The Ultimate Guide to Wedding Trash the Dress Photo Shoots

Alternet.org calls wedding trash the dress photo shoots “gleefully destructive” and “a temper tantrum aimed at the restrictive rules of bridal femininity.” Agreed! Let’s turn off TLC’s popular reality show “Say Yes to the Dress” shake up this wedding-obsessed culture. Forty percent of brides report that they spent more than 10 hours a week planning their weddings…..adios unpaid second job! (Is it a wonder that 3/4 of couples consider eloping during their engagement? We don’t think so!) [Source: Huff Post] TrashTheDress.com sums it up well: “Simply the best dirty laundry!”

 

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO WEDDING TRASH THE DRESS PHOTO SHOOTS

Where did trash the dress come from? In early 2006, photographer John Michael Cooper of Alternative F*cking Photography was driving by a burnt landscape & thought a bride would look breath-taking standing there. Several of his clients turned him down (not wanting to get their dresses dirty), so he bought a cheapy used dress on eBay for $100 and hired a model. His images went viral after being posted on Wed Shooter. A year later, trash the dress was featured on “Good Morning America” & “Entertainment Tonight.”

THE TYPICAL WEDDING TRASH THE DRESS PHOTO SHOOT

Typically trash the dress photography is restricted to three arenas: 1) getting the dress wet, 2) painting the dress (or otherwise dirtying it–mud is popular), and 3) doing sports or working under a car in the dress. Sometimes the groom is in the picture getting “trashed” too. There is also the saltier divorce trash the dress shoot in which the dress is tossed in a trash & set on fire (typically). Finally, tired of the trend (or just not into it), some brides & photographers have backlashed & created their own hybrid styles like “Cherish the Dress” & “Fash the Dress” (A high fashion re-shoot of the bride after the wedding…maybe giving herself a goth spin or a glam spin from the more traditional wedding day look).

 

IS TRASHING YOUR WEDDING DRESS THERAPEUTIC?

About doing the trash the dress shoots, bride/model Andrea Santos on TrashTheDress.com referred to her shoot as “therapeutic” and added: “There’s something about taking such a strong symbol of the wedding and destroying it, that liberates you…frees you from the residual stress from the wedding…There is nothing holding me to the wedding anymore. I have the pictures, I have memories. That’s all I need. I’m done with it, ready to leave it behind and move forward.”

 

 

It was for me! And it’s a lot cheaper than a honeymoon!