Trash the dress concept!

The new, yet not brand new, concept of trash the dress is catching on coast to coast... What a cool idea - the anti-bridal-bridal photo... A bride in a gorgeous dress in a place where one wouldn't generally place a bride... Very unusual, yet unique!

I have done trash the dress shoots (not as many as I would like) and I do have to say that they are a ton of fun! You get to throw lots of old school rules about the traditional bridal photograph out the window and have fun with various locations or scenes...

Lots of brides ask the question - "do you really trash the dress"... In some cases photographers will go as far as mangling a dress - it really depends on the brides interests... If they want to preserve the dress as a keepsake, then it is recommended that a second hand shop gown is purchased for the shoot. If the bride doesn't care about her actual dress or doesn't intend on preserving it for a generation down the line, then have at whatever comes to mind... In some cases you don't actually destroy the dress - more so you get it a little dirtier than natural... In some cases photographers have reported that the dress sees about the same abuse as a normal wedding day...

A few clients I have worked with just bought the dress via Craig'slist/Ebay or second hand and went at it... At the end of the day we really didn't destroy the dress. The brides commented that they could actually have the dress cleaned and preserved as they normally would... It really depends on how creative one could get with the shoot... If intentional staining (paints, wines, inks, dyes, mud, etc.) is desired for effect - then count the dress out for the preservation. If you just want to shoot in interesting locations - then chances are the dress is going to be fine...

A trash the dress session is a great way to have fun with bridal photos and have something unique to show your grand kids... Who knows what they will be doing in 40 years for their wedding and bridal portraits, but chances are they will think grandma was kinda cool by going outside of the box with her photos to document that time in her life!

Traditions are great ideas to preserve for future enjoyment - but new traditions are more fun to create!