Laura Sharp, a bride at 22, drove halfway across the midwest, trying on 100 dresses before she found the perfect one.
Her experiences with salespeople varied. Some she felt wanted to help her find a dress that suited her, and at other times she was left in a warehouse with a dress she didn’t even know how to put on.
After Sharp got married in 2008 and moved away from Iowa, she and her mother, Mary Wiese, decided they wanted to provide Kitsap women with “the experience” of a private one-on-one consultation to find the perfect wedding dress no matter what their budget may be. And to do it in the most sustainable way possible.
In the past, daughters could wear the gown of the mother. Although that tradition has faded, the concept of giving a wedding a dress a second day at the altar has come.
“We re-home the gown, just in a different way,” Wiese said of their Silverdale bridal shop, Off the Rack, which sells previously worn or purchased wedding dresses. “It may not be in your family.”
Although the dress is an important part of a wedding, other details that need to be arranged before the big day can be sorted out at the West Sound Wedding Show Sunday at the Bremerton Conference Center. More than 50 vendors, including florists, photographers, travel representatives and rental companies, will be able to provide information for recently engaged couples. This will be the show’s seventeenth year.
Paula Lowe, the show’s organizer, said that 95 percent of the vendors will be from Kitsap County and that the event will provide couples with a chance to meet with vendors under one roof, which will save them a lot of time preparing for the wedding.
“By shopping around, they’ll develop a realistic budget,” Lowe said. “And, most vendors are willing to work with the bride and groom within their budget.”
And with any budget, incorporating eco-friendly alternatives can be an option, and it need not be more expensive. In fact, choosing a green wedding could help bring down the price of a wedding.
“A lot of them aren’t aware that what they’re doing is sustainable,” Lowe said. “They’ll say ‘no’ but then I find out that they used their mother’s cake knife or centerpiece. But, I haven’t seen as many eco-friendly weddings as I’d like to see.”
Laura Zander, a Silverdale-based photographer, always makes suggestions on how her brides can reduce the size of their carbon footprints.
“There’s always some way to incorporate being green,” Zander said. “There’s easy ways.”
One simple way is printing invitations on recycled paper, she said.
Zander is listed with the Green Bride Guide, an online directory of eco-friendly vendors.
“I don’t want to contribute to the pollution — to the problem,” Zander said.
Lowe said she has known of couples giving trees to their guests to plant in their yards to offset their carbon impact. But, there are other ways, such as using china and linens at the reception, which are reusable, rather than plastic and paper that would create garbage.
“When you’re responsible for entertaining that many people, it falls on the couple to be more eco-friendly,” Lowe said. “I think it’s just important for our society as a whole.”
Sharp and Wiese are anticipating the wedding planning season to pick up — many couples get engaged over the holidays and begin planning in the new year. Off the Rack is located in Old Town Silverdale and sells gowns ranging in price from $100 to $2,500.
“We were both bitten by the wedding bug,” Sharp said of their love for helping brides-to-be with an essential part of their wedding.
West Sound Wedding Show
From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 9 at the Kitsap Conference Center, 100 Washington Ave., Bremerton.
Admission is $8 and tickets are available at the door. One dollar off admission price for those with military ID or for those who bring a non-perishable food item to donate to the Bremerton Foodline.
More information at www.westsoundweddingshow.com.
