You could have a green wedding and still wear high fashion — from another era. Vintage bridal gowns are becoming very popular, from the elegance of the 1920s and 1930s to the glamour of the 1950s to the psychedelic fun of the 1960s and 1970s. Perhaps you may want to go even further back in time and wear a romantic Victorian gown. You can scour thrift stores, resale shops, consignment stores, and antique stores. You never know what will turn up.

Explore Your Options

To research vintage fashions and styles of wedding gowns, check out Daniela Turudich's Vintage Wedding: Simple Ideas for Creating a Romantic Vintage Wedding and Norma Shephard's Accessorizing the Bride: Vintage Wedding Finery Through the Decades. In Vintage Wedding, Daniela Turudich gives you highly detailed drawings and descriptions of wedding finery starting in the 1910s. She also gives details of attire for the bride, the groom, and the attendants and popular color schemes, drinks, food, and even favor ideas for the different decades. In Accessorizing the Bride, you'll find beautiful photos of bridal gowns and accessories along with historical details of the dresses and accessories from the Victorian era all the way to the 1990s. For a very in-depth look at the history of the bridal fashion industry along with fabulous photos from vintage weddings, check out I Do: 100 Years of Wedding Fashion by Caroline Cox.

If you are looking for a specific style or era, try shopping online. There are several trustworthy dealers that offer vintage gowns and vintage accessories such as Vintage Wedding (www.vintagewedding.com) and VintageVixen.com (www.vintagevixen.com). EBay is a good place to look, but buyer beware. What you end up with may not be authentic or it may be damaged. No matter who you are dealing with, ask for full disclosure. Ask what condition the gown is in, how fragile the material is, and whether the dress is wearable (some people just collect vintage gowns they don't plan to wear). Above all, do not rely on sizes. Get measurements. Sizes mean nothing in vintage gowns because they don't even come close to modern size charts. Even a dress made as recently as the 1970s can be very different from the sizes you're used to today. Over time, people have gotten taller and thicker and sizes have been adjusted accordingly. Vintage styles are often very small and are made for shorter women. Make sure you have accurate measurements of yourself.

When shopping for a vintage gown, avoid dresses that have stains or need other repairs because it can be very costly to have them restored. Ask about refund policies and get insurance on anything you have shipped to you. The last thing to consider with vintage dresses is undergarments. You'll want to know what kinds of undergarments were worn with a specific style of dress. Some styles may require a corset or a hoop skirt.

Turn Your Vintage Style into a Theme

One great thing about choosing a vintage gown is planning your wedding around it. You can create a vintage theme for your wedding, and it can all be done in an eco-conscious way.

If you choose a vintage gown from, say, the 1950s, you can incorporate that into your wedding. Set the tables with vintage '50s glassware or other kitchenware, such as plates and bowls made from Melmac. Dig through thrift stores for anything that can be used as decorations or even as favors. Since nothing is new and everything is being reused, it goes along with your primary green theme.

Currently the '50s is one of the easiest eras to find items from, but you can let any era inspire you. However, just know that you'll be searching harder and will have to widen your net to include antique stores and online retailers if you want to pay tribute to an earlier era. You may also end up paying much higher prices. If you do pick an older era, allow plenty of time for the hunt.