A peculiar trend is coming upon former brides who actually want to dirty up their wedding dresses.

By: Mitra Asgarinik

I was watching CNN a few days ago, when I saw a clip of a woman in a spledid wedding dress wallowing into a murky river; I was flabberghasted.

"Uhm, why is this woman doing this? Is she insane?" I thought, as I turned up the volume and continued to watch the segment. The bride continued to dirty up her dress by making herself cozy among some detritus (decomposing leaves) and then the clip flashed to the same bride flopping face down into the stated murky river. I thought this might have been some kind of fetish of some sort, but the reporter proved me wrong and said brides actually want to do this to their dress. "Most of them said their wedding dresses are just taking up space, and they want to put them to good use" mentioned CNN and Orlando's WESH.com. Next scrolled a clip of a gorgeous bride (and dress) lounging out in high tide as a photographer snapped pictures of her several times. This confused me. So, I decided to check out TrashTheDress.Com, which was mentioned by CNN, and read up some more.

TrashTheDress.Com encourages women to "totally trash" their wedding dresses and endulge in some photographs with their new look. The website's theme is "It's about creation, not destruction", and from an artistic viewpoint, I can see where this is true. I have seen many a photo of models with their garments taking a whole new perspective in a different medium. In water, the fabric becomes a second model and takes on interesting characteristics as it trails through, almost as if it were meant to be worn in the water and not on land. It looks very pretty, and I do appreciate the photograph for its artistic value; however, I still cannnot appreciate this trashing of a wedding dress.

I searched for some different photos of trashed wedding dresses on other websites, and found pictures of women torching their dress, horseback riding, and a woman in almost waist-deep mud (pictured to the left, photo courtesy of La Gatera de Beguemot ). TrashTheDress.Com says gives brides three reasons as to why to trash their dress, including "...your daughter won't wear it in 20 - 30 years", "show your husband how commited you are by trashing the dress", and seeing the trashing from an artistic standpoint. Orlando photographer Adam Gaiser, in response to trashing one's wedding dress for some photographs, told me, "That'd be my dream as a photographer. A bride who wants to spare no expense to destroy the expensive dress, all for the sake of a few photos. Definitely a scam brought to you by some photgraphers who wanted to get some cool shoots."

I honestly don't get this, especially for the women who spend thousands to hundreds of fhousands for their one special day. It's a girl's dream, all throughout her life, to get married and be a real princess for one day. I also, personally, see this trashing of a wedding dress as an anger statement to their marriage, not a "commitment". I guess these women are more "artistically minded" than me, because I would not even think about trashing my wedding dress. Also, the majority of photographs I found of women trashing their dress aren't composed of the highest photographic qualities. They look like snapshots from a four mega-pixel digital camera. Although, yes, some of the photographs do capture a stunning moment with a high quality camera and do make a nice shot, I really don't see the point to trashing your wedding dress just for a few "interesting" photos.

?

SeanAzul.Net, which shows the lighter and more romantic side to trashing wedding dresses.

There is a also an alternative to trashing one's wedding dress. MakingMemories.Org is a website which allows you to donate your wedding dress and sell it to less fortunate women at a reasonable price, and then all of the proceeds go to breast cancer research.

Ultimately, you are the bride, so what you will with your dress. If this kind of thing interests you, then go for it (especially if the "trashing" is reversable). There are many choices you can make as to what you will do with your wedding dress the day after your wedding. I just thought this trashing of the dress seems, well, a little trashy and un-trendy, when you could do something more constructive with your dress from another standpoint, or at least take the trashing to a lighter and reversable level.

A photograph (which I actually enjoy) from Your Story Captured (Flickr.Com)

Photo courtesy of A Stone in the Garden (Flickr.Com)

Photo courtesy of Cordele Photography.?