Trashing The Wedding Dress

What is trash the dress you might ask? Simply put it is wearing your wedding or prom dress for one last photo session in places and environments that may in the end destroy the dress.

But the simple answer isn’t always the best answer to this question.

Yes, while it’s true that there are some things that can be done to a dress that will make it unwearable in the future, there are also scenarios that allow fabulous and beautiful and unusual photos to be created that do not cause irreversible damage to your dress.

For instance, a session with a bride on the beach, with the bride lying on the sand as the foamy surf washed closer and closer to her beautiful and sometimes very expensive wedding gown. Even if a wave were to copletedly wash over the dress or if she were to wade further out and submerge herself, the dress is not necessarily destroyed. Some fabics like silk, or intolerant to water damage, but most other fabrics are not. In fact I have several wedding dresses that I purchased from bridal shops that have been used for trash the dress photography sessions. Once the session was over I simply took the dress home, hosed off all the sand, then let the dress soak in the bathtub with some shampoo for the soap. I then rinsed it a couple of times and layed it out on my hammock in the sun to dry. All I did was turn it over a couple of times so it could dry evenly and it actually looked better than it did when I bought it. The sequins and beads sparkled more brightly and the dress fabric was spotless.

These dresses were used in the ocean, in the river, on concrete at the Wright Memorial, on the pier at Avalon Pier in Kill Devil Hills on the Outer Banks, in the pool at the Outer Banks beach club, in an abandoned building on the waterfront in the fishing village of Wanchese, and on the decks of fishing boats.

Trash the Dress sessions allow the bride or the bride and groom as a couple show their edgy and creative side by planning and participating in this trendy form of bridal fashion photography.  A bride may choose to be more gentle in the trashing of her dress, or she may go all out and burn it or cover it in paint. The options are as endless as your imagination.

Give it a try or at least talk to some brides who have done it to ask what the experience was like and if they have any regrets. I will tell you in all of the trash the sessions I have photographed, there hasn’t been a single person who regretted doing it. In fact it was one of the most anticipated events of their wedding activities.