Staying Green and Stylish for your Wedding Day. Guest Post by Editor-in-Chief of Eco-Beautiful Weddings® Online Magazine

Anna Maier Ulla Maija  designs all of her gowns in the United States and is known also for her high-end couture

Guest Post by: Katie Martin

Having been watching the green wedding trends for the past 10 years, we have been discouraged by the amount of misinformation that has come out by wedding bloggers, writers and newspaper columnists.  While the general public is starting to see that going green can change the world, many brides fear that going green for their wedding day means they have to compromise on their style.  Such is not the case!

So many of our high-end couture wedding gown designers are right here in the United States – or not too far away!  For example, one of the greenest wedding gown designers is based in Canada.  Adele Wechsler is the leader in the industry on fair-trade eco-couture gowns with vegetable-dyed natural silks, hemps and cottons.

Adele Wechsler

Another world-wide favorite is Monique Lhuillier.  Best known for her couture gowns and custom bridal gowns for celebrities like Reese Witherspoon and Alicia Silverstone.  Her gowns are ethereal and made right here in the United States.  One thing to keep in mind with bridal gowns is the more hands on details, the more expensive the dress.  Monique Lhuillier and her team create fairy tale dresses with classic style.  She is an eco-friendly designer as she produces here in the states with European fabrics and lots of natural silks.

Monique Lhuillier

Anna Maier Ulla Maija  designs all of her gowns in the United States and is known also for her high-end couture and clean-lined gowns.  Using natural fabrics and hands-on details as well.

The Cotton Bride are hand-made gowns in New York City by couture gown designer Chris Kole.  Every single one of his gowns are custom-made with each bride in mind.  He uses only natural cotton fabrics in this genius couture cotton collection.

Dresses and lingerie alike, brides are enamored with designer Claire Pettibone.  A San Francisco based designer that captures romance and simplicity in every gown she designs.  She even reuses some fabrics!

The key to a green wedding is to stay true to your personal style while reducing your overall impact.  Dresses can be sold after each wedding on websites like Recycled Bride, Once Wed and SmartBride.  Then – if you are really smart – look for gown separates where you can wear the top or skirt again. 

A few other key elements to keep your wedding green while keeping it stylish are:

1. Buy vases and décor for your wedding that you will actually use in your new home together afterwards.  Whether its eclectic or classic picture frames to put table numbers in; watering cans from antique shops or pretty and modern vases from your favorite home décor store – if you will use it again – you are being eco-friendly!
2. Be sure to find a caterer  that uses local resources.  Are they buying produce and seafood from far off lands?  Do they even recycle at the venue?  One quick way to really save a lot of waste is to just ask your caterer to serve filtered water instead of bottled water at the bar.  Heck – buy 5 big water filters from Brita for them to use at the wedding and then give them to your wedding party afterwards!
3. Don't skimp on flowers.  Believe it or not – most flowers are cut from farmers that are renewing the same crops every single year.  So cutting out flowers from your wedding, means cutting style and cutting out jobs for farmers all over the world. Find a florist that works with US, Canadian, Dutch and New Zealand farmers. These countries are the world's best fair-wage and fair trade nations in the world in regards to cut-flowers.  Obviously the more local the flowers are the better.

To learn more daily about how to go green with your wedding read Eco-Beautiful Weddings Magazine + Daily Blog!

Katie Martin Bio:

Katie Martin is the world’s leading eco-friendly wedding expert.  She has owned and operated Elegance & Simplicity, Inc. since 1998.  Her firm has designed 1000’s of eco-friendly events and has been heralded internationally by magazines, newspapers, blogs and other forms of media. Ms. Martin is also the Editor-in-Chief of Eco-Beautiful Weddings® Online Magazine & Blog.  Both of her books hit bookshelves in 2010:

• Everything Mother of the Bride Book, 2nd Edition
• Everything Wedding Book, 4th Edition

Ms. Martin speaks about eco-friendly weddings at conferences and teaches other vendors on how to be green around the world through online seminars and consulting.

P.S.- I am really glad that you stopped by our Environmental Booty Blog and I hope you have learned or shared a thing or two.  I hope that , now that you've found us,  you won't lose us!  You can join our green living online community, subscribe to our posts,  download our community toolbar or Tweet with me on Twitter to stay in touch!  - Shane*