What a waste of a beautiful dress..

… to lock it in a cupboard never to be seen again after the wedding day!

Ok, so this “Trash The Dress” thing is misnamed. We don’t want anyone to trash any kind of dress. We want them to get back into that one dress they love so much they chose it for their wedding day.

We want them to take their time getting photographs they maybe couldn’t get on the actual day. Maybe it rained all day. Maybe the venue was limiting. Maybe you just wanted to spend time with your guests rather than spend hours getting the kind of photos you actually hoped for. No problemo!

Just like Samantha here, there is absolutely nothing to stop anyone getting back into their wedding dress for a photo shoot where timings, weather, guests, location and dirt on the dress no longer make a shred of difference.

I love these shoots. They’re great fun. Sam & Monty made my job easy too, bringing both their wedding outfits and and totally going with some of my weird ideas

Here are a few of my faves from the day…

I love shooting Rock The Frock sessions. We don’t call them Trash The Dress shoots unless they actually want to trash their wedding dress. Which they rarely do.

Rachel & Phil were married last August in Herefordshire but were greeted by some typically wet British weather and didn’t manage to get any of the kind of photos they were hoping for. I never shot their actual wedding but I was happy to help make some pictures for them when we met up on a chilly but brighter day in January.

The shoot began on the streets around our studio in Birmingham before moving to Sutton Park to get something a little greener. I love the variety we managed to get from one afternoon. And Rachel & Phil made my job easy.

Big thanks to Anna Clarke for helping me out on the day too.

Fay & Jason were married at Rowton Castle in February. Unfortunately I didn’t get to shoot their wedding but I so wish I had! They booked the photographer recommended by the venue and were a little disappointed with the results. Fay emailed me asking about a “Trash The Dress” session, stressing that she “doesn’t want to actually ‘trash’ the dress”. And to be honest, neither would we.

So we met up one Tuesday morning in May and spent the day on a mini adventure in search of cool locations, only stopping for a nice pub lunch out in the countryside. This is why I LOVE my job and Fay & Jason rocked the shoot. Unlike the wedding day there were no restrictions on time, location, etc. They didn’t have to worry if their guests were ok and if the dress got a little dirty, so what?! Just clean it later.

I wish every bride would do this after her wedding day. We had so much fun!

So here are just a selection of images from our “Shoot The Dress” session with Fay & Jason.

FAVOURITE!!!

This shoot was absolutely one of my favourites ever and that’s mainly down to Fay & Jason being so cool, fun, adventurous and great company. Thanks so much for asking me to do the session. Now, which one will look best on your wall…?

Stuff that I love…

1. A girl called Evelyne.
2. Music with emotion.
3. Daddies Brown Sauce.
4. Checking items off a to-do list.
5. Traveling in Asia.
6. Stephen Fry.
7. The perfect cup of tea.
8. Mayonaise – the Smashing Pumpkins song.
9. Freshly cleaned sheets.
10. Can-do people.
11. Scuba diving.
12. Driving along Sunset Boulevard with the roof down.
13. Direct flights.
14. Jack Daniel’s, but only with coke.
15. Frankie Boyle‘s humour.
16. Dark chocolate.
17. Countryside pubs.
18. The last blue in the sky before nightfall.
19. When somebody covers a song and makes it better.
20. Power showers.
21. The Image Is Found
22. Waking up early and not feeling tired.
23. Stationery – I have an unhealthy obsession with marker pens and jotters!
24. Funky hotels.
25. The T-Mobile Dance
26. FailBlog.org
27. Evelyne’s chicken pasta.
28. Bose noise cancelling headphones.
29. Homemade greetings cards.
30. Blog comments

