Trash the Dress || Wedding Week

"Trash the Dress" is a new phenomenon in which brides decide to have one final hurrah with their wedding dress by having an outrageous, often messy photo shoot. When I first heard about this trend, I was like, "oh, no way!" But then I started thinking about the yards and yards of ruched fluff that I've been saving in my closet since 2006. My dress was too big, and I am sure that any daughter of mine--if I even have one--would want her own dress on her wedding day. So, why was I holding on to it? Aside from taking up valuable closet real estate, there wasn't much that dress was really doing for me. I considered several options: making a quilt, preserving it, donating it, etc. I decided I really liked the idea of having one last day in my dress and creating a way to get really magnificent photos. Rather than smear my dress with dirt or paint, I went to one of my favorite places and just played for a day with my fabulous photography team in a Trash the Dress collaborative shoot at Cannon Beach. The results are stunning. Aside from gorgeous photos, I have yet another memory in my special dress, and (despite my best efforts) after the dress dried and I shook the sand off, it is still far from "trashed."

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Many brides elect to do their Trash-the-Dress shoot days after their wedding, and many do it, like in my case, years after. After having undergone a significant weight-loss, my trash the dress portrait session was also a celebration of a new body and saying goodbye to insecurities I found so evident in my actual wedding portraits. In order to make the dress fit, we utilized clamps and I held the dress up in some photos, which was awkward, but you can't tell! 

I hope more brides consider this option as an exercise of celebration of themselves and their beauty. Along with some of the fun shots we will get of the "destruction" of the actual dress, we also can create beautiful, stunning portraits of you that you would never be able to attempt on your actual wedding day. The shoot itself is a freeing, fun experience full of laughter, adventure, and getting a little bit messy. There are all sorts of ideas and options, ranging from those that really destroy the dress and those--like my shoot--that still might leave you with something to save.