Green weddings
You carry an eco-friendly tote when you're in the supermarket aisles but what about when you're walking up the aisle? Your 'bag for life' isn't quite going to cut it on your big day...
Love Eco have come to the rescue with this Big Eco Clutch Bag, which got Bridalwave's seal of approval today as perfectly suitable for a wedding. You'll fit all your wedding essentials in here (makeup, tissues, mini bottle of gin) and few will guess at how green the bag really is: its buckles are vintage and the leather comes from remnants from the furniture industry and they're lined with bronze silk. £49.99 at Love Eco.
Fashion & accessories
Ladies: We are now in a leap year, which means it's your chance to 'pop the question' on 14th Feb! (If you believe all that superstitious nonsense, of course.) So if you're dreaming of a 2008 wedding, why not check out some of the green bridal goodies you can do the deed in over on Bridalwave?
Today, they feature these stunning Te Casan shoes. Available in nude satin, with a bow over the toe, only 60 pairs of these 'Gem' shoes will be made in each size and they would look great with jeans later or dressed up with a pale summer suit too.
Related: New Eco Shoe range from Natalie Portman | Hemp wedding dress from Threadhead Creations
Green weddings
If you want to walk down the aisle with your head held high, you'll need to make sure you're wearing a dress that you're truly comfortable in. So, in addition to not eating a whole bar of Green & Black's every evening between the dress fitting and the run up the wedding, you might also want to try buying a dress which comes from an ethical supplier.
For London based brides-to-be, Wholly Jo's in Uxbridge offers dresses made from "peace silk", hemp and organic cotton. They also offer alterations and restylings for those who would rather recycle a dress than buy a new one. Gaiahouse in Sussex offers dresses made from peace silk, as well as a range of ready to wear dresses. Conscious Elegance in Durham makes all its dresses with 100% SKAL certified organic cottons and pesticide free silk and hemp/silk blends, with plans to offer cruelty free silk very soon. They also allow you to send in measurements and buy a dress without visiting the shop.
Related: Hemp wedding dress from Threadhead Creations | Recycled denim Watters wedding dress for DIFFA | The Dressmarket: second hand wedding dresses
Ethical & green gifts
Want to make sure you don't get the requisite garish pair of socks and large box of non-vegan chocolates for Christmas this year? Fed up with people forgetting your birthday? You could do a lot worse than making your way to the award-winning Natural Collection website. Once you're there, you can browse the fabulous range of products and make yourself a Gift List filled with deeply desirable eco-friendly treats.
With goodies ranging from beautiful items of fairly traded jewellery to handy and affordable eco-gadgets, and from eco-friendly baby accessories to green accessories for the office or study, I defy anyone not to find something they want on this site. Start securing yourself a Cool Yule now, and ward off the mouldy old Quality Street and the nasty socks before they're even a twinkle in the mother-in-law's eye!
Green weddings
With the opening of Ingle & Rhode’s online e-boutique in September, ethically sourced and produced jewellery is suddenly a lot easier to find and buy. With safeguards in place to assure the provenance of all their gemstones and metals, it’s much easier to be confident that the piece you’re buying comes at no cost other than money – it’s an admirable business practice by any means.
On top of that, their designs are wonderful and varied, and there’s also a bespoke service allowing you to help design a ring of your own making. Ethically sound and aesthetically pleasing, what more could you ask for?
It may be a little early to start thinking about Christmas, but the London & Scottish International have got me all excited about Christmas parties (or any Friday night for that matter). And the reason why? Their award winning organic spirits.
Top of the bunch is the classic Juniper Green Gin. This smooth-as-can-be gin is made with delicate herbs, including juniper and coriander seeds, for a taste that is so pure and clean that only the finest of mixers (if you must) will do. I recommend sweetener-free Fever Tree Tonic.
For a gold star vodka martini (or bloody mary), get your hands on their UK5 vodka. It doesn’t leave you with any icy harshness in the back of your mouth - instead it’s gently but perfectly potent.
Both drinks are made from organic grain, natural yeast, and fermented the old fashioned way without any chemical enhancers, glycerol or carbon filtering.
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Fashion & accessories
This month sees the launch of a beautiful range of ethical jewellery by Ingle & Rhode . They only buy conflict-free diamonds, which are cut and polished by workers employed in good conditions and the origin of all their gem stones can be traced back which ensures their ethical nature. The gold is fairly traded and mined without using cyanide or mercury. The communities they trade with benefit from 10% of their profits, which go towards funding health, education and development.
[via EcoStreet]
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