AisleDash

When you pick out your wedding china, are you looking for something classic? Something elegant and fancy, or something funky and different? If you tend toward the funky, you'll love Orion Glassware Collection's handblown Mexican glassware.
Whether you're looking for glasses for your wedding registry, or to use for your rehearsal, reception, or bridal showers, you should definitely have a look at these glasses. They are made from recycled soda bottles, so they're eco-friendly as well as beautiful.

Each glass is handblown, so no two are exactly alike, and they come in several colors, so you can select the color that best matches your wedding or home decor. Flip through the gallery below for some examples of these artistic pieces. To order, visit this page.

Aisledash reader Erin sent us the following email:

I'm looking for a green wedding dress. No, not that one, the color. Got any leads?

How could we resist? As much as we love traditional gowns (and we do) we also have a soft spot in our heart for the unconventional bride - and whether you wish to marry in green (as Erin does) or magenta or pink-and-green polka dots we're here to help you too.

The key to buying a green wedding dress is to remember that a wedding dress is, first and foremost, a dress. That means that you should expand your search outside of the traditional wedding vendors. (Come to think of it, that's excellent advice even if you want to marry in white.) Try a website that allows you to search by color (like Nordstrom or Bluefly) and be open to the many possibilities out there.

Another option is to look at bridesmaids dresses - many times they're the same thing as the wedding dress, just in color. We like the ones by simple silhouettes and David's Bridal, but honestly, your choices are endless.

Of course, you could also search for prom dresses, but we find that the dresses tend to be of lower quality and a bit too revealing. (Are we showing our age here?)

So remember: It's only a dress! Be creative and keep an open mind.

We'd love to hear more about your "green" wedding, Erin - keep us posted!

Apparently, there is someone who can have-a de Mango -- Chris Kattan married model Sunshine Tutt last Saturday in an environmentally friendly wedding set at California's Yosemite Valley.

The couple has been engaged for a year and a half -- Chris proposed to Sunshine on Christmas Eve, 2006, at her grandmother's home. Their wedding was green right from the get-go, with invitations made of flower seed paper that the guests could plant in their gardens.



Some of Chris' former Saturday Night Live castmates were on hand to witness the nature-inspired nuptials, including Will Farrell, Tina Fey, Jimmy Fallon, and Amy Poehler. The affair has been described as environmentally friendly, but what we really want to know is what went down on the dance floor!

Combine pretty lace in pastel brights as fresh as sorbet with a simple silhouette and you get the Arianna bridesmaid dress by Jenny Yoo. We're huge fans of the sage green color shown here, but you can choose from 18 shades - and they all come with matching silk lining.

This strapless dress with a sleek a-line silhouette has an unfussy preppy vibe to it - it's classy and elegant without any pretense.

Available at jennyyoo.com.

Pricing starts at $276 (when you order 7+) to $325 (for 1 or 2 dresses.)

If you order a gift from VivaTerra, you have the choice of having it gift wrapped either in recycled paper or re-usable fabric. But why leave such a great idea to VivaTerra? Even if you don't want any of their (fabulous) gift items, you can still use the fabric-as-wrapping idea.

If your gift is kitchen ware, wrap it in a couple of nice tea towels held together with ... kitchen string? Twist ties? If you're giving something for the bathroom, wrap it in a lush towel of the appropriate size. Something for the dining room? How about a beautifully embroidered table cloth? For the bedroom? Drop it in a pillow case!

Seems to us this idea is limited only by your imagination. An easy way to be green and generous!

Wednesday Wedding Wrap-up is a weekly roundup of highlights from the past week, covering wedding blogs and websites, reality TV, even particularly hot scoop right here at AisleDash. Think we missed something? Leave your favorite highlight in the comments!

Black*Eiffel has some of the most unique and playful wedding photos we've ever seen -- life is so unfair!

Portovert wants you to know that a green wedding doesn't have to break the bank, so they're telling you how to have a "freegan" wedding.

The Preppy Wedding gets us ready for summer weddings with pictures and links to bridesmaids' dresses in one of summer's classic fabrics.

Brides.com has a fabulous "Go Green" gallery, sure to inspire even the least eco-friendly bride-to-be.

When Earth Day comes around, it's a good reminder that it's time for us to think green all year round. Your house is a good place to start, and if you're setting up a new house with your spouse, you can cut your workload by starting out green. Lots of big name stores carry a selection of green home products – everything from Earth-friendly tableware to green cleaning products. Here are some resources on the Web for finding and identifying green products and setting up a green wedding registry.

As the writers of Aisle Dash have shown, planning and hosting a green wedding really is as easy as planning a wedding that isn't quite as earth-friendly. Once you the details for your green wedding finalized, it will be time to shop for gifts for your wedding party that will show your friends -- and the environment -- how much you care.

Here are a few earth-friendly gifts to give your bridal party:

• For the bridesmaids and groomsmen who are at one with nature, purchase a National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Annual Pass. For less than $100, this pass is valid for 12 months and can be used by the pass-holder and any other passengers in the car. Ninety percent of the purchase price will be returned to the federal land agencies to preserve the country's parks for years to come.
• Purchase a subscription to The Green Guide -- National Geographic's consumer magazine that offers alternative products for the conscientious shopper.
• For the music fans in your bridal party, pick up a solar iPod charger. For $29.99, your iPod-toting (or any other mp3-player) friend can re-charge anywhere the sun is shining.
  
