The Eco-Friendly-Bridesmaid Contributes
One Less Disposable Dress
The eco-friendly-bridesmaid will appreciate the low costs associated
with your green wedding party planning very much. Why?
Obviously, it will save her some money, and she will have one less
dress in her own closet that collects dust and eventually is
tossed into the garbage years later.
I think we've all had a few of these in our closets at one time.
I know I have, and I don't ever remember getting a second wearing
out of a bridesmaid gown ever again after the wedding I was in.
I've never been a green-bridesmaid. I wish I had been because we didn't have inexpensive-bridesmaid-dresses, and the costs for everything were significant to me at the time.
Not that you couldn't come up with any fancy dress ideas with them.
Long flowing dresses can be cut and shortened to make lovely
cocktail dresses. They can be altered to be dressed down for that
purpose, or enhanced with embellishments for bigger purposes.
After the more formal weddings, did you know that bridesmaids can
donate their bridesmaid dresses to a worthy project?
Imagine for a moment, that you are a student and you want to design
your own prom dress somehow for example, because you couldn't afford one
directly from a boutique.
Students who can't afford these luxuries (and there are many), can
get in touch with the Glass Slipper Project based in Chicago. This
is a program that distributes formal dresses to those who can't afford
prom dresses. These dresses come directly from eco-friendly-bridesmaids who are recycling what can easily work for someone else.
The Glass Slipper Project
So, this just goes to show that a very high percentage of bridesmaid
dresses bought solely for one appearance in a wedding, are not used
again by the individual who owned it.
Remember, some brides pay for things, some don't.
A dress, shoes, accessories, nail and hair appointments, shower and
wedding gifts to mention a few of the expenditures that can be
associated with a wedding may prove to be quite a financial burden and
tremendous source of worry for one or more of your bridesmaids. Maybe she
doesn't know how to tell you, or wants to decline being part of your day because of financial strain.
And so with this is mind, and assuming you are a green-living bride,
how about making an eco-friendly-bridesmaid out of each of your
bridesmaids? How many bridesmaids do you have? This is a consideration for you too.
There are different ways you can approach this, depending upon the
level of formality of your wedding. How green do you want to go?
These general concepts may help you envision it, and keep their costs
and yours down as well.
Green-Bridesmaid Considerations
Does your wedding party have to be in identical dresses? Do the dresses
have to be brand new?
Would a variety of shades and colors according to the season, or a color theme
you have chosen work with what you want?
Most girls already have at least one dress or two in their closets
that could possibly work as modest bridesmaid dresses if necessary
and accessorized properly. Don't know until you look though.
They might come up with ensembles that would suit your theme or
color scheme beautifully. This could be a great solution to
coming up with some form of cheap bridesmaid dresses for everyone.
Is there any reason why your green-bridemaids can't get together
with things they already have from home? Could they "pool" their
items and take a look at what each one has to offer in the way of
accessories, dresses, heels, sandals, purses, jewelry?
Photo credit: jdurham from morguefile.com
Many girls own some kind of "glitzy" sandals or heels, or almost everyone owns black heels. At least they could be borrowed for a day.
If you are lucky, and most girls tend to wear the same sizes, one could
borrow shoes from one, lend a dress to another and so on.
This all depends on the bride and her preferences of course.
And maybe, no-one has anything that even semi-matches another.
Maybe the bride opts for all one length of dress, who knows?
And maybe there are affordable bridesmaid dresses out there.
At least it can be donated later to a good cause and someone
else out there can come up with some other fancy dress ideas for it. Having to buy new does not mean you aren't trying to be an
eco-friendly-bridesmaid. It's about reducing whenever possible.
You can always compromise. New dress, but the accessories are not a
big issue. Even shoes can be dyed, so that can mean great savings to
an eco-friendly-bridesmaid.
Photo credit: jdurham from morguefile.com
And yes, some of us have more shoes and costume jewelry than we know
what to do with. Cheap bridesmaid jewelry doesn't get any less expensive
than that. Surely, something can be used from what's at home.
Photo credit: jdurham from morguefile.com
If everyone can deal with their own nails and not make bridesmaid hair
and makeup appointments, this is a great time-saver in terms of zero
travel and cost as well.
Photo credit: chelle from morguefile.com
When it comes to hair, most everyone likes updos for bridesmaids.
Visit the Updoprincess for some great bridesmaid updo hairstyles you
can do on your own, or with very little help.
The Updo Princess
If everyone has exhausted all of their resources, and still needs a smaller or plus size bridesmaid dress for example in a certain color,
check the thrift stores, consignment stores or vintage shops.
Recycling what is already out there makes the eco-friendly-bridesmaid for sure.
You can opt to give Ebay a try as well.
There is a good selection of discount bridesmaid dresses to choose from and
hopefully suited exactly to your price range.
There are even bridesmaid dress patterns if anyone you know is up
to the task of making your dresses for you.
The bride can reduce alot of anxieties and worries by making sure her
eco-friendly-bridesmaid is comfortable in what she is wearing, and that's
much more likely if all of the girls can choose their outfits for themselves to
some degree. Comfort and self-confidence is important too.
Of course the bride makes the decisions, but it's only for one day.
I think these concepts would be well worth exploring before sending
everyone one out on perhaps wasteful shopping sprees.
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