Sustainable Wedding Planning: Dress, Rings, Shoes & more

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I decided to not publish too many updates on my wedding planning. I want to keep the majority of it private until our day. But since I’ve received so many questions about wedding related topics, such as my wedding dress, I thought I’d share a few of my tips and recommendations with you now! The wedding season is about to start and the search for sustainable options is really not easy!

I won’t include a link to my wedding dress though, as I want this to stay private until after the wedding. But after so much research, I have looots of other tips for you. For weeks I was stuck to the laptop screen searching for the best and most sustainable alternatives to the classic wedding items. Most of the time I spent doing so on Etsy. Yes, this post here is supported by Etsy (via a coupon), but with or without collaborations, my recommendations would be 90 percent Etsy links anyway. That site just offers everything in my style in sustainable options and I also like supporting small businesses that make everything to order by hand. So to me this was a perfect collaboration. Also, I found my wedding dress via Etsy (which I bought before the collab with Etsy was planned) and I think that says everything 🙂

So today I am sharing a few tips on wedding dresses, bridesmaid dresses, sustainable and ethical rings, shoes, and invitation cards with you. Leave a comment to let me know which topics you need more tips for 🙂

Invitation Cards & Alternatives

We were a little unconventional and decided to send invitation cards only electronically. For many it sounds like a no-go but E-Post had so many advantages for us: we save a lot of paper and ink (we have invited a lot of people), time, of course money, all promises and cancellations as well as preferences (such as food preferences) can be electronically managed, and we could also send links and reminders electronically. We sent the cards via Paperless Post and spent about 30 euros with this provider (for certain functions you have to pay).

Otherwise, I recommend sustainable stationery from recycled and certified paper! Just google it! Here are a few inspirations:

Ethical or sustainable wedding bands

In most major cities, you will find certified jewelers offering Fair Trade gold or silver jewelery. I also strongly support recycled materials. Here I wrote a full article on ethical jewelry and why this topic is so incredibly important (just mentioning blood diamonds and child labor here…). Here are a few inspirations from Etsy:

Bridesmaid dresses:

Our wedding will be very colorful and a bit different … We mix Serbian, German, American and Jewish traditions. In any case, an American tradition is the bridesmaids who accompany me throughout the day. At first, I thought they could just wear something similar to stand out. This would certainly save money. But since almost everyone lives in different cities, coordinating would be too difficult. That’s why I had the idea that everyone wears the same color or the same fabric. Since each one has a very different preference in terms of cut and shape, we chose so-called Infinity dresses. They all come in the same cut, color and fabric, but you can wear them in about 25 different ways. Of course you can find many of these infinity dresses on Etsy. But I definitely wanted some that were either made of organic fabrics, or at least completely sewn in Europe. Here are two Etsy shops that I can recommend:

Les Crevettes

The shop Les Crevettes from Germany manufactures all dresses using GOTS certified organic fabrics and are available in many more colors than shown here. You can pick the color when ordering. The high-quality materials are reflected in the price, but the clothes can be worn on other occasions. There are also products with lace – so maybe something for a prom!? They also offer a infinity jumpsuit version!

In the States you can get pretty much the same model in the Etsy Shop YanaDee here or here.

Mimetik Barcelona

Although Mimetik do not use organic materials, they are of very good quality, mostly from Spain and all products are handmade in Barcelona in the atelier. The shop offers a very large selection of different colors, fabrics, patterns and other accessories, such as boleros, cardigans for over the dresses, etc. Maybe there is something suitable for events such as a graduation ball for you, as there are infinity dresses in gold, etc. These dresses are also not just worn once. You can were them to many different events and just tie them differently or add a bolero to style it in a new way!

Linen dresses

NichStore

This Etsy Store from Ukraine does not have any infinity dresses, but beautiful linen dresses!

At Eco Linen Dress there are also beautiful dresses (for example here) in different colors. Unfortunately, due to the cut (there were certain wishes with the bridesmaids), none of these were suitable for my wedding.

Wedding Dresses

Ok, let’s come to the most exciting topic, in my opinion 🙂 In retrospect, I would have wished that I had started to look for a dress immediately after the engagement. Why? Because the search for an ethical and sustainable dress that also fits my style was really not easy. So in the end I paid quite a lot for express shipping because I was scared that it would not arrive in time. Had I ordered it 10 months in advance, picked up locally, I would have saved a lot of time and stress as well as resources 🙂 I just did not expect it to be that difficult.

At first, I planned to buy my dress Second Hand. Unfortunately, I did not find anything suitable online, so I visited the Fräulein Weiß Brautmodenladen in Berlin Schöneberg, which carries a lot of second hand dresses, with two of my bridesmaids. Unfortunately, there was nothing suitable there for me. Mostly because I’m very tall and second-hand clothes are usually too short for me. But they definitely had a lot of beautiful options, which I highly recommend!

