The Old and the Beautiful: Vintage Gowns for Your Eco Wedding

ckane — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

For the green brides considering getting married in a vintage dress (ahem), I'm going to share my favorite vintage dress online shop, Posh Girl Vintage, who are about to relaunch next month with a makeover. When that happens, they'll be able to post new merchandise a lot faster.

I shouldn't encourage more people to look; it's just more competition for each unique dress. But here's the thing: it doesn't matter, because you probably won't get that dress you love anyway. There's only one of each (frustrating, but that's also the beauty of vintage) and usually every one I'm drooling over is already gone by the time I click the thumbnail.

No matter: It's wedding porn. Use this site for inspiration if you're designing your own dress, or when you see a to-die-for gown and it's tragically sold, put your bridesmaids and friends on alert if they're also into vintage. Maybe they'll see the kind you're looking for, or something along the same lines, in their own shopping travels.

Posh Vintage's tagline is "Dresses Audrey would love." Le sigh. It's times like these when I wish I still had a desk job and was browsing the Internet on somebody else's dime.

Image: Posh Girl Vintage

Five Ways to Use eBay for Your Green Wedding

ckane — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 07:00:00 -0400

1. Your dress. eBay can be used to find not just your dress, but your bridesmaids' dresses, your flower girl's dress, the groom's suit, shoes, and accessories. And often, they are CHEAP! You can go vintage or modern here.

2. Vintage touches. Why buy new save-the-date postcards or magnets when you can find vintage postcards in lots on eBay? Look for them in batches themed to your wedding-- As I write this, I'm the lead bidder on a lot of 29 vintage postcards for Lake Tahoe, where our wedding will take place. (Auction ends today! Fingers crossed!) Or you could pick up a vintage cake topper, old vases for your floral centerpieces, etc.

3. Fabric. Don't buy new fabric for dresses, sashes, bridesmaid wraps, or for making/dressing up your wedding favors when eBay has plenty of remnant material, unused dead stock, or plain old fabric stashes that some old lady had packed away.

4. Gifts for the wedding party. Again, why buy new when you can give a cool vintage flask, jewelry, or whatever gifts specially suit your favorite guys and girls?

5. Ceremony and reception decor. Do a search under Wedding & Party Supplies for "used" or "like new" and you'll find garlands, cake plates, chair covers (if you care about such things; I don't think anyone will complain if you do without chair covers), and much more.

And that's just the beginning. Whatever it is you're looking for, you can set up saved searches on eBay, and you'll get automatic email notifications whenever your desired object is put up for auction. Now log on, do a search for wedding, bridal, organic, or whatever and get ready for the hours to melt away.

Image: '70s cake topper from eBay