TTD from wikipedia — Photo from Wickipedia

Ok, so you've all heard of Trash The Dress, the photography trend of doing a shoot with the bride after the wedding where she destroys her wedding dress.

While I respect the visual kick of trash the dress shots and absolutely understand why photographers and couples could love the concept, for myself, I find the idea wasteful. Indulgently wasteful, actually.

I'm coming from the perspective of someone who specifically built my wedding ensemble to be re-wearable so I suppose I'm biased — but I think given all the options to rewear, recycle/donate, or recraft a wedding dress … it just feels like a tremendous waste. In fact, it feels like demonstrative waste — a way to cackle I spent $X on this dress, now watch me DESTROY IT because I can and because $X don't matter to me!

I suppose I don't really care whether it's a wedding dress, a guitar, or a couch — it seems wasteful to trash something so beautiful that could be reused, recycled, or reworked. I mean, think of Sonya Naumann and the amazing things she's doing with her wedding dress!

There are those that argue that many brides just pack their dresses away in little hermetically sealed boxes and stick them in storage … isn't Trash The Dress a better option? I suppose that's a valid point, but but I don't think those are the only two options available. Tucking the dress into storage forever is wasteful, too.

I will say that really don't like some of the Trash The Dress idealogy that's gotten out there. Photographers have said things like “Show your husband how committed you are by trashing the dress” and “It's a photo session done AFTER the wedding and honeymoon are over to symbolically show your husband that you will NEVER need your wedding dress again.” Ack! It's going to take a lot of soap to wash that ickyness out of my mind.

Obviously, I ain't got nuthin' against photographers or couples who enjoy the spectacle of a trash the dress session. But for me? Meh, I'm really not into the idea… sort of like cake smooshing.