• Should they sell it? If so how and where?
• Should they give it away? Where can it do most good?
• Should they have it re-fashioned into a wearable, everyday dress?
• Or should they stash it away ready for a future descendant with a passion for vintage?

On Ethical Weddings we have bridalwear suppliers who can re-fashion a gown or sell on a pre-loved dress but we wanted to hear from you too.

What did you do or what do you plan to do with your well-loved wedding gown?

Here are a few of the top tips we received:

Denée, Founder of She Just Got Married said:

“Share the Love….save the planet. Sell it to a bride-to-be looking to save on her wedding while allowing the newlywed to recoup a little of her own investment. And why pay to post an ad to sell your gently loved items when there is no charge at “She Just Got Married.”

Anja said:

“I got my David Fielden dress in a sample sale so at fraction of original price (was over 2k!) and has been worn many times by models on the catwalk apparently. Fits me perfectly so no need for alterations – bonus.

It is a a bit unusual in that it’s a short dress in raw silk. I am planning on having it dyed (maybe purple!) along with my shoes, after the wedding so I can wear it again at a posh do etc. I had wanted to get one from Oxfam but I really didn’t like any of the ones they had unfortunately.”

Kristen said:

“Donate your wedding dress to help an African bride have a very special day.  Jireh Women is a Christian organisation which exists to support women living in poverty around the world: www.jirehwomen.org

They’re currently planning on setting up wedding dress hire shops in Kitgum and Kampala in Uganda, which will bring a sustainable income to some of their partners and give Ugandan brides the chance to buy a beautiful dress they can afford. Email carol@jirehwomen.org or tel: 01257 266155 or 07947 456129”

If these tips have inspired you, why not send in your own top tips?

Read more ethical wedding top tips.

Katie

It was an amazing and beautiful day. The wedding party began to arrive the day before, and we put the finishing touches to the decorations and food that could be done in advance. In the evening, we had a small family/wedding party celebration, and then Mike and our best man went to stay the night with friends.

The wedding day began with grey skies and a forecast of rain… but as we started preparing, the clouds began to clear, and the day turned hot and sunny!

Mike, his family and the ushers set about decorating the village hall for the reception with pot plants, a photo montage of silly pictures of us as kids, our lovely red and blue fairtrade balloons and the bunting we borrowed.

Here come the girls

Meanwhile, my bridesmaids and I spent the morning making sure the right decorations went to the right venue, and getting pretty!

They had all bought/ brought their own dresses after I’d given them a colour sample, to make sure they all got a dress they liked and that suited them, so it was quite exciting to see all the dresses together.

They looked fantastic together, each in a slightly different shade of cherry red, it was lovely. To coordinate their outfits we had bought them each a ‘vegetable ivory’ pendant from DeMEC, who sell beautiful fairtrade jewellery, and I made them some little hair fascinators to wear.

I’d had to buy some new makeup from BBoheme since I don’t have very much, but other than that we just used what we already had, plus a bit of swapping and sharing.

And soon it was time to head over to the village hall, once the men were safely out of the way over at the church (we didn’t want to spoil the surprise of seeing one another in wedding clothes before the ceremony).

Green groom in vintage brown

Mike found his suit on Ebay, an awesome brown vintage 1970s suit, complete with flares, which suits him perfectly. Coupled with a really smart shirt and cherry red tie, both found in charity shops, he looked amazing. The ushers had brought their own suits, but we gave them coordinating ties and buttonholes.

Oxfam Bridal to the rescue

I found my dress in Oxfam Bridal in Leicester, the first bridal shop I went in (though I went in another afterwards, just to make sure!). It was beautiful, a vintage style dress with a simple lacy overlay on it, for which I borrowed an underskirt from a recently married friend.

I know I’ve gone on and on about Oxfam Bridal, but I was so impressed I’m going to recommend it again! And I managed to find some shoes in the exact same style as the dress somehow on Oxfam’s online shop. Pretty fortunate!

I wore the dress with an antique lace veil that has been in Mike’s family for generations, which was really special. I also managed to find this pretty necklace in a charity shop too. So we had fun putting the outfits together!

I’ll post again soon on the rest of the day,

Love, Helen

Dawn has featured in many national magazines such as InStyle, Real Simple, Family Circle, In Touch and Life and Style, and her “How-To” book is out this autumn, filled with affordable style advice and quick and easy tips.

