“The Dress”. Always the cause of much speculation before the wedding and much comment during and after, your wedding dress will say so much about you. Certainly from personal experience I know that I wanted my dress to make me feel beautiful and feminine, but with a shape that would compliment my challenging figure! I wanted a fairy-tale dress, but as we were also planning a fairly simple bush wedding I didn’t want to look over-dressed. After much agonizing and some rather tense moments between my bridesmaids and several bridal consultants I found my perfect dress, and 4 years and 2 children later I still love it! Sadly though it sits in a box, albeit a very beautiful acid free box, and I often think sadly what a terrible waste that is.
So in writing this blog I do hope you don’t feel that I think I am standing on any moral high ground, because I most certainly am not. However it is the very fact of my beautiful, worn only once dress that has led me to start thinking about the ramifications of the dress we choose. So I thought I would put down some ideas down for making your dress more environmentally friendly.
Have you though about wearing your mother’s wedding dress?
I certainly did! My mothers dress was simple and elegant and she looked beautiful. Sadly my mother is a 5’5” more beautiful version of Twiggy, whilst I am a 5’10” less beautiful version of Sophie Dahl. It was just never going to happen!
However, if it might happen for you, take a look at your mother’s wedding dress and consider the possibilities. A classic dress may need just a few alterations, but a more dated dress may have potential when taken to a seamstress for a complete re-design!
Busting Diva in London are happy to redesign wedding dresses, but ask locally for a qualified seamstress that you can speak to.
Have you thought about buying a pre-owned dress?
There are some amazing designer dresses that have been worn only once and then professionally cleaned, that will allow you to buy the dress of your dreams. Your local newspapers will have ads and there are also a number of websites that will let you search by size, designer and even the model number of the dress:
Preloved
The Dress Market
The same thing, but more so… Vintage?
OK so I realise that Vintage is basically just really old pre-owned, but it sounds so much more chic and “Kate Moss”. There really are some stunning vintage dresses out there! I love the 1960’s mini-dress at
The Vintage Wedding Dress Company
But if it really does have to be new…
If however you really do want a wedding dress designed just for you, (it is, after all, your one special day) then there are dress makers out there who are committed to using (beautiful) fabrics that are ethically sourced, while also trying to minimize their carbon footprint. Green Union, have a list.
And after the wedding…
You have a number of options. Obviously you can sell your dress on a pre-owned site and recoup some of the costs or you can donate your dress to a charity.
CLIC sargent in Exmouth, Devon sell end of range and pre-owned dresses for extremely reasonable prices, with all the proceeds going towards children suffering with cancer. However, wherever you live there is bound to be a charity that can benefit from your much loved dress.
If you can’t bring yourself to sell you dress however, you might be interested to know that traditionally a brides dress would be used to create a christening gown for her first child. Or you could of course simply hold on to it and maybe one day it will be just the dress your daughter is looking for for her wedding.
Whatever you decide, we know that you will look beautiful on the day!