So I continued to research for weeks and weeks on Etsy. Here is a detailed overview of what I found:

Boho-Style

Wilderness Bride

At the beautiful label Wilderness Bride you will find minimalistic designs as well as cute boho dresses. The clothes are fairly produced in England and the fabrics are also from England to keep the ecological footprint as low as possible. It is packed without plastic. The prices range from 850 to 1400 euros for a dress.

LADIDAatelier

This Italian label mainly uses OEKO TEX 100 certified fabrics (if it doesn’t say it under the description, you can always ask) and produces all clothes in Italy. I even almost opted for this 2-in-1 dress for about 1,400 euros, as it can be worn long for the ceremony and short for the party.

SisterOrganics

SisterOrganics also manufactures in England and uses certified organic and vintage fabrics. The designs are relatively simple, but also very boho! For example, you can get a combination of lace top and hemp silk skirt for about 550 euros.

We Are Reclamation

Ok, this label is really one of my favorites! Unfortunately, We Are Reclamation is based in Canada (so high shipping and customs costs), but maybe it’s the dream dress for one of you! Most fabrics are vintage fabrics, so each dress is unique and looks slightly different.

Minimalistic

Pure Magnolia Couture

Again a label from Canada, but this time with beautiful rather minimal designs! Pure Magnolia Couture (website) produces all dresses in Vancouver, Canada using sustainable fabrics such as organic cotton, repurposed silk and vintage lace.

Les Crevettes

And again Les Crevettes: Here you will find a relatively simple lace dress (only the top is linked), which is made sustainably! Of course, there is also a matching skirt. You can wear the combo again in many different ways and the material is also available in other colors – so maybe also a solution for your prom?

Find the american equivalent here at YanaDee.

ReevBridal

Anyone who likes natural materials is in the right place with ReevBridal. This linen dress was my favorite 🙂 The main material is 100% linen that was made from non-bleached and non-dyed flax fibre. 

mnemosynedesigns

If you want a quite simple, as well as very inexpensive, dress you can drop by at mnemosynedesigns. Here you will find a very minimalist dress made of organic cotton and bamboo, at a very reasonable price!

Beach Wedding

AYAsacredwear

This label from Bali is the one for a beach wedding. So if you really want something light, flowy, that reminds you of Bali, beach and the sea, then AYAsacredwear is a good option! The fabrics are made of linen and organic cotton and everything is produced fairly in Indonesia.

Shelivesonlovest

The dresses by Shelivesonlovest are just as loose and airy. All products are 100% vegan and are made of sustainable and vintage fabrics.

Short dresses

For anyone who may be after a short dress, e.g. for the civil wedding:

AirumaCanamo

Finally a label from Germany, and even from Berlin! Here you will find a short, white dress made of hemp for only 149 Euro, which is wonderfully suitable for the Civil Wedding! You can also tailor it longer than in the pictures.

Stitch & Saga

I really love linen and this dress by Stitch & Saga was honestly also on the shortlist for the civil service! Of course it is Oeko Tex certified and Made in Lithuania! In fact, I bought a linen dress for our civil wedding, just from a different brand, but I’ll tell you more about that after the wedding.

I found all the dresses using different search terms on Etsy. My tip: try many different search terms, such as “Eco dress”, “Eco wedding dress”, “Organic dress”, “Ethical wedding dress” etc. Of course, I also found more fair and sustainable bridal fashion labels via Google. Including:

• Noni – unfortunately there was no dress in the style that I wanted
• Elementar – ditto
• Minna – ditto, but super cute dresses!
• Kisui – beautiful models, completely made in Germany
• Celia Grace – Fair Trade & sustainable
• The Reformation – I even tried some on – they are beautiful, but the I didn’t find the perfect dress for me

Second hand is, as I said, a great option, which I would have preferred to buy, but because of my measurements, it was just difficult for me.

Sustainable Bridal Shoes

When it comes to sustainable bridal shoes I found, unfortunately, very few options. I really wanted vegan shoes. Maybe second hand shoes are an option for you, vegan shoes from Esprit or from Beyond Skin, or you can order from Etsy like me. I ordered a vegan pair from Roni Kantor on Etsy (yes, I am revealing that “secret” today because there are so few choices):

After my wedding, as I said, I will provide you with more information, tips on ordering online, a few times that I lucked out and found exactly what I wanted, as well as sharing difficulties and compromises! Until then, I am enjoying the anticipation and I hope my detailed list helps you 🙂

Are any of you getting married soon? What about wedding planning? Are you having any difficulties, is it fun, what about the anticipation?