With her keen sense of fashion and her ability to think out of the “fashion box”, Dawn has put together some top tips on how to go green when dressing for a wedding.

• Go vintage – it is super stylish and the prices won’t break the bank, plus you will have a truly unique wedding dress.
• Every day new online shops are popping up selling pre-owned wedding gowns, and the best part is many of them are couture selling for half the price. (Ed: See Ethical Weddings supplier, Swoon Wedding Gowns, for example)
• Tailor your mum’s wedding dress – with so much material on a wedding dress, it is a simple matter to have a tailor or dressmaker re-cut and re-design it to match your individual style.
• If you are buying a new dress look for one fashioned from sustainable fabrics such as organic cotton, linen and silk (go for peace silk).
• Let your bridesmaids pick a dress they can wear again – just let them know the colour you like, and leave them to choose the style that suits them best.
• Accessorize with a unique recycled purse and /or jewellery.
• There are many dyes now that are created with a vegetable base so just ask when dyeing your shoes.
• If you have to have matching bridesmaids dresses perhaps the bridesmaids’ gift to you could be to donate the dress to a charity such as the Glass Slipper Project after the event.
• Choose conflict-free diamonds.

Thank you for those great tips Dawn! And good luck to our readers with your green wedding style – why not tell us your top green wedding tips?

Katie

I don’t like the idea of asking people for money as it seems a bit odd, so in the end we went for a list of grow-your-own goodies from Harrod Horticultural who have been really helpful.

We also talked to Manda Wilderness about projects that they would like supporting, and they decided that they would love to have donations towards buying desks and chairs for the schools that they’re building with the community.  Guests seem to really like this and it’s so exciting feeling that we can make a tangible difference to a big project.

Another good place for ethical wedding (or other) gifts is the Good Gift Guide.  I’ve used this for general gifts and it’s brilliant!  People really want to give to you at weddings and rather than getting stuff I don’t need for the sake of it, what a great opportunity to support something I believe in.

I would recommend, if you go down this route, to choose specific things for  a charity rather than, say, “please make donations to the NSPCC” or whichever charity you choose.  Guests like to know where their money is going, which is why supporting a specific Manda project, or buying a “Good Gift” works so well.

If you love cats, maybe a donation to a new cat housing area for your local cat sanctuary is a good idea.  If it’s the Rainforest you want to save, suggest specific amounts to guests – for instance Rainforest Concern convert a £25 donation to half an acre of rainforest saved which is much nicer for the guest than a random donation to a large, faceless charity pot.

Philip and I met in 2007 and he asked me to marry him in December last year.

Philip is an eco consultant whose last big project was installing solar panels at an eco lodge in Mozambique (which then won the best small hotel in the world awards!!) – www.mandawilderness.org.

The General Died at Dawn movie

I run an organic and fair trade baby and children’s clothes, washable nappies, eco friendly toys etc store called Makes a Change.  We live and work a very eco lifestyle and so naturally we wanted to make our wedding as low-impact on the environment and as beneficial to the people who will be involved in suppliying us as possible.

The flowers

Depth Charge trailer This weekend was spent trying to tie down the last of the details!  We’re having a marquee in the garden, after the wedding, and I’ve been trying to grow sweet peas to use as table decorations.  Unfortunately I’ve not really got a green thumb so they’re not doing brilliantly, but have the back up of a great supplier called The Organic Flower Company which can be found at www.tofc.co.uk.

• Body Heat psp

daybreakers divx

They will be doing the bridal bouquets, button holes and also decorating our cake for us – which we eventually found after lots of searching for ethical wedding cake suppliers.  A lovely lady called Joy, of www.joyofcakes.co.uk, is making us a cake from free range eggs, organic ingredients and fair trade dried fruit and sugar.  We asked for a simple, white iced cake and the organic flowers will just finish it off beautifully.

The caterers

• buy Breaking Away

We’ve found that so many people are willing to change details of their standard products to fit in with our ethics – you just need to ask.  Joy is a great example.  She’d been wanting to “go ethical” and just needed someone to ask her to do it.   Another example is our lovely caterers, Claire and Nigel of Claire’s Country Catering.  We’re having a hog roast for a semi-formal wedding breakfast.  They were pleased when we insisted on a locally produced, organic, free range hog as they say that it will cook much better than the horrifically grown caged pig that is normally used.  Because the pig is able to move around freely, and grow naturally, it has more fat through the meat making it beautifully tender and delicious.  Ethical and  nicer!  Bonus!

