The Green Aisle: What to Wear

Lets start with the bridal party: The guys are easy, renting is about as green as you can go (if you want your party to wear formal wear), provided that no one has to go very far to pick up their tux.

My flower girl is obsessed with princesses, so her dress will double as a dress up outfit once the wedding is over. 

For the  other girls things  were a bit trickier.  Ideally we would have loved to go with organic fabrics, but after doing some research these dresses were way out of my friends' budgets. If you have the money to blow and want a more traditional cocktail look, Alfred Angelo had a very cute line of organic silk & cotton dresses Simply Alfred Angelo.

There's nothing worse than spending a ton of money on a brides maid dress and then see it taking up space in your closet because there is no way you'd ever wear it again.  We had considered sundresses but decided we wanted a more formal look. Renting a dress is a very green option, but for the money, my girls wanted something of their own.

So we opted for the next best option, we found dresses that my friends would wear again and they cost less than $100. We picked out several styles the girls liked, that flattered everyone and gave them two color choices. This way everyone got something they liked, was flattering and they would definitely wear again.



As far as my dress goes, it was tricky. I wanted something in an eco friendly fabric that was still comfortable & stylish.  There are some wonderful designers out there such as Olivia Luca, who offer a lot of earth friendlier fabrics but they were out of my budget and weren't style wise what I was looking for. A lot of the organic dresses I saw made of cotton were a little too casual for what I was looking for. After all, I still wanted to look like Ginger Rogers when I dance on my big day.  I decided on a compromise.  I ended up getting an elegant gown, but I can very easily shorten it to turn it into a formal dress to wear again and again. It also was within a very reasonable price point.  ( I can't see blowing several thousand dollars on a dress when i could use that money to buy solar panels or soemthing more responsible).  I absolutely love my dress, I feel like a Greek goddess in it, so that is a realistic expectation. (Pictures will follow on the big day wrap up post).

With all the information about the nastiness of the diamond trade I really was concerned about my engagement ring. There are some wonderful jewelry artisans on etsy. I also love the rings & jewelry on the Brilliant Earth website, which uses cruelty free diamonds and uses recycled gold and platinum. I will say these tend to be on the expensive side.  My fiance actually surprised me with my engagement ring. He  found one that was previously owned from a local jeweler and its totally unique. I never told him what I liked and he found the perfect ring. He's awesome ... what can I say?!

For all of our other accessories, I am a huge fan of Etsy. There are a ton of amazing artisans who make all kinds of jewelry, handbags, shoe clips, even veils.  You can include eco-friendly in your item searchand you'd be amazed at the thousands of products available. Our shoes will be ones that we'll get use out of as well. I bought myself a new pair of ballroom dance shoes (which I needed anyway). They are super cute and very comfortable. I'm decorating them with some shoe clips that were made from sustainable materials that will tie into our purple and green orchid theme.

I also found some great dresses to wear for the bridal shower, the bachelorette night, and rehearsal dinner made from organic fabrics such as cotton & bamboo. Here are a few companies that do that well: EcoSkin, Mountains of the Moon, Greenloop and I especially love the wrap from AngelRox which is made of bamboo, so its super soft and can be manipulated in several ways.

So, as you can see its not as hard to dress responsibly as you'd think. Yes there is a huge market in organic fabric dresses and and specialty shoes that you will pay a bit more for. If that's not an option, there are still  plenty of alternatives out there that are still responsible choices. Who says you can't have it all?!

Up next on the Green Aisle: Favors & Bridal Party Gifts

The Green Aisle: Location, Location, Location!

Sorry for the several month delay there folks, all this wedding planning has me running between several states without a lot of time on our hands. During this interlude my fiancee and I actually got to attend a few weddings and it only reaffirmed our decision to keep our wedding green & simple as possible.

Don't get me wrong, our friends' weddings were gorgeous and meticulously planned to the tiniest detail. We just confirmed that, in order to suit our personalities, our wedding needed to be on the simpler side and a green one.  Finding the right spot to hold one's wedding is a pretty daunting task. Its pretty much the first decision you have to make when planning a wedding.  After all, you can't really make any other decisions about the wedding or get your invites done until you know where the party is going to be.  Luckily for me, I had somewhere in mind and my fiancee agreed.

Its hard to be in control of how much a wedding has on the environment, unless you're in control of almost everything.....So we chose to get married outside, in a family friend's backyard, overlooking a river off the Chesapeake Bay.  Yes it will be beautiful, but there are several advantages & disadvantages to having an outdoor wedding, especially a green one.

With the exception of the weather, you are in complete control of all details, including  how much energy and resources you use. This was HUGE in my book. The downside to this is you need to do a lot more planning  and spend quite a bit more money for things that usually would already be included at a traditional indoor site.
In my opinion,  the extra expense and time it takes to plan is worth it, but this may not be true for everyone.

We are having our ceremony on a small deck and the reception is nearby under a tent. As much as I'd love to be tent free, we needed to plan for any inclement weather that may come up. Luckily I can still feel like I'm dancing under the trees because we found a local rental company that has clear topped tents.  (I should mention, if I haven't previously, I am attempting to keep as many of vendors as local to the site as possible to reduce our carbon footprint, as well as help the local economy).  I love the fact that we are surrounded by lots of lush green trees so we're not only reminding our guests about being eco-conscious......the beauty of nature all around them hopefully will help them think about their impact as they celebrate our special day with us.

Lighting will be provided mostly by the sun since our wedding is at 5pm and the sun doesn't usually go down this time of year until about 9.  This will help with reducing our energy usage. Once it does get dark the twinkle lights and lanterns we're using are LED's which use less energy. A large majority of them are also solar powered. If you're buying these yourself instead of renting them, some great deals can be found on ebay and your local home improvement store. (you can hit the post holiday sales at Lowe's and other stores & save a ton of money).

One concern that my mother brought up that I didn't think about before was bathrooms. Our guest list numbers have gone up quite a bit since my dad started inviting all his pals. We were able to rent a deluxe restroom trailer. We will be using a generator to power it and the DJ. Now we are trying to find a generator that runs on green fuel, or we may have to buy some carbon offset certificates. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

A lot of the other details for the reception site, such as decor and flowers are in future posts.  Next green aisle topic is what to wear- how to find what you want, still stay green as possible & not spend a fortune. Until then, be good to yourselves and the planet!