www.chrischangphotography.com/ccpcoupleshoot
The Wedding Express: https://twesg.com/launchcelebration

Looking forward to seeing you soon.