Would You Wear Fungus On Your Wedding Day?

If there's one thing my former job as a bridal consultant taught me, it's how out of hand wedding budgets can get — especially when it comes to the dress. No matter how cleverly frugal they are, brides on a budget always fight an uphill battle when trying to find the (affordable) dress of their dreams. Well, except for this particular bride, who found an ultra cheap alternative to all the pricy lace and rhinestones. Want a budget-friendly bridal gown, too? It's an easy as growing some fungus in your garden! Yup, DIY fungus wedding gowns are a thing we're doing now.

Erin Smith is an artist in residence at Microsoft Research, who felt her sustainable, environmentally-friendly way of life should be reflected in her wedding day enseble. “The wedding dress is a perfect example of a one-time-use, energy intensive and entirely non-sustainable model that is representative of so many of the choices that we make daily," Smith explained to The Guardian. With several yards of fabric, a hefty price tag, and the unlikeliness of the bride her wearing it again, I can't disagree. But that still isn't enough to make me want to essentially drape by body in fungus on my wedding day.

But that is precisely what Smith did! She walked down the aisle in a homegrown gown made entirely from a type of white fungus called mycelium and tree mulch. She grew her funky dress in a container of agricultural waste (mmm, just what I want to smell like on my wedding day —manure) and can be redeposited and composted once the bridal bliss has worn off.

While I'm loving the fierce combination of saving the world and saving money, I'm itchy just thinking about this dress and want it nowhere near my body. Thanks, but no thanks. Still, kudos to Smith for showing up everyone of those hippie dippy brides on your Gypsy Wedding Pinterest board. Those silly posers didn't even stand a chance!

Images: Giphy