Wedding Gown Alternatives

Wedding has increasingly become a more personalized experience throughout recent years. It is no longer "what we should do" as in accord to traditions, but "what we want to do to make it our very own journey". Many couples prefer to think out of the box, and brides are now more open to wearing gowns that are less than traditional.

High end retails or department stores such as Saks and Neiman Marcus always carry fantastic designer gowns in the evening wear section. I came across the following gowns while browsing Neiman Marcus' sales section online, and was amazed by the price tags.

Here are my favs, and all are made of silk or chiffon. Silk and chiffon are natural materials, and hence a green alternative to synthetics such as polyester, other wise know as satin. What more amazing then the fabrics used in these gowns are the price points, all under $300. It is almost impossible to find a wedding gown in natural fabric that is less $1500 or $2000 in a bridal salon.


This gown by Aidan Mattox combines a statement bib necklace with a Grecian-inspired silhouette. All that you need to add is perhaps a pair of simple earrings. $252. Image & Source: Neiman Marcus.


If "something blue" is what you must have, this is a gorgeous alternative to the bridal white. Don't you just love the ribbon details on the shoulder? This silk and chiffon Aidan Mattox gown is friendly priced at $264. Image & Source: Neiman Marcus.


Another one-shoulder silhouette that as become all the rage. I especially adore the pleating details around the bodice. Design by Xeniya and constructed in silk, this gown is priced at $210. Image & Source: Neiman Marcus.


Just the perfect short gown for a city hall ceremony or elopement. The origami-liked bow is a great departure from a typical bow as we know it, and provides just enough drama without going over the top. Constructed in silk and designed by Robert Rodriguez. $297. Image & Source: Neiman Marcus.

DIY Chandelier for Wedding or Home

Isn't this a fantastic idea to give a second life to plastic bottles? I spotted this display at an Anthropologie store. The yellow and blue pairing is refreshing. Feeling inspired, I immediately conjured up images of blue distressed wooden picnic tables and benches decked out with yellow daffodils, all against a pristine white sand beach.

Featured on Style Me Pretty

Our eco-friendly botanical flower ring pillows are featured on Style Me Pretty today!

The design of the ring pillow follows a process of blending the botanical elements left over from the wedding floral designs instead of ordering extra materials for its creation. The rest is a truly organic design process, inspired by the mood and feel of the location and the textures and palette of the flowers.

Here's one of the featured ring pillows designed for a wedding ceremony that took place at a seaside white chapel overlooking the Pacific.


photo by Suzanne Sizer

Eco-Friendly and DIY Centerpieces

Green has become the hottest color for weddings, not only the color green, which as been popular for a while, but the attitude of minimizing the environmental impact.

As we celebrated Earth Day earlier this month, here are a few examples of what a green wedding could look like when it comes to floral decor.

* Simple is Beautiful-- Less is really more. Left: Locally grown yellow roses and green mums nestled in a glass container "framed" by the pristine glass rim--as opposed to having flowers flowing out of the container. Right: The power of repetition is best demonstrated here with simple cymbidium orchid display and candles in multiples.


* Support Local Growers and Use In Season Flowers--Check out these dahlia arrangements in gorgeous vibrant colors--all from a local grower. Dahlias have gained tremendous popularity for summer and early fall weddings.


* Potted Plant DIY Centerpiece--Potted plant are the simplest and most stress free DIY centerpiece a bride can make for the wedding. Not only will the plants live well beyond, the DIY could be done well before the wedding, unlike fresh floral arrangements. Here are two examples from two savvy brides we had last year. One choose to use different succulents in various greens and added small ceramic bird, a motive found in the invitation and program, another choose orchids of various striking colors.



Floral Design:
Grandiflora, except for the DIY pieces

Photo Credit:
Ed Pingol Photography
Jennifer Skog Photography

As a Green(er) Wedding Floral Designer...

