a green wedding fling

When I got married (pre-greenie days) I wore the most beautiful dress in the world...

This is from a magazine, you can find
a pic of me below.

My dress had been the focal point of my wedding plans – the venue, the theme, the hair and the flowers all had to go with the dress. As a fashion fanatic, I figured this was one time in my life I could buy exactly what I wanted without limitations and I felt like a million dollars in that gorgeous gown. 

Despite my love affair with the dress, I always knew I didn’t want to keep it forever.  But what to do with such a gown?

 

I’d heard about brides who trashed their dresses in stunning photo shoots.  I also contemplated taking it to a charity shop, but I couldn’t risk someone using it as a fancy-dress costume and then tossing it aside.  Even though I didn’t want to keep the dress, I couldn’t bear the thought of it being destroyed, it was far too special.

I decided the best thing for this dress was a new owner – someone who'd wear the dress with the excitement and reverence it deserved.  I was just starting to flirt with environmentalism and thought this was an exquisite form of reuse.

I posted an ad on Easy Weddings and responding to a few inquiries, and eventually found an owner for the dress. I could see in her eyes that she loved the dress as much as I did when she came to try it on, and after a lovely text-message tête-à-tête during which she gushed about loving the dress from first sight, we negotiated a price and she took the dress home the next day. Any hesitations I had about farewelling the gown were erased when I saw the joy in this bride-to-be’s face as she collected our dress and we hugged goodbye. 

Though my hubby was happy with the extra cash in the bank, he looked entirely perplexed as I explained my euphoria about the beautiful, unexpected bond I felt with a stranger who shared my love of this special dress.  I knew she felt the same, though, and the other day I received the most gorgeous email: 

As promised a good 6 or so months ago - see attached some pics of our beautiful dress.
I am so happy and feel so lucky that you had made the decision to sell your dress, as i am absolutely in love with it!  EVERYONE commented on how beautiful and different it was.
I hope all is well - thank you so much again :)

She looked amazing and I was surprised to see how different the dress looked on someone else in a different wedding – I also felt oddly happy that the dress had a more traditional wedding experience since she wore a veil and carried flowers.  I suspect she will keep the dress, though I’m not sure; at least it had two weddings in its lifetime, which is one more than most bridal gowns can say, and I loved experiencing a unique connection with my dress-sharer.

This has definitely been my most treasured (and unexpected) liaison with environmentalism yet.