Trashing Your Wedding Dress

While many brides would never even dream of walking on the lawn in their wedding dress (much less jumping into a river), other brides welcome the opportunity to trash their dresses. What?! Yes – you read that right.

You’ve spent months deciding on the most breathtaking dress you could find, spent a fortune on it and have handled it as though it were a priceless artifact. Now is the time to think of different things that would ruin, snag, rip, tear and stain that dress while a photographer gets it all on film!

While many women would cry out in shock at this idea, others consider it very liberating. It’s a chance to have a different kind of experience with your adored dress – rather than cleaning and giving it a life in your closet for the next 20 or 30 years.

Photographers typically capture wedding dress-bedecked brides in places you wouldn’t normally find a bride – such as a flowing river, a trash-surrounded abandoned building or lying on a sandy shore. If you’re just the kind of woman who wants to add these chic photos to your wedding album, here are some ideas for how to trash your wedding dress.

Get the Right Photographer

Many photographers don’t take ‘trash your dress’ pictures. It’s important to find an experienced photographer who has done at least a few of these sessions. He or she will be able to help you determine exactly how badly you want to trash your dress and where it should take place. Whether you’d like to go to the extreme and play in the mud while wearing your beloved gown or you would actually like to keep your wedding dress when the fun is over – getting the right photographer is an important part of trashing your wedding dress.

Choose Your Location

For many brides, the allure of these ‘trash your dress’ photographs is the freedom they convey. You’ve been stuffed into bridal underwear, gowns, headpieces and uncomfortable shoes for quite some time. You have probably exceeded your stress limit while planning your wedding and you’ve gone out on a limb to keep the wedding party, your family and your guests happy. Now it’s your time to be free; relax and just be you.

Your location should help you do that – whether it’s a sandy sea shore, a majestic-looking forest or a bubbling brook. Find a place that will make you feel free, happy, reflective and at peace. Some of the most popular choices for brides of today include:

-          Romantic-looking or vine covered abandoned buildings.

-          Lakes, ponds or rivers.

-          Fields boasting tall, swaying grass.

-          On the back of a motorcycle.

-          The paintball arena.

-    At a vineyard, crushing grapes

It’s all about you and a location that makes you feel as if you can finally relax after all of the wedding-planning stress.

Determine Whether You Will Be Flying Solo  

In many of these artsy, trash your wedding dress photos; the bride’s new hubby is present as well – donning his wedding attire. These photos can be beautiful; a stark contrast from the clean and polished wedding photographs. Imagine your husband fondly caressing your cheek and looking into your eyes as the two of you stand hip-deep in the sloshing ocean.

Many brides however, choose to have photos of only them. This all depends on your own taste and preference – as well as that of your new husband. Decide whether you’ll be taking these pictures alone or with the love of your life before contacting the photographer.

By using the tips above, you can learn how to trash your wedding dress and capture some memorable photographs for your ‘not so traditional’ wedding album.