Happy New Year, readers! I hope that you all had as restful and wonderful of a New Year holiday as I did – I’m anxious to share in the excitement of 2010 with all of you!

Today’s Green Monday is all about “saving the Earth, one dress at a time.” That’s the slogan of The Green Hanger Shop, which is an eco-conscious marketplace for brides to buy and sell beautiful, handpicked clothing. It’s an eco-boutique of sorts, as the site aims to be a connection for buyers and sellers of pre-owned wedding attire.

The site is SUPER easy to navigate – brides-to-be can choose what to search for (accessories, bridal gowns, etc.) by category. Judy, the brains behind The Green Hanger Shop, also runs a super-cute blog full of wonderfully useful and smart information (read her post entitled “Dear Daughters,” and you will instantly fall in love with Judy!).

Big thanks to Judy for providing yet another marketplace for green brides-to-be! The Green Hanger Shop is an approved vendor of The Green Bride Guide, and Judy and The Green Hanger Shop were also featured on Once Wed this year.

[Photo courtesy of The Green Hanger Shop]

Hi everyone,

From reading my blog each week, I assume that you all have noticed the blogroll that appears on the right side of my web page. As you can see, I’m a big fan of wedding blogs, and I feel eternally grateful to bloggers like Abby at Style Me Pretty, Amanda at Vintage Glam Weddings and Emily at Once Wed for the endless creativity they offer.

That being said, it’s a true statement that many of the blogs I frequent tend to feature weddings well above J and my meager budget, and I often find myself longing for professional lighting or the financial ability to supply pashminas for my guests. Surprisingly, I only experienced my first bout of envy at the hands of the blogosphere this week.

While perusing the always-lovely Style Me Pretty earlier this week, I stumbled upon the Idaho wedding of Cortney and Scott, and while I was wowed by the decor (if you want an outdoor wedding, seriously DO THIS SET-UP, and you BETTER invite me!), I was even more wowed by the photography, done by the amazing Stephanie Fay. The problem: Stephanie’s stellar photography is WAY WAY WAY out of our budget.

I felt sad that we couldn’t drop thousands to afford the skills of a wonderfully creative photographer, but then I remembered something: I have friends from high school who are amateur photographers that will certainly be able to pull of amazingly wonderful photographs and will work hard to document our day for a fraction of the cost.

Therefore, despite my sadness at not being able to utilize Stephanie’s amazing eye for detail and impeccable knack for capturing important moments, I know that our wedding photography will be special to us and just as memorable, because it’ll be us in the photos. It’ll be me in the white dress and him in the grey tux, and we’ll be joyous and overwhelmed and in a perpetual state of wonderment that we found each other. Photographs don’t make feelings like that happen – love does.

That being said…Stephanie Fay, if you’re reading this, I absolutely love your work. Any couple should feel lucky to have your eyes behind the camera on their big day.

Also, to Cortney and Scott…you guys rocked it out. Seriously.

[Photo Credit: All photos via Stephanie Fay]