What is Trash The Dress, you ask? It is a photography session of ever increasing popularity that contrasts the elegance of a bride in her wedding dress by placing her in an environment which is out of place from the traditional wedding scene. Here in the Riviera Maya, Mexico, that environment is most commonly in the ocean waves of our stunning Caribbean beaches, or it is under water in the jungle cenotes. The images that are captured look like something from the pages of a high fashion magazine, but the question is: Is a Trash The Dress photography session right for YOU? We weigh the pros and cons.
First, the PROS
Make a statement
The symbolism of trashing your wedding dress is seen by some brides as a bold statement that their wedding is finished, and that they are never going to need to wear a wedding dress again. And of course you get terrific photos worthy of the pages of Vogue!
Twice in a lifetime
A trash the dress session will breathe new life into a wedding dress that would ordinarily get worn for only one short moment in your whole life and then be packed away in a garment bag forever. You will get to put it on again (yay!) and have a blast creating new memories.
Squeeky clean
The ocean may give your wedding dress a good scrub, often leaving it cleaner than it was after your wedding reception. And since the Riviera Maya jungle cenotes are fresh water, they should not present the same concerns you may have about salt and sand.
Read the label
If your wedding dress is 100% polyester, you should not have any concerns about actually ruining your wedding dress by getting it wet. Hooray for synthetic fibers!
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And now the CONS
Ruined Reality
Will you ruin your wedding dress by doing a trash the dress session? You might, yes. If your wedding dress is made from a natural fiber such as cotton or linen, and most especially silk, then getting it wet puts it at risk of shrinking and/or ending up as rumpled mess.
Debauched details
If your wedding dress has intricate beading or delicate lace, you should be comfortable with losing a few beads to the ocean or ripping the lace on an underwater jungle root in the cenote.
Drowning danger
It’s important to note that in 2012, a bride drowned while doing a trash the session in a lake. Her wedding dress was too heavy and it ended up overwhelming her. If you plan to wear a Cinderella wedding gown for your beach wedding or one with heavy layers of fabric (Which, by the way, we DO NOT recommend!) you could be flirting with disaster by going for a swim in it.
However…
If you think you would like to do a trash the dress session, but you do NOT want to risk ruining your wedding dress, then you can always do the shoot in a different dress! Pick a wedding dress look alike, or just go with a totally different look altogether. OR don’t go in the water! The whole point of a trash the dress photo shoot is to be creative. You can climb a Mayan ruin, or eat a messy taco at a street cart on a vibrant Mexican street. There are endless ideas that do not end in you getting soaked!
And consider this…
If you hope to preserve your wedding dress in case your daughter wants to wear it for her own wedding some day, well, you need to give your head a shake! 30 years from now styles will be so completely different, and your daughter will no more want to wear your wedding dress then than you want to wear your own mother’s now!
If you are planning a destination wedding in the Riviera Maya, Mexico, and would like to do a Trash The Dress photography session, then contact us today! We are Fun In The Sun Weddings, your best choice for destination wedding photography on the beaches of Cancun to Tulum, and all points in between!