Stuff that bugs me…

1. Drivers who hog the middle lane when the left lane is clear.
2. People who don’t like bands just because they’re popular.
3. Perfectly wrapped presents.
4. Rogues apostrophes!
5. Traffic lights which change to red when nobody else is at the junction.
6. Expensive Wifi.
7. Sentimental patriotism.
8. Mayonnaise – the food.
9. Never having enough time.
10. Parents who dress twins in identical clothes.
11. Having no mobile phone reception in my house.
12. People who assume I only shoot weddings because it pays well.
13. Girls who say that nothing’s wrong while making it obvious that there’s something very wrong.
14. Kaiser Chiefs.
15. The Mighty Boosh. I tried to like it. It’s rubbish!
16. Drivers who don’t say thank you after you let them out at a junction.
17. Warm beer.
18. Traffic. Especially when it’s in my way!!
19. Gold jewelery.
20. Cutting-the-cake photos.
21. 3 songs, no flash!
22. Fat kids.
23. When somebody puts a slice of lemon in my Jack & coke.
24. People who think the Bible is a true story.
25. Shaving.
26. Fairweather friends.
27. Greetings cards that say “this was the cheapest in the shop and I don’t know you at all”.
28. Miami. Apart from when it’s full of my friends.
29. Christmas decorations in any month except December.
30. When bands I love release albums that I don’t love.

Go on, leave me a comment with one thing you love and one thing that bugs you to death!

The media seem to be picking up on the whole Trash The Dress craze which seems to have divided opinion quite strongly from the discussions I’ve had with brides and, more often, their mothers! Plenty of people see the whole affair as quite outrageous and wasteful, destroying a beautiful and, of course, expensive wedding dress just for the sake of some photos. I totally understand the argument and would never try to change somebody’s mind if that’s how they feel.

However… there is an equally valid second opinion which is becoming more and more popular…

It all comes down to what happens to the dress after the wedding day. Does a bride put the dress away thinking maybe one day she’ll get it out and reminisce about her wedding day? Or maybe she thinks she could pass it on to her daughter in 30 years time (yeah right!)? Or does she plan to put the dress on eBay and make some of her money back? Trust me, dresses rarely sell on eBay for more than a tenth of what you paid for it. Some girls may think they could dye the dress and crop it to make a funky little evening dress. Most though, in my opinion, have no idea what to do with it and end up putting the dress somewhere to gather dust.

So, why “trash the dress”? In actual fact the whole Trash The Dress name is a little misleading. Around 80% of shoots under that banner result in the dress needing nothing more than a clean. Occasionally, of course, brides actually relish the chance to really TRASH the dress and get some unique and dynamic images in the process. Just look at Alt F‘s site to see what I mean. A Trash The Dress session allows you time to get amazing photos of yourself in that gorgeous dress without the worry of wedding day time schedules. It allows you to use locations anywhere you choose rather than in or around the wedding venue. And if it rains, unlike the wedding day, you can reschedule the shoot or even use the rain as a dramatic element for the photos.

Like I say, I’d never try to convince a bride that she should have a Trash the Dress session if she’s not sure about the idea, but for some girls, I think it’s a shame not to!

I’ve had researchers from ITV’s “This Morning” show asking if any of my brides would be up for doing their Trash The Dress session on TV, and today Radio WM called asking if they could feature one on the station (not sure how they want to do that on radio but still…).

If you fancy really getting the most out of your wedding dress and having plenty of fun in the process, please give me a call to chat about ideas. Feel free to leave any comments in this post if you have any thoughts on the whole Trash The Dress idea.

You may have heard of the mostly-American phenomenon called Trash The Dress where brides book a post-wedding photo shoot with the intention of creating some stunning images which may or may not damage the wedding dress (usually the dress just needs cleaning afterwards). “What a waste” people say, “to put a beautiful dress in the cupboard never to be seen again”.

Now a UK television company is looking for girls who have married in 2008 and want to trash the dress live on TV. If you’d like to get involved in the show please email anoushka.chengadoo@itvplc.com including a photo from your wedding, the date you got married, a contact number and any ideas you have for the Trash The Dress photo session.

If you’d rather do a session without the eyes of the world on you, feel free to email me to chat about your ideas.