Sometimes last month, we were pleasantly surprised to find ourself included in the Common Ground Magazine's green wedding guide in its February issue. It is quite an honor, but I also felt bashful about having the halo of the green label on me.

Throughout the course of my floral design career, I have never felt comfortable enough to categorize ourself as "green floral designers". While there are quite a few organic flowers available, most of the time we can not be certain if the foliage and textural botanical materials we would use with the flowers are considered organic. Fortunately, a lot of foliage materials have local origin, which makes them somewhat greener over their imported counterparts.

As far as our effort of being and becoming greener, we encourage using seasonal flowers because less energy and resources are consumed to produce flowers in its natural growth cycle. Locally grown variety is preferred over imported when qualities are comparable. Since our move from Pasadena/Los Angeles to the Bay Area three years ago, we have established relationships with local gardeners who supply us garden clippings--those may be shapely branches or overgrown bushes that would otherwise be discarded. The widely varied microclimates within the relatively compact (as compare to the Los Angeles area) Bay Area help to nurture a great variety of materials, and our gardener friends always bring us nice surprises.

During our less busy winter/spring months, visiting nurseries and interacting with local growers help us to get a vibe of where happy, well-cared, and healthy flowers come from.

While we continue and strive to be greener in our practice, we look forward to challenges in greener floral and event designs.

Featured at Preowned Wedding Dresses

We were invited to write a blog post couple weeks ago for Preowned Wedding Dresses to feature some unique designs on wedding flowers. And it was posted a few days ago! February 25, 2009 to be exact. For bride-to-be and eco-minded brides, this is a great resource. The site is updated frequently; you never know if you would see your dream wedding dress available at the site. Here are a few of our favs, from top to bottom:Rivini, Cymbeline, and Alvina Valenta.

Bridesmaid Dresses Under $100--& She Would Love to Wear Again

There are amazing marked downs on J Crew Dresses that may be used as bridesmaid dresses. Your friends will love you for picking out a dress that they could enjoy again on different occasions. Here are a few of our favorite for under $100.

Real Wedding-Hacienda de las Flores

Caterer: Miraglia Catering
Flowers: Grandiflora
Music (classical guitar): Mori Achen
Photography: SJ Kim Photography
Venue: Hacienda de las Flores, Moraga

Real Wedding--Eco and Green

Veronica and Cate had an intimate ceremony and celebration at Cate's mother's place. While the wedding decor was important to the couple, Veronica and Cate both wanted to stay green. Locally grown dahlias were used in abundance for the centerpieces, and Cate opted for a small simple dahlia bouquet with green wheat. Dried ficus leaves highlighting the structure of the leaves were used as part of the table setting. We looked for items that may be used for decor at Veronica and Cate's house. A few of their photo frames were used to showcase seating arrangement, eliminating the need for place cards. Black was the chosen color of the attires, and incidentally it was quite of a popular choice up until Queen Victoria's 1840 wedding that popularized the concept of wearing a white wedding gown.

Real Wedding--A Celebration at Home

Robert and Dave have been together for 12 years. Their wedding was an intimate green celebration at home. The table clothes were the remains from the couple's bulk purchase of fabric for their various home improvement projects. The dinner plates were borrowed from friends in matching sets of 6. We bought the dahlias for the centerpieces from a local grower. Even the pebbles on the floral trays were "borrowed" from the couple's side yard landscape-Dave pitched the "pebble loan" idea after we presented the design concept.

Bridal Gown Sale--Los Angeles, San Diego, Portland, and other cities

What is sweeter than getting a good deal while helping a great cause? The Wedding Gown Sale organized by the Making Memories Breast Cancer Fund is a nationwide tour of gown sale that takes place in various cities, including Portland, Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago, Savana, El Paso, Orlando, Cleveland, just to name a few. Gowns are donated by manufacturers, retailers, designers, and individuals. This is a series of sales events that reoccur every year, for the most updated gown sale schedule and learn to contribute to this cause, go to Making Memories Foundation, Gown Sale Event Calendar.