But I decided to keep it and be happy about it since it is beautiful, suits me perfectly, made my mother-in-law cry and is from Monsoon.  Also when I found out that Monsoon apart from doing lovely clothes also have some very good ethical policies I was convinced.

Furthermore, I got a chance to visit the Oxfam Bridal store in Southampton and found myself a really nice pair of shoes there.

To go with the outfit I have bought a lovely natural coloured hemp rayon pashmina from Braintree Hemp who I think make some marvellous clothes.

I have several blouses from there already and my father swears by their men’s shirts.

I have also crocheted my own retro bridal gloves, which I hope will become a family heirloom.  I got the pattern off Hook Yarn and Needles and I have blogged about it elsewhere.

For him

John’s suit is not very eco-friendly either and he told me not to check Next’s ethical profile. I did however, and was pleasantly surprised to discover that they have an ethical trading profile and support projects in Africa.

It would of course have been wonderful if he could have had a locally tailored suit made out of some fair trade or organic material but it was out of our price range.  On the other hand he will be using his new suit for a long, long time, which makes it worthwhile.

One thing he did find was a very nice white shirt from Braintree Hemp, which he will wear with the suit.

He also ordered a waistcoat from Spirals of Abundance made from nettle fibres.  It was great but we had to send it back because their smallest size, which looked like it had the right chest size, was made for a much shorter and wider man.

At the end of the big day…

The two main considerations here have been style and money with the ethical considerations coming in in third place.

I have for the last couple of years been dreaming about a Monsoon wedding dress. They are so perfectly simple and stylish and cost a fraction of the average wedding dress.

We have also tried to source certain things from ethical shops like Braintree Hemp, but I was very disappointed to see how few fashionable ethical clothes there are out there for men. It is mostly a market for babies with more and more stylish clothes coming through for women.

Read Henriette and John’s full profile

or talk ethical bridalwear in the Ethical Weddings Forum

My search for an ethical suit is over. I’m getting married next month and, as you can read on my blog here, finding a suit with a positive social and environmental edge has been a bit tricky.

Yesterday, however – on the advice of Katie here at ethicalweddings.com – I nipped into fancy pants recycling designers, Junky Styling. I’m best pleased I did, because I walked out having been measured up in a far more comprehensive fashion than you get at M&S and confident that my suit would keep one or two old ones out of landfill. And be made in the UK.

Smug, me? Well, it’s hard to quantify exactly how much carbon-cutting you achieve by buying a restyled, reused suit. What’s certain, though, is that you’re keeping stuff out of landfill, and in 2005 we chucked about 1.2 million tonnes of old clothes into landfill and incinerators (see this report, PDF).  To put that in context, we bought about 1.9 million tonnes of new togs in the same year.

Now all I have to do is wait for my suit to be made up: it should be finished by the 9th July, 4 days before the Big Day.

Incidentally, the price isn’t bad for a made-to-measure suit – it’s slated to cost in the region of £350-400.

Thanks Adam - let’s hope it’s ready on time! Look forward to seeing the photos… Katie

Not least when it comes to our attire.

Neither of us is comfortable in a dress or skirt, so it seems daft to wear one on our special day.

And we are carefully avoiding anything reminiscent of the traditionally defined bride / groom colours. (I don’t relish those ‘So which of you is the man?’ conversations, so we certainly don’t want to start any speculation on that score!)

We definitely want something special, though, that won’t look like an office suit in the photos. We have both looked longingly at glittering embroidered fabrics, intricate Indian jodhpuri, and even some awe-inspiring ‘mother of the bride’ jackets!

But we have both been put off by the lack of fairtrade fabrics available and the enormous expense of getting something made, when we would probably only wear it the once.

Finally, our old favourites, the charity shops and secondhand markets, have come up trumps.

This weekend we found two complementary long jackets, which will make marvelous frock coats. Now we are on the look out for a couple of crisp white shirts and some suitably fabulous fabric to be worn at the the neck, cravat-style. Another fine excuse for some more charity-shopping
And how does it look? Just dandy!

In particular, options for ethical clothing are very limited compared to what’s available in the UK. I had the idea of getting a jacket made locally, but I haven’t been able to find much in the way of fairtrade / organic fabrics.

So, I am thinking that ‘op shops’ (= charity shops / thrift shops) might be my best source for clothes, decorations like candle holders, and some practical items like platters, servers, and jugs.

It would be very representative of ‘the real us’ as we buy a lot of our clothes from op shops, and a lot of our household purchases are secondhand – online auctions, furniture salvage warehouses and boot sales are always a lot more fun than out-of-town discount stores! Sooner or later I will muster the courage I need to challenge myself to buy nothing new for a year

I like to think that by buying second hand I am preventing usable items from going to landfill and saving the resources and energy that would be needed to make a new equivalent (as well as supporting a local charity).

But I can’t help wondering if it’s all just a bit too easy? Are there any ethical considerations I’ve overlooked? Perhaps there are items I should avoid buying, even second-hand? Please leave a note if you have any thoughts or resources about this!

Yesterday, I introduced the idea of finding outfits for everyone not just the bride, so today I thought I’d give you a quick run down of what I’ve found:

The groom, best man, ushers, father of the bride and page boy
How about a summer suit made from fair trade cotton purchased from Fabrics Ltd or Ambanature together with a classic white shirt from Chandni Chowk or one from the new range of Fairtrade clothes at M&S (and what about a fair trade waistcoat, I’m sure there’s one out there somewhere but time was against me, any ideas?).

The mother of the bride
Take a trip to equa clothing boutique in Islington to see some of the beautifully designed fair trade clothes in their collection – for starters here’s a Plum & Pansy Day Dress.  Alternatively, how about a velvet wine skirt with coloured wrap top from Chandni Chowk, or something from People Tree’s new spring collection?

The flower girl and bridesmaids
Perhaps this applique dress could make the basis of a sweet little outfit if combined with a garland and basket of flowers?

Or what about this Moon Faery Dress described as a ‘floaty cotton dress in shades of moonlight white with a cotton jersey top and silver triple moon embroidery’

For the bridesmaid(s) One World is Enough has this border dress which would look lovely with one of the many gorgeous fair trade silk wraps and shawls now available (see my next post on Accessories!).

Or you could of course call on Wholly Jo’s or utani-uk to make them, so they match the bride’s outfit and colour scheme of the day!

The going away outfits
How about this stylish rose coloured skirt and white top from think! clothing (contact info @ thinkfairtrade.com), this People Tree silky summer dress in dusky pink, or a mix and match approach: a fine knit cardigan with a tie front from Concept of Peru with a cross cut skirt from Bishopston Trading and a knotted vest from Hug.

And for the Groom: A Blue Harbour Fairtrade Cotton V-Neck Jumper from M&S coupled with a fair trade t-shirt (Google ‘fair trade t-shirt’ – there are lots out there!) and these chinos from People Tree.

The guests
For Women: A coral sash dress for a summer celebration or wrap dress for a winter wedding from People Tree.  Also check out equa clothing, Jo Pott Mercer, Ganesha  and utani-uk for a full range of ideas.

For men, go for People Tree, Bishopston Trading and M&S.

And finally if all this seems too much, or if you’ve already bought your outfit, how about buying a pair of Fairtrade Socks!

Yes if you didn’t know it already, you can buy his and hers Fairtrade socks on the high street! But perhaps this should be included in tomorrow’s challenge?

I hope you’ve enjoyed looking through all these clothes – happy browsing and see you tomorrow for challenge 5: Accessories!

Alex