• Search for local and organic food in your area (or wherever your bridesmaids are located) at the Eat Well Guide -- then choose a local supermarket, restaurant or farmer's market to buy a gift card at.
• Or, choose some organic coffee for the caffeine-lovers in your wedding party at Bean Trees.
  

You can't go wrong with any of these gifts -- your friendly (and earthy!) thoughtfulness will be deeply appreciated.

Looking for ways to make your wedding gown a little more eco-friendly? Sure you can buy vintage, or have an organic hemp or silk gown made for you, but there's an even simpler way to cut down on waste: choose a dress you will wear again.

The idea of the one-time-only gown is relatively new. Until the early twentieth century, brides chose gowns that they could wear for multiple occasions. Wealthy women would often recycle the wedding gown for fancy dress parties or for their presentation at court, while poorer women would wear their dress for church or, often, as a nicer everyday dress. Dresses were frequently dyed a different color after the wedding, including black if a mourning dress was needed. Bridesmaids dresses worked the same way, and could often be a woman's one new dress for the season or the year.

Today, though, we're all about the throw-away wedding gown, which is environmentally unfriendly for lots of reasons: gown fabrics are often treated with chemicals, to preserve color and appearance, cleaning and storing a wedding gown requires even more chemicals, and the dress often sits in a closet or box without ever being worn again, which is just wasteful.

Instead of choosing a gown that can only be worn on that ONE day, look for something with life beyond the wedding. A lovely silver cocktail dress, for example, is appropriately bridal but can ALSO go out for dinner or to your holiday party. This one, by Jones New York, is available at Nordstrom for $170.00.

Tonight at 8pm, cities, businesses, and individuals all over North America will be turning off their lights, computers, and televisions for the second annual Earth Hour. This global movement aims to make a statement about climate change while creating a positive environmental effect -- last year's Earth Hour resulted in a 10.2% reduction in carbon emissions for that hour. That's a pretty sizable impact for something so simple as turning off the lights.

The Earth Hour movement has inspired us to think of more ways your wedding can be not only the perfect day you've always dreamed of, but an environmentally friendly event. Our Green Weddings category has lots of ideas for you, and now we're going to focus on some Earth Hour-inspired ideas.

Wednesday Wedding Wrap-up is a weekly roundup of highlights from the past week, covering wedding blogs and websites, reality TV, even particularly hot scoop right here at AisleDash. Think I missed something? Leave your favorite highlight in the comments!

The Green Bride Guide is a new site devoted to eco-conscious brides- (and grooms-) to-be. Welcome to the wedding web!

Weddingbee goes over some of the pros and cons of having a tent wedding (do you know how much it costs to rent a table and 6 chairs?).

Aisledash's own Meg wants to know how you feel about incest after a brother-sister couple loses their court battle to recognize their relationship.

Offbeat Bride tackles the tricky question of whether you should have a secret courthouse wedding in order to get insurance before your Big Day.

Yes, you read that correctly -- chocolate and good for the environment -- that is CocoaVino, a company striving to live deliberately, sustainably, and fabulously, making incredible chocolates along the way.

Need custom favors? No problem! They will work with you to create just the look you desire. You can match the fabric of your bridesmaids' dresses, incorporate the detail from your own gown, or come up with something completely unique that works with your overall wedding scheme (like a map of Paris, as you'll see in the gallery).

As is often the case, I was checking out Manolo for the Brides when I stumbled across this post about Threadhead Creations' wedding gowns, and it seemed just too good to be true. I mean, you get to design your dress and feel good about doing it? You mean it's not wasteful? No way!

Yes, way.

Threadhead Creations offers three options:

More and more hotels are giving guests "green" options, and resorts where weddings are commonly held are no exception. For the eco-conscious bride and groom, a little research will unearth a bevy of fabulous hotels and resorts at which they can marry without leaving a major environmental footprint on the earth.

RockResorts is a luxury hotel company that has always emphasized the natural setting of its resort locations, such as Vail or Santa Fe. The company is taking its commitment to nature a step further by introducing a brand-wide "Green Weddings" initiative beginning this summer.

The "Green Weddings" initiative includes a multitude of options ranging from providing environmentally friendly transportation and eco-friendly centerpieces to organic food, wine, beer, and cake. For a complete list, click here, or for more information on RockResorts, check this out.

Wendy recently encouraged us to "Think Pink" for a spring or summer wedding, and she's totally right. Pink, especially bright fuchsia tones, can give your wedding a bright, fresh, even tropical feel. However, accent colors have a lot of power as well -- the hues you use to surround your pinks can make your wedding more exotic, preppy, earthy, girly, etc.

• Apple green is one of the hottest accent colors right now. It will give your wedding a preppy feel, especially if you use some bright green gingham and incorporate plaids into your decor.
  
  
• Bright orange looks modern and unique. With the right flowers and decorations, it can really play up a tropical vibe -- consider using bamboo and large, tropical leaves in addition to your color scheme.
  
  
• Grey and silver add elegance and romance to softer pinks while allowing bright pinks to stand out on their own. Think of silver vases and metallic ribbons to take full advantage of this color scheme.
  
  
• White will show off the detail of your pink palette, so make sure your flowers have lots of visual interest. It will also create a clean, spa look -- you'll do best to use clean lines and modern textures to best play up the stark difference between the colors.
  
  
• Soft shades of purple and more pinks will add a girly, feminine touch. If this is your goal, make sure you don't skimp on the frills!
  
• Red is bold and dramatic. Pink and red can clash, though, so be careful about the shades you choose.