Picture this in your head...a beautiful, expensive, pristine, pure white wedding dress. A dress that costs multiple paychecks, a dress that took months to pick out, a dress that was dreamed about for over 18 years prior to it being worn on the wedding day.
Got it pictured in your head yet?....
Now.....picture this....your wedding photographer approaches you after your wedding ceremony and asks if you'd like to totally demolish your dress after your wedding. Of course, maybe you've already heard of trashing the dress? Or maybe you haven't a clue as to what the heck your photographer is asking? I'll be honest, I'd never heard of such a crazy concept until a year ago either....
The trash the dress tradition goes something like this....you find the dirtiest, most "un-wedding dress" location you could possibly find in which to wear your beautiful dress. You decide that's it's OK to get the dress super, well, dirty! It's an awesome opportunity to let loose and have fun in your dress. It's a great time to do all the activities you normally wouldn't do in an expensive heirloom dress. It's also a very fun way to capture some awesome memories between you and the new hubby!
Below I've assembled some of the coolest trash the dress photo ideas I could find around the net. If any of these spark you imagination and you're interested in having a professional photographer shoot them with you, get in touch with me! I'd love to share in this memory and give you a magnificent set of photos!
Photo courtesy of Lindsay Adler Photography
Paintball fight! What's better than playing paintball hide-n-seek? Playing paintball hide-n-seek with you hubby with your wedding gown on! Call me up, I'll arrange the entire thing, you just show up with your sense of humor and your dress, it'll be a ton of fun!
Zombie Apocalypse! How about ripping up the dress and zombifying it! Add in some fake blood and a 2x4 and you've got great trash the dress photos!
Photo courtesy of Spectale Photo
Glitter & Powder Paint!! This is a totally cool idea! Find an open field or even better a beach, bust out the powdered paint and handfuls of glitter, and go to town! So many fun memories and surely to trash you gown!
Photo courtesy of Verve Studio
Photo courtesy of Jag Studios
Have a Glass of Wine....on Your Dress!! Instead of relaxing with a glass of wine, have fun throwing some wine around. Have fun, take a couple sips of wine, then let the fun begin!
Wrastle in the Mud!! Have fun with mud pies! Take you partner and start flinging some nasty, dirty, grimy mud! Remember when you were a kid and would spend all day in the mud puddles around the neighborhood? Well, this is a great opportunity to turn into a 5 year old kid again (and it makes for a great photo opportunity)! I'm a professional photographer and will make it my job to make you have fun and capture all your memories while doing it!
Junkyard!! How totally cool is this! Find a junkyard, take you hubby and your favorite wedding photographer (me) and find the craziest, coolest vintage stuff to totally ruin you dress! The photo opportunities are endless in a place like this, the cool earth tone colors are amazing. Old cars, cool retro furniture, vintage hub caps, greasy engines, and on and on.... This is definitely on my bucket list to photograph!
Photo courtesy of Lindsay Davis Photography
Fishing!! Want to find something that the husband will be into...going fishing for you trash the dress photo session might be just the solution! Think about it, mud, worms, fish entrails, water....sounds like a great way to dirty up the gown to me! Time this about an hour before sunset along with a quality photographer (me) and you've got a recipe for fantastic photo memories!
Photo credit to L Photographie
Horse Riding!! How about letting you equine friend get in one some of the action. Let your newly married love of your life help you into the saddle and ride around for some spectacular photography and portrait opportunities. Kick it around in the dust, in the stalls, you name it, you dress is sure to get trashed out!
Hopefully this post can boost your enthusiasm for this super fun contemporary form of photography! Just because the wedding day is over, there's no reason to be done creating memories. With the help of you favorite wedding photographer (me!) and a little creativity, there's plenty of great portraits and post-wedding memory pictures to be made!