Okay, maybe back then you were dreaming more of a pure silk with encrusted diamonds and pearls, but tastes change – and so do trends. Being an eco-bride is becoming increasingly common. But if your local bridal shop doesn’t create them consciously, several eco-couture bridal designers have online stores that’ll help bring you closer to your dress of your dreams.

Conscious Clothing uses sustainable and biodegradable hemp fabrics. They’ve been developing hemp clothing since 1995, and gowns since 1999. Their gowns start at a comfortable $700. They also feature hemp suits for men (at $1,200), bridesmaids wear (at $175+), and flower girl dresses ($275). (getconscious.com)

Deborah Lindquist is one of LA’s favourites, with her creations flowing on the svelte bodies of many stars, including Gwen Stefani, Demi Moore, and Paris Hilton. She combines repurposed fabrics with sustainable choices in her designs, developing her own kind of conscious clothing. Her pieces start modestly priced ($300 to $3000), often in separates to fit any size, and available at many bridal shops throughout the US. (deborahlindquist.com)

Tara Lynn has been designing  hemp gowns since 1999. Made of 100% hemp, or hemp/cotton and hemp/silk blends, and custom tailors them for you. She ships internationally, and mails your fittings to get pinned by a seamstress in order to get the job most efficiently done. She also makes suits, shirts, and pants for the groom. Contact for pricing. (taralynnstudio.com)

Chris Kole introduced his line The Cotton Bride in 2007, a couture bridal collection focusing on cotton and linen combined with other natural fabrics. Each hand-sewn gown is adorned with accents of beadwork and trim, merging simplicity with grace and style. Contact for pricing.
(chriskole.com and thecottonbride.com)

Threadhead Creations have been beautifying brides since 1999, with natural fibres such as hemp, bamboo, peace silk and organic cotton. They offer three choices – those who to prefer to buy off-the-rack, those who opt to design their own dressed based on a blanket Threadhead creation, or those who would like to work closely with the creators for a custom option. Off-the-rack choices range from $700 to $1295, design your dress begins at an easy $545, and custom dresses start at $1000. Some of the most eclectic and cost-efficient choices are available at this green dress guru. (threadheadcreations.com)

Morgan Boszilkov’s Natural Bridal Colllection hasn’t been around as long as some of the others, but her products are right up to speed. “Handcrafted with love”, each dress uses sustainable fabrics combined with an elegance that doesn’t sacrifice style. Some of the dresses include a detachable bottom skirt, perfect for the reception or wants to reuse the pieces for a later outfit. 5% of all profits are donated to eco-causes. Hemp, organic cotton, peace silk, and bamboo are among the materials used to develop her line.  Contact for pricing. (naturalbridals.com)

Annatarian is run by designer Anna  Mkhitarian, who develops products that are better for the environment, preserve the artisan craft, and strive for eco-effectiveness. Designed from vintage and remnant fabrics, along with others such as bamboo, organic cotton, peace silk, she combines  reduce, reuse, recycle in a one-of-a-kind dress. She  also can incorporate your own items – for example, your mother’s mother’s mother’s tiara, to develop the dress and accessories of your dreams. (annatarian.com)

If you live in the UK, try Wholly Jo’s. Designer Joanne uses organic, fair-trade, and recycled materials to deliver her dresses. Created from organic cotton, hemp, and peace silk, Joanne also ensures that ethical practices are in place, such as not copying other designer’s creations. Dresses range from £500-£550. (wholly-jo.co.uk)

Simple, sustainable, and by far the most cost-efficient is Rawganique’s Eco-Couture hemp dresses and suits. The whole wedding party can be outfitted with their line of hemp and linen designed clothing  The hemp is organic and fair-trade, and start at $329 for suits and $349 for dresses. Footwear and accessories are also available, combining materials such as hemp and flax, and are also 100% vegan. (rawganique.com)

Pictured above, Annatarian

Luckily, in today’s green-conscious world, sacrificing a cow to make our mules is no longer an issue.

The Alternative

Beyond Skin is an ethical footwear label that hand-produces shoes out of England using a variety of man-made materials. Their footwear is made from animal-free fabrics, among them satins, synthetic leathers, and organic cottons.

Their satins are made from polyester rather than the commonly-used chemically processed viscose. Their synthetic leathers are developed from cotton-backed polyurethane which resembles PVC, a chemical commonly used in footwear to create the faux-leather (pleather) look.

(Pleather, by the way,  is progressively moving away from being a great alternative to real leather due to containing, chlorine, supposedly causing asthma. Perhaps not so great after all?)