Claire and Nigel are also going to be supplying locally produced, organic salads and accompanyments to our hog roast for very little extra cost which is important as we are on a tight budget.

The Ruins move

The bridesmaids

My main task this weekend was the bridesmaid dress fittings.  My oldest bridesmaid, 13 year old Natasha, is my Fiance’s niece who lives abroad, so getting a dress fitted was always going to be a challenge.  I asked her to choose a dress that she liked, which she could wear again, as we weren’t going to be able to get one fitted with eco fabrics.  She chose a lovely, rich blue which then became the colour theme for the wedding.

We then bought two sashes in a matching fabric, and fortunately Philip’s mother knows one end of a sewing machine from another and has run up stunning little dresses for my other two bridesmaids (8 years old) in ivory coloured veggie silk and hemp with organic cotton lining (from Conscious Elegance) and the sashes will just pull the colours together.  Even though the fabric cost was higher than non-ethical versions, the two dresses came to about half the cost of just one dress from a wedding dress store – or even high street department store!

This is just some of the examples of how we’ve tried to buy ethical versions of regular things needed for every wedding.  It’s just an extension of how we buy everything: 1) Do we actually need it? and 2) is there an ethical version of it?  I hope it gives you some inspiration.

• The Last Days of Disco dvd

Inside Man movie download

Motasem creates cocktail-style wedding dresses that you can wear again and again.

On Wednesday night, Sabina, the designer behind Motasem, had the amazing opportunity to put her gowns into action on the red carpet in Leicester Square for the premiere of the film, ‘Twilight’.

As Sabina says:

“Last night was the most amazing experience. I watched, like a proud mother, as two of my creations sashayed down the red carpet at last night’s film premiere of Twilight in Leicester Square starring new heart-throb Robert Pattinson (move over Orlando Bloom!) and Kirstin Stewart.

I had two models wearing long ivory dresses (Alaya and Aurora) who stood behind Robert Pattinson, during his photo call with the photographers. The girls looked absolutely fantastic! They showed off my dresses so well, way better than I could ever have imagined.”

Our congratulations to Sabina…we’re sure everyone will be after a Motasem dress now!

Katie

See more ethical wedding dress designers in the Ethical Weddings suppliers directory

Name: Tara Lynn
Location: Vermont, USA

Tell us a bit about yourself and your business.
I acquired a BA in Fashion Design and a passion for natural fibres while studying at the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC. I started making custom hemp clothing including wedding gowns for customers in NYC in 1999.

After graduation I moved to Northern Vermont with my husband and we built a solar electric studio. This is where I create my wearable art wedding gowns today. I drape each gown, make the patterns for the customer and the customer inspires my designs and the art work.

I ship fittings all over the world or customers come visit me in beautiful Vermont for their fittings. I use mostly blends of hemp and silk or organic cotton.

What or who inspires you?
My gowns are truly inspired by the bride. What makes her look good, feel good and makes her smile is what I put into each gown I design.

One bride sent me a collage of all her favourite flowers and butterflies to inspire my artwork for her gown. Where she is getting married, the time of year, her flower arrangements all are taken into consideration when designing a gown.

What do you enjoy most about running your business?

Well, I love patternmakeing, playing with fabric and creating the artwork. Maybe most of all I love doing hand embroidery.

Seeing my product complete in the end is very exciting for me. Seeing the products evolve year after year is very fulfilling.

What is the most challenging aspect?
Running the business itself. I am owner, employer, designer, pattermaker, seamstress, tailor, marketing, sales, travel to art shows 10 times a year, book keeping and wife. I think the most challenging part is trying to take a weekend off to garden or go hiking with my hubby.

What do you feel you bring to an ethical wedding?
Pluto's Playmate hd
Something special, something that really makes the bride feel like her gown is a part of her, an expression of her inner beauty. When she wears the gown she feels happy about the whole experience. Having the gown made especially for her, in fabrics she feels good about, the style and mood; it’s like a short story.

download Goofy and Wilbur

How do you see the wedding industry changing over the next five years (if at all)?
I see more and more brides looking for green wedding gowns and changing traditions working around family expectations.

I think families will become more accepting of the whole ethical wedding package (tree free invitations, vegan cakes, recycling, composting, hemp wedding gowns, no diamond rings etc) and hope they will feel less pressure to impress their guests with flamboyance but share with them more the personal and beautiful expression of love between two people.

Find out more about Tara Lynn – natural, sustainable bridalwear & groomswear

Wedding outfits—let’s fight again
Apparently Mr. H, as I do, doesn’t really agree with most of my stepmom’s ‘conventional’ ideas in regards to our wedding. He kept telling me that, unfortunately, numerous Indonesian couples usually have to eventually do what their parents want them to do in their wedding day. Okay, I get it. But what I want to say is that we decided to try to talk again with my stepmom, explaining to her that having only one wedding outfit for each of us (for both the ceremony and reception) would be the better option we desire, etc., etc. My stepmom is a seamstress, so she intended to make my wedding kebaya (the traditional/national dress in Indonesia), while I wanted to wear everything that I already have, but we’ll see later.

Invitations—almost ethical and DIY
After perusing some pictures of invitations I like from the internet, we made our final choice to model this one below (I apologize that I can’t mention the source, as I no longer remember from which website I found it), but we’re going to use only one paper (instead of three pieces like pictured beneath) and one ribbon (and maybe plus a small piece of paper on the back, containing the map that shows routes to my parent’s home as the reception location). We plan to buy the papers only and then print everything using my HP printer. My country has not yet familiar with vegetable-based printer ink, so no such thing as that is produced in mass, and we’re just using the conventional kind of ink.

Favors—this is ethical, I suppose
We came to a decision to donate a portion of money (his money) to a local environmental organization (we haven’t decided which organization) in our guests’ honours. We plan to ask the concerning organization to make a kind of ‘receipt’ or something (or we will) that will be given to the guests when they come to our reception. I actually have proposed this donating idea since months ago, so I’m glad that he lastly agrees.

Groom’s gifts—bring this topic back
Earlier, I said that Mr. H and I made an agreement not to have any kind of gifts (seserahan/antaran—goods given by the groom to the bride when he proposes formally and when groom and family first come to the ceremony location, to be used by the bride at and/or after the wedding, such as clothes, cosmetics, toiletries, shoes, cakes, cookies, etc.). But apparently both sides of our parents insist us to have at least a few. So, in order not to burden Mr. H, I request goods that can be used by both of us after we get married—one springbed, one cupboard, one stove, one pan, one wok, toiletries (for both of us), and several other that are still in plan.

Looking forward to another great progress

I suppose it is a tricky subject.  On the one hand, your bridesmaids should of course be eternally grateful to you for being ‘the chosen ones’, the select few who will guide you through your transition from maid to matron…

On the other, they no doubt experience that instinctive shiver of dread of “THE BRIDESMAID DRESS” – images of ’80s horrors float through the mind’s eye, pink puffy sleeves and mountains of shiny satin the stuff of maidenly nightmares…

In my experience, however, the modern bride is commendably keen to banish such woes from her bridesmaids’ brows and in fact is almost falling over herself to make sure the girls get the dress of their dreams – so much so that it can become more important than her own outfit!

We want our bridesmaids to feel comfortable but pretty, sexy possibly, stylish definitely.  We don’t want to be the ungenerous bride who dresses down her maids to make her own star shine brighter…and most of all these days (especially if you’re planning a green wedding – no waste! – and particularly if they’re paying) it should be… drum roll… 

A DRESS YOU CAN WEAR AGAIN

Yes, it’s the phrase that every bridesmaid has heard, that sings so sweetly but sadly in her ear as she consigns the fun but confetti-courting creation to the back of the closet…forever.

But enough weeping and wailing, it is a tough task if you’re trying to find one gown to suit more than 1 maid (if you’ve only got one bridesmaid, just ask her to choose it and be done with it – no complaining from you!).  You’ve got different shapes and sizes to think of, different complexions… and you’re not a professional stylist, so where to start?

Bridesmaid dress hunting 5 top tips

We’ve come up with a few suggestions that we hope will make your task easier – if you have any of your own top tips, we’d love to hear them!

1. FIND YOUR THEME

If you’re having a colour theme for your wedding, don’t fix it until you’ve done your bridesmaid dress shopping – it’s easier to find a dress colour that suits everyone and then theme the wedding around it than vice versa.

