Organic Wedding Gowns

Luckily for those of you who happen to want to get married & have a strong eco conscience you can finally merge the two ideals into one creative endeavour. My grandmother had been a bridal consultant in New Orleans, and we would look at bridal magazines endlessly. The dramatic fashion fascinated me much more then the idea of marriage - and still does...but the environmental impact & waste does not. So here's my secret collection I have been working on of fabulous wedding dresses for the eco inclined.

*http://mycorset.com/ - Designer Rene Geneva makes incredible, show stopper, eco wedding gowns and corsets (as pictured here)- using sustainable materials such as hemp, organic cotton, and eco silk. This is for the high end eco wedding, these ethical bridal dresses can price well into $3,000 range- but holy crap they are awesome!

*http://www.threadheadcreations.com - Choices! Choices! At Threadhead Creations you can choose from a handful of organic bridal designs already on the rack, or design your own dress, or even work one on one with designer Rai-Lynne to design your very own dream dress. All materials used are sustainable fabrics like hemp/silk blends. These dresses are very affordable (as far as organic weddings go) starting at $475.

*http://www.getconscious.com/ - These guys make extraordinary eco wedding gowns for every genre, from the clean lined strapless, to the flowy Marilyn Monroe, Flamingo Dancing, Mermaid, and various other fun designs. Seriously, these dresses have character! Their prices start around $630 and go up well into $2,000 range for their eco couture styles.

*http://www.wholly-jo.co.uk/ - Custom made eco wedding dress created exactly the way you want it, by someone who lovingly will help you design just the right one for you. Only drawback for gals in the USA is this designer is based in the UK - Prices start around $600. Check out her picture gallery for inspiration!

*http://www.rawganique.com - Not my favorite store (because they don't always return e-mails from customers and dang their website is cluttered), but they do offer a reasonably priced eco wedding gown for $369, made of fine hemp linen. And for those of you on an eco budget, this is the cheapest option on the market.

*http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5151828 - Blue Sky Bridal is an eco esty store that carries pretty organic & vintage wedding veils, wraps, and corsets. Prices start as low as $35.

*DIY - A great way to go would be hire your local seamstress who can wip up your pretty dream dress from a picture or pattern (look for vintage patterns on e-bay), and purchase the organic fabric online from a store like http://www.nearseanaturals.com - who sells swatches and samples so you feel it before you decide what you want. The types of fabric with the most traditional look and feel would be hemp/silk blends, tencel or eco silk.

*VINTAGE - Try http://www.ebay.com/ for a crazy amount of used & vintage wedding gowns - sometimes priced as low as $5 ! Whoa that's freaken cheap and totally eco friendly! :)

UPDATE:::(April 22 2008) :::ISADORA is a designer on http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10810680/who has designed a beautiful stylish bamboo wedding gown. At present the photo is rather blurry but even through the haze you can see it is absolutely gorgeous!!! It runs about $750, which for an all eco wedding gown is pretty reasonable, or rather comparable to a traditionally made gown (aka-sweatshop/bad for the earth).
**GAIA CONCEPTIONS : Eco Designer on Etsy, Wedding dress is made with locally grown and milled organic cotton, this is a simple formal wedding gown that you can have custom designed, starting with this basic example. AWESOME price at only $250!!!
**Brides Against Breast Cancer This is the place to buy once worn and new donated gowns, and supporting breast cancer awareness ta' boot. They tour the USA with their collection, plus it currently says their online store is "coming soon". That could be now- so check it out :) www.makingmemories.org

Also, here is an article local to Asheville NC, where our local organic clothing/fabric maker SPIRITEX has added organic, bamboo, hemp and silk wedding gowns & bridesmaid gowns to their collection. I imagine they can be ordered, and are absolutely stunning. A must see for the eco-bride!
Green Wedding Gown Guide for Asheville.

NOTE: I have now updated this article and all the links, and added new gowns!!
Go HERE for the full organic wedding dress guide - http://oko-organic-clothing.blogspot.com/2008/05/eco-bridal-organic-wedding-dress.html !!!