Outside the box
Mark Billingsley
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A new photography trend is sweeping the bridal industry
"Trash the dress" is a new wedding trend gaining popularity and forcing brides and photographers to think outside the box. Literally.
The thinking goes like this: Why box up a wedding dress and perhaps never see it again when you can wear it one more time for a gritty, one-of-a-kind photo shoot during which you trash your dress, ending up with pictures that are serious conversation starters?
Photos by Sacramento-based Jennifer Moon Photography and the man who started the craze, John Michael Cooper, are featured on these pages to illustrate the trend.
"I tell my clients that it's a way to get some excellent, creative and very unique pictures for their wedding albums," Moon says. "(Trashing the dress) is a commitment to their husband, really, and the brides see it that way. They made a vow to their husband and not to their dress. They're not going to get married again and certainly not in that dress."
So why save it?
Some brides, of course, think that someŽday, perhaps, their daughters will wear the same dress when they travel down the aisle. But chances are, Moon says, that won't hapŽpen. Styles change, and most modern brides want to pick out and wear their own choice.
Grooms have gotten into the trash-the-dress trend, too, Moon says. If the wedding dress will be trashed on the shores of a lake, for instance, the grooms will get dressed up and wade right into the water with their brides.
Jessica Guditus was a game particiŽpant in the trash-the-dress style of wedding photography, stepping into the cool waters of the American River.
"We can get some really sexy and sultry pictures when they both trash the dress," Moon says. "It's been like, 'That was fun, we took a chance, and look what we produced.' "
Moon says the trend is proving so popular that she's getting business from people who have been married for years and now want updated photos for their wedding album. So they're taking their dresses out of dusty boxes and carting them down to rivers, ponds, deserts and oceans to create a new personal masterpiece.
Cooper, a photographer based in Las Vegas, is considered by many in the wedding photography industry to be the father of the trash-the-dress trend.
"I'm inspired by fashion and music videos," Cooper says. "All brides, when they're dreaming about their wedding shots, are thinking they want it to be like a fashion shoot. I aim my style in that direction."
Cooper says his trash-the-dress idea was a way to rebel against established, traditional wedding-day poses. He says he didn't have an "a-ha!" moment. Rather, his clients were as excited as he was to try something different, such as lighting a wedding dress on fire or having the bride jump around in mud. John Michael Cooper Photography
The wonders of digital manipulaŽtion and a bride's willingness to pay passionate tribute to her firefighter groom turns what could have been a garden-variety wedding shot into a memorable scorcher. Photographer John Michael Cooper, considered the father of the growing "trash-the-dress" trend in wedding photography, first shot Rachel Barazo of Las Vegas in her dress on the Armagosa Sand Dunes north of the city, then used an inflatable doll as a stand-in as he set the dress aflame in a second shot. He melded the two images using Adobe Photoshop computer software.
"Not everyone is game for that," Cooper says. "But I don't have to look far for a volunŽteer. I make a suggestion, and luckily they're up for it. The shoots started as conceptual pieces really and didn't necessarily start out as trash the dress."
As far as Cooper's photo of the flaming wedding dress, don't worry: The bride wasn't hurt, and she isn't a stunt woman. Cooper photographed the bride first in her dress, then used an inflatable doll to hold the dress up while the groom set it on fire in the desert north of Las Vegas.
With a bit of creative digital photo editing, Cooper made the image look like the bride was wearing the dress while 10-foot flames engulfed it.
The concept worked. The bride and groom, who is a firefighter, loved the shots. Now that's thinking outside the box.