Turning animal hides into leather is an obvious no-no when it comes to animal activists, but another ethical reason to avoid purchasing leather goods is the negative environmental factors it entails. When leather is tanned it goes through a highly toxic process which renders it non-biodegradable. Beyond Skin points out that farming animals such as cattle for human uses produces large amounts of waste. In turn, this pollutes the ground and surface water, contributing to the overall effect of global warming.

Fashion Faux Pas?

These alternative materials may be eco-friendly, but are they, well, fashionable? Having been highlighted in high-end fashion magazines such as Marie Claire, In Style and Vogue as not the typical Birkenstock-esque shoe, Beyond Skin’s footwear isn’t the typical stereotype of what normally dons the environmentalist’s foot.

These shoes come in peep-toed, sky high stilettos, ankle boots, all in a variety of not-so-natural vibrant colours.  They even offer custom made wedding shoes which can be matched with the fabric swatch of your dress, or made from a selection of their vintage fabrics.

If you’re aiming for animal-free alternatives, stay home, save the gas, and click over to Beyond Skin for your latest contribution to sustainability.

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For more information about eco and vegan-friendly footwear, check out:

Eco-friendly shoes built for comfort

Our review on Style, Naturally: a great eco-guide for fashionistas

The low-down on vegan fibres and fabrics

This free online guide has a huge (and growing) list of hotels that are specifically selected by their editors to ensure they meet their standards for eco-friendliness. Showing hotels and lodges all across the world, they are a leading guide in green accommodations, from hotels to resorts to cabins to igloos.

It’s as simple as a search engine to see where to stay next time you take a trip. The five start rating that corresponds with each location is based on energy, water, waste disposal, eco-activity, and ecological protection.

If you’re planning to Fiji, do a quick search and you might be interested in Matava Eco Adventure Resort. Set beside the Great Astrolabe Reef, it’s a small tropical paradise, where you sleep inside traditional thatched Fijian bures among the rainforest.

Amazon Yarapa River Lodge might spark your interest instead, a full-fledged green operation, with solar lighting and locally staffed Peruvians along the banks of the Yarapa River.

And if you’re a frequent traveler? Eco Hotels wants your voice. Always looking for new properties, if you have one to recommend, they’re more than interested in adding it to their online guide. You can also add reviews to your favourite properties (or least favourite), to the ones that they’ve already listed.

The 147 hotels that currently are listed is ever-growing, each with customer reviews. The sole 1 star hotel caught our attention, and that’s where Eco Hotels of the World proves to be helpful. The hotel, with a beautiful, lush description and scenic photographs looked perfect, but user reviews assured us that it was overridden with dirt and bugs.

In addition to the resource, website owner Alex Conti also has written the Eco Hotels of the World Guidebook. This full-colour book combines information for eco-travel, a more detailed look at each accommodation, combined with additional images and key features.

Visit: ecohotelsoftheworld.com for more information

The tracking tool also allows you to compare it with the ratings that are found in the EnerGuide Fuel Consumption Guide, as well as with other drivers, both in general and specific to your vehicle.

You can log-in as a guest for a one-time calculation, or register with a username to keep track for the long-term.

Once you log in, enter your vehicle information, and then plug in the amounts: the date, odometer reading, litres consumed, fuel cost, and driving conditions.

For those who tend to make an assumption about their consumption, you might

find this a handy tracking device to keep up-to-speed with the gallons you guzzle.

To try the program yourself, click here.

To explore fuel consumption ratings, click here.

Image courtesy of Toyota.ca and Office of Energy Efficiency

So what is wrong with this type of plastic production? Scientists and health officials have linked BPA to mimicking the sex hormone estrogen. Researchers are finding possibilities that BPA is the instigator behind hormone-related health issues, such as sexual development abnormalities in both males and females, neurodevelopment diseases such as autism and ADHD, and increases breast and prostate cancers.

However, researchers have now discovered that newborns are at greater risk with  BPA-laden products. A recent study completed at the University of Guelph have found that the plastic ingredient resides in babies’ systems longer than adults. Babies lack the specific liver enzyme needed to break it down.

Research has yet to show what age or level of developmental growth develops the enzyme, but discovered that when infants ingest BPA, it builds in their blood up to 11 times that of an adult. Contrasting, adults can quickly metabolize BPA and it is excreted in their urine.

Canada is the first country to ban BPA from baby bottles, with other countries aiming to follow suit. This study, then, may instigate health officials, as well as parents and companies to take note and a step further towards BPA-free.

Read the full story at the Globe and Mail.

Confused on what BPA-free bottle to choose? Stay tuned; we’ll soon feature a comparison.