By this time, most of you have heard about “trash the dress” bridal sessions, or TTD as they are known colloquially in the photographic community. In 2006 and early 2007, news of these crazy photo shoots was picked up by numerous news sources (including The New York Times and Good Morning America), with reporters typically casting bemused glances toward the photographers who chose to take photos of the recently wed swimming in lakes, frolicking in mud, covered in paint, or riding a Harley.

Wedding photographers around the world were (and still are) especially inspired by this trend after seeing photos that incited our imaginations and promised to fill our portfolios. Beautiful brides in Times Square! Newlyweds riding in the country, wedding gown trailing down the side of the horse! Brides floating in the ocean!

Brides themselves, these days well versed in the wide range of images offered by bridal magazines and photographers’ blogs, have seen it done. Brides read those articles in The New York Times and laughed, but we photographers knew that many of you secretly dreamed of another opportunity to wear your dress and get fabulous photos.

By mid- to late- 2007, many of us wedding photographers who had been trying to convince our clients about the possibilities of doing a trashing shoot had an easier time with the conversation. By then, many brides were familiar with the TTD concept and interested in the possibility of a shoot. When these brides consulted their families and thought about how much money they spent on their dresses, however, many ultimately decided against it.

As an adventurous and passionate wedding photographer, I was with those early crowds of photographers who heard about John Michael Cooper’s concept, got simultaneously jealous and inspired seeing the photos on trashthedress.com, and immediately tried to convince every person I met or worked with to do photo shoots with me.
The freedom associated with taking a beautiful dress out into the city or the wilds connects with a part of me that wants to move beyond the precious princess ‘don’t mess the dress’ mentality on the wedding day. During a bridal portrait session the photographer and client have the ability to choose the location and timeframe, and the client is not rushed or stressed out (so often the case on a wedding day portrait session). Styling choices during a bridal session can be more adventurous than most brides choose for their wedding day portraits, and the photographer has an opportunity to become a true art director.

This past summer, I embarked on a personal project to explore the idea of fearless bridals, and what it means to take a dress out into the world with fewer inhibitions and concerns. I wasn’t really into the idea of intentionally trashing a dress without a reason, but rather to enjoy shooting in interesting locations and creating work that touched on the somewhat taboo topic of taking a bride, making her look sexy, and putting her in an unexpected place .

For my personal photo project, I invited Boston-area women, whose weddings were within one year of the casting call and shoot date to take part in fashion bridal sessions throughout New England. Each woman thought about an unusual location or concept, and together we agreed on the time and place for the shoot. Of the thirty or so replies within three days of posting the casting call on my blog, I ended up with seventeen actual photo shoots between August and November 2008 We visited beautiful and grungy locations, and made numerous calls trying to secure legal clearance for different areas where the women were interested in shooting. (FYI, owners of rundown buildings are not very good at returning phone calls.)

Now that I have experienced doing these fearless bridals in different places and with people of a wide range of personalities, I am more convinced than ever of the value of standalone bridal sessions. Having a stress-free opportunity to create flattering, interesting, and fun images is quite different from the normal wedding day experience, and the results are undeniably wonderful.

Who does that?
You could do the shoot with your fiancé before the wedding and use images for your invitations or save-the-dates. You could do a casual, sexy “day after” bridal session with your wedding photographer (especially if you have traveled for a destination wedding in a tropical or unusual location). You could book a session for just you a few months before your anniversary and give your groom a special gift of glamorous bridal and boudoir images.

How about doing something different? Did you decide to wear your hair down for the wedding but secretly want to try out the retro pincurls you saw on offbeatbride.com? Did someone convince you not to wear your Chuck Taylors with your gown? How about a contrast with your wedding environment? You might take bridal portraits in a sunny field of wildflowers if you were married in snowy January, or go into a forest in November if you had a beach wedding in Hawaii.

Bridal portrait sessions not only supplement the portfolio of your wedding, sometimes they end up as a fix for the wedding photos. One of my
brides on the project had a bad wedding photographer experience and unfortunately, many of her wedding day portraits featured Carol blinking or in unflattering positions. With our bridal session, we captured wonderful images of Carol to keep as a reminder of her beautiful gown and her particular newlywed joie de vivre.

If you were one of those who regretted your decision of wedding photographer and ended up with less than glamorous wedding images, consider booking a session with a photographer whose work makes your heart beat a little faster for a bridal portrait session. The investment will be one you will never regret.

It goes unsaid that since I am a wedding photographer, I am biased toward artistic photography. I wish that I could convince every bride to invest in a standalone portrait session with a talented photographer.

Rachel Hadiashar is a freelance wedding photographer available for worldwide travel. Her wedding and boudoir work is at
http://mergeweddings.com and the juxtaposition project fearless bridal imagery is featured at http://fearlessbridals.com

Her book, “JUXTAPOSITION: fancy dresses in surprising locations” is scheduled to be published in 2009.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 11th, 2009 at 10:33 am and is filed under fearless bridals, juxtaposition, TTD. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.