Are you an eco-conscious bride? Let's face it, life leaves a footprint, and a wedding can leave a big footprint.
Every choice you make about your wedding, from flowers, to venue, to menu, reflects your values regarding the environment. Your choice of wedding gown reflects your personal style and your love for Earth.
If you've tried shopping for a wedding gown, you may have been disappointed and alarmed by what's available in ready-to-wear.
95% of the apparel sold in the U.S. is made in a foreign country, much of it on the other side of the planet. It's shipped over here literally by the boatload. Think of how much unsustainable, fossel fuels are used just to ship our clothing to us here. Even worse, much of the apparel manufactured overseas uses underpaid, exploited labor in countries that are not as environmentally conscientious as we are.
Most ready-to-wear wedding gowns are made of polyester, and even gowns that might be made of a natural fiber on the outside are typically made with poly on the numerous inside layers.
Polyester is made from petroleum, and it is basically plastic.Try burn testing it. Take a very small snip of a poly fabric, and hold it with tweezers over your kitchen sink. Carefully set it on fire with a match or lighter, and see what happens. It will shrink away from the flame and form a hard, tan or grey, plastic ball, and it will smell like noxious chemicals.
Poly is plastic! Don't wear a white plastic trash bag on your wedding day!
You do what you can, and only you get to choose your unique shade of green.
Choose eco-conscious, local vendors who use locally produced, sustainable, and bio-degradable materials whenever possible. That includes your gown.
A wedding gown made locally by Barbara Deckert Couture can be as green and eco-chic as you want it to be.
Nearly all of the garments on this website are made from natural fibers like silk, linen, wool, and cotton, inside and out, and they are bio-degradable and very comfortable to wear. For a deeper shade of green, you can choose organically grown or humanely produced fibers such as organic cottons, bamboos, and Peace Silk, which is produced without killing the silk worm. During our consultation, please tell me how green you want your gown to be.
For some designs, depending on the materials and complexity of the construction, materials can be pre-shrunk so that the completed gown can be carefully hand laundered rather than dry-cleaned using toxic chemicals.
Select simple separates that you can wear again, or an eco-chic, couture design. With a custom gown, you are the designer and you choose exactly what you want.
Sometimes I can re-cycle vintage gowns, but note that process is much more labor intensive than using new but environmentally-friendly materials.
Plan to pass your gown on or "play it forward." Re-wear it or parts of it; loan it to a friend or relative to wear in another wedding, and store it carefully for the next generation to enjoy.
On a personal note, I have been a 'greenie" all my life. I work out of my home; I only drive about once a week; I make my own clothes; and I re-cycle, compost, grow organic veggies, herbs, and flowers in my garden. I hang my laundry outside to dry in nice weather, and I haven't used a dry cleaner for over 10 years. I am re-foresting my back yard by planting many, many baby trees. I try to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.