2. HAPPY SHOPPERS

Take your bridesmaids on a shopping trip to get an idea of the styles and colours that suit them, and that make them feel comfortable.  This is a chance for them to get to know each other too – it doesn’t matter if you don’t find ‘the one’ on this trip, or end up getting them made – it’s a fun, bonding experience.

3. WHO’S THE BRIDESMAID?

Of course you want your guests to know who your bridesmaids are but this doesn’t mean they have to wear meringues! If you have several women wearing the same dress at a wedding, they’ll be presumed bridesmaids unless proven otherwise. 

Just remember though, if  you do find the dresses on the high street, it might be worth letting your female guests know by email in advance which dress to avoid – unless they want to look like an extra bridesmaid!

4. MIX & MATCH

Having said that, don’t feel that they all have to wear exactly the same dress or colour – you just need something to tie it all together.  It could be that they wear the same colour in different styles, or the same style in different colours – go for what works best for you… and them!

Remember that you don’t have to go for dresses either, skirts and tops might be easier to fit, and consider trouser suits for something a little different…

5. THEY LOVE YOU!

Remember that at the end of the day, your bridesmaids really are just happy to have been chosen and would willingly crawl down the aisle in acres of pink satin if that’s what will make your day – so stop stressing!

Green my bridesmaid

If you’re reading this blog, you’ve probably also added an extra element to your bridesmaid dress calculations – how to find an ethical one.  Well, for starters, if you really do find a dress they’ll wear again (and you can check up on them at various events over the next few years!) that’s a big brownie point.

After that, why not spend a few spare moments (or days, weeks, months!) scouring the internet for ethical fashion designers using eco, organic or recycled fabrics… or alternatively, let us do it!

Here goes… click on the photos to find the dresses…

For more on ethical bridesmaid dresses, take a look at this recent Guardian article responding to a bridesmaid-to-be’s request for help in her search for the perfect ethical but affordable outfit.

If you’ve found a beautiful bridesmaid dress with an eco-conscience, please send us a pic and we’ll share them here on the blog.

Happy planning!

Katie
Chat about ethical bridalwear in the Ethical Weddings Forum

Business name: Morgan Boszilkov, Natural Bridal Collection
Location: Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Tell us a bit about yourself and your business
The Natural Bridal Collection was born from a union of my loves for fashion, everything green and everything romantic.

The gowns I design are hand-crafted locally using sustainable fabrics.

My company is committed to social and environmental responsibility and contributes 5% of profits to organizations that support the environment.

I grew up being told that I needed a “real” profession and should have an artistic hobby. So I got a business degree with a concentration in accounting. That didn’t last long.

I soon moved to Japan. I was strolling around the shopping district and met an inspiring young wedding gown designer and knew that it was my calling, my dream to do the same.

I have always been green at heart and did not find many eco-friendly and socially responsible wedding gowns available. I realized what a wonderful opportunity existed to offer elegant, luxurious, beautiful, and green wedding gowns to the modern bride.

What or who inspires you?
Nature is an incredibly inspiring force in my art and daily life. I am also inspired by my travels in Europe and Asia, by the intelligent, strong and beautiful women in my life for whom I name my dresses, and by the fabrics I use. The sustainable fabrics are gorgeous, and I enjoy sculpting and draping with them.

What do you enjoy most about running your business?
Every time someone asks me what I do, I realize that I am so lucky to be able to do what I love. The fact that my business allows me to make a positive impact on the world and its move toward a more environmentally and socially conscious place is amazing.

What is the most challenging aspect?
I am looking forward to a greater range of sustainable fabrics available and more of the supply chain becoming green and socially responsible.

What do you feel you bring to an ethical wedding?
I strive to apply green and socially responsible principles to all aspects of my business. A wedding gown is an expression of a bride’s individuality.

My gowns give the modern bride the opportunity to make a statement while looking elegant and beautiful on her very special day. I provide an eco-friendly alternative to the traditional wedding dress.

How do you see the wedding industry changing over the next five years (if at all)?
I hope to see weddings become greener and less wasteful. The events surrounding a marriage are a great opportunity to share environmentally and socially conscious ideas and values with family and friends.

Find out more about Morgan Boszilkov, Natural Bridal Collection or talk about ethical wedding dresses with other brides-to-be in the Ethical Weddings Forum.