Kaizen Chaos

When I first heard about the girl at the Iowa State Fair who participated in a “Trash the Dress” (aka TTD) session I was completely appalled at the idea. I heard she rolled around in mud and had someone squirt ketchup and mustard all over her. (I only searched for the video today and saw her in the mud, but did not see any food or condiments thrown on her…maybe I heard wrong or didn’t see all the footage.) Either way, if you are happily married, why on earth would you ruin your beautiful wedding dress that cost you hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars?? Many say it’s so they get their money’s worth, or so they can wear the dress more than once, or that it’s to show their new husband they will never need it again. Okay, fine. To each their own. But why actually ruin it, even if you won’t ever use it again?? Personally, I think intentionally defacing your dress is disrespectful to your marriage and your husband. But maybe that’s just me. I’m totally fine using it for respectful, artistic purposes, just not distroying it.

That being said, being a,…ahem…soon-to-be-second-time bride I happen to have a previously worn wedding gown stored in my basement that I guess I don’t care about anymore. When my company had a costume party last Christmas I decided to get my money’s worth and go as the Runaway Bride! It was fun and I got third place in the contest. I was a little nervous about what people would think of me wearing my actual gown again, especially being very recently divorced; I surely didn’t want to appear as some desperate girl who couldn’t let go. Most people thought it was funny and I had such a great time!

When people gave me a funny look or asked if it was my real dress I said, “Yeah, I figured I might as well get my money’s worth, right? What else am I gonna do with this thing?”

Maybe they thought I was weird, but I had a good time. I thought being a Runaway Bride seemed ironically appropriate at the time and I didn’t care if it was disrespectful to my previous marriage or my ex; He didn’t seem to mind being disrespectful when he was toting his girlfriend all over the country while his wife was at home waiting for him.

But I digress…

Since I kept hearing so much about this TTD concept I looked into it a little more and I have seen other TTD sessions that are actually quite beautiful. It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to ruin your dress or be disrespectful in any way. My wedding videographer prefers to call it an “After I Do” session, which sounds much nicer and more appropriate because in many sessions the goal is to get some great artsy shots in odd locations that contrast with your beautiful gown. When I saw that aspect of it, I have totally fallen in love with the idea and plan on doing a session myself.

I’m starting to think of some fun ideas - us at the John Deere Pavilion seems appropriate since Mr. Wonderful is a farm-boy that bleeds green and yellow. And I’ve gotta get my color-coordinated Chuck Taylors in there at some point. I don’t know what else yet. Maybe get some with my dