Brides 'trash' their dresses for unique photos
- Sarah Green
- 12th August 2008
THE term “trash” does not necessarily mean “ruin” according to photographer Vincent Swift.
Mr Swift from Vincent Swift Photography (who is based in Beenleigh but also photographs in Toowoomba) says “trash the dress” is just an expression.
“What we are actually achieving is getting some extra photos after the wedding day,” he said.
“It gives the bride a chance to wear the dress again and the chance to create some extremely unique photographs without the wedding day pressures.
“The dress is not anymore ruined than after your wedding day when it has been dragged around a dirty floor.“'Trash the dress' is just an expression. It can be cut up but generally is about getting the wedding dress wet for photos – something you can not do on your wedding day.”
Vincent said people who saw the photos of his 'trash the dress' shoots could not believe the brides were getting their actual wedding dresses wet.
He said for Toowoomba brides water was not necessary.
“It can be in a paddock climbing over machinery, in trees, mud anything you wouldn't do on your wedding day,” he said.
For further information, Vincent has set up a trash the dress blog website at www.trashthedressphotography.com.au
ACCORDING to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) more than 100,000 marriages take place each year, which adds up to a lot of dresses.
Yet many of these gowns are destined to spend the rest of the bride's days hidden away in a closet, at best maybe ending up on eBay or in the dress-up box.
It doesn't have to be so for today's modern bride, according to New Orleans-based Mark Eric, founder of the blog www.trashthedress.com.
The site encourages brides to send in photos of themselves getting down and dirty in their wedding dresses under the slogan, “it's about creation not destruction”.
Eric says trashing the dress is an opportunity to break from tradition and have fun, while producing some striking, if unconventional, wedding pictures.
His website shows brides floating in lakes, lying on sandy beaches or standing in blustering deserts.
“A few years ago, photographers joked that the picture of the bridal party jumping in the air was the new cheese,” he said in an email.
“The main idea behind the trash the dress session is that it's okay to break from tradition, even if it means getting the dress a little dirty.
“That's the foundation to great pictures.
“Once a bride is willing to unbustle, and step away from the spotless altar, true images can be created.”
THE trend has caught on in Australia.
Chris Buechner, administrator of the Trash the Dress Australia website, says in the last six months the site has recorded hundreds of hits per day – with a record 1884 hits in one day.
The site shows photos of brides submerged in water, sitting in dirty stairwells and getting up close and personal with hubby over a greasy car engine. One series of photos shows a bride progressively tearing her tulle dress to shreds.
Buechner, a professional photographer, says the shoots are fun but the results can be stunning.
“We have fun together and the brides don't want the shoot to end. When they see the pictures they are just blown away,” he says.
Bride-to-be Rosie Newman, from Toowoomba, is getting married in November.
She has no intention of trashing her dress.
“Definitely one craze that I'm not jumping on the bandwagon to join, even though my dress will probably get stored in a box under my bed for the next 50 years,” she said.
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