This blog aims to help people, such as those couples who are planning their special day (wedding, vow renewal etc) and also in the process allow people to get to know me. A lot of couples – rightly so – want to get a feel for their celebrant. I like to describe myself as a ‘greenie’. To date I have never chained myself to a tree, and to be honest with my busy schedule, I don’t think I will ever have the time to do so. However, I do consider that I lead as much as a green lifestyle as I can.
Sometimes you will notice I use the hashtag #greencelebrant. I couldn’t tell you the amount of times I have been tagged over the years on the post that has people making wedding confetti out of leaves. So many times and each time it makes me smile. I love that my friends who tag me – get me.
There are so many ways that you can be an #ecobride on your special day (in addition to making leaf confetti that is). Today I want to blog about #weddingdresses. Like the rest of the fashion industry, it seems evident that we already have enough clothes on the planet to get by. We probably have enough clothes in our wardrobe for ourselves and our neighbours to get by and there is a movement for people to be more mindful about fashion trends and instead purchasing quality items that will last time and not turn into landfill.
So lets consider the bulk of white material (read, bleached) that is produced and then shipped across the world and then used – just the once. The basic steps to a green life style is to – Reduce, Reuse and then recycle.
I purchased both my wedding dresses (yes, both, a story for another blog) second hand on eBay. They were not a perfect fit, I seems that the first bride was very tall and somewhat more busty than myself. So I wore very high wedge heels under my dress to fix the length and I was very fortunate that a lovely seamstress lives next door to my parents who was able to take in the bust of the ceremony dress. My reception dress was a gorgeous fit and I wore court heels to keep the length on par. While they weren’t a perfect fit, they were perfect.
I literally saved thousands of dollars on my weddings dresses. I had gorgeous items made of high quality materials for a small fraction of the price. I encourage everyone to consider their options in finding a second hand wedding dress. My husband adored my dresses, and told me that it was the first one that he liked the most. I suspect that it is linked to all the emotions of that first glance at his bride. I also adored my second hand dress, I felt like a million dollars.
If I was truly green I would have sold on my wedding dress to another bride after my wedding. However, I can’t part with my dress easily. So I have it, stored away for the day when my daughter wants to get married in twenty or so years. I’d be happy to lend it out, I just need to have it back. I did say ”I lead a green lifestyle as much as I can”.
