• Nancy Dee
• Bibico
• People Tree – including the new range by Orla Kiely

Whether it’s a unique piece of jewellery to complement your wedding gown or a fairest of the fair bridesmaid dress (I spotted a few clear candidates on the Nancy Dee site), why not browse to your heart’s content at FAIR’s small but perfectly formed shop this Thursday 22 September from 6pm till 9pm?

You’ll enjoy a free glass of wine and nibbles on arrival and if you spend over £80 you’ll also get a free copy of People Tree founder, Safia Minney’s book: Naked Fashion.

Have fun!

• Find FAIR on Queens Road, Brighton

Katie

Ethical bridalwear designer, Lucy Tammam is putting on an eco-couture catwalk show at the Champagne Bar at St Pancras International Train Station next Friday 21 January.

Sustainable fashion and transport come together!

RSVP to info@tammam.co.uk and quote ‘Ethical Weddings’ to join the guest list.

Be there at 8.30am ready for the show at 9am.

Katie

Why not go along and see if you can pick up the perfect dress for your bridesmaid – or even a little something old or blue for yourself?

Lupe says:

The rules of The Big Swish are simple:

• Raid your wardrobe
• Check your wardrobe for good condition clothing, accessories and shoes (up to 15 and clothes on hangers would be fantastic)
• Bring T-shirts with fab prints or wacky words but not plain – we want you to have a great range of clothes to feast your eyes on!
• Make sure the clothes are in good condition – any clothes with bobbles, stains or from Primark will not be accepted by our team of sorters
• Bring them to Amika between 4.30pm-7pm

The Big Swish team will then check them in for you and issue you with a Swish booklet to make sure the number of items you’re taking home corresponds to the items you brought with you.

Designer labels
There will be an exciting luxury section for those swapping designer clothes – this will be a separate section for those who have checked in designer labels only.

Any clothing left at the end of the event will be donated to Cancer Research.

• When Thursday 30 September 2010
• Where: Amika, 65 High street Kensington
• Clothes drop off: 4.30pm-7pm
• General swish entry: 7.30pm
• How much: £5

Get more details of The Big Swish event.

Katie

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

sherlock holmes ritchie I just… I just don’t like anything in any of the shops. And I’ve been like this for years. Bring back the nineties please. I can do flares and hoodies. Puffball skirts? Not so much.

What I didn’t expect when I went dress shopping was for everything to look so incredible (except for the long flowing Grecian affair, I think you have to be a bit taller than 5 foot to pull that off), and to love all of them as well.

Two weeks ago I went to Oxfam Bridal in Eastbourne. It’s an amazing little place with more dresses than you can shake a bouquet at. Most of them are end of line or catwalk models, so have never been worn before and would otherwise be destined for the bin.

I trooped down there with two of my girly friends and a terrible sense of foreboding. I walked in being all “I want something very plain and simple please” and within five minutes was “…and I wanted beading, and the tiara and the flowers and a veil and some shoes and…”

D-War dvdrip

michael jackson this is it michael jackson movie I think I tried on everything in the shop, and walked out with the first dress I tried on. It’s amazing, so pretty, and it fits perfectly and is like nothing I’ve seen in any of the shops.

Mr. Destiny psp But the best thing about it? Apart from the knock down price (£300!), it came with a letter from the woman who donated it. She explained how she found it, how much she loved it and how she hopes the person who wears it next loves it as much. She asks that the new bride also donates it back to Oxfam with a letter to carry on the story. How can you not fall in love with that?

But – of course there is a but – I went to all the lovely little boutique shops in Brighton yesterday with my mum. Since I got the first dress I saw, I felt like I had to have a look around just to check I got it right.

Strangers When We Meet video

Two Brothers

• Two Mules for Sister Sara movie

We had an excellent girly day, and I fell in love with a huge, sparkly, beaded meringue in one shop, and then in another put on a dress that just. made. me. go. wow.

And there’s the rub. If money and conscience were no option, I would have the brand new, flown in from China, £1,700 designer dress that is the most breathtaking thing I’ve ever seen.

The Adventures of Robin Hood film But they are, and I just can’t see I would be happy spending our wedding day wearing it when I know there is another dress out there with a very different story.

I know for many reasons I have to pick the Oxfam dress. But holy crap, being ethical has never felt like such a sacrifice. Curse you, Ian Stuart!

Ask other brides for tips on your ethical wedding dress dilemmas in the Ethical Weddings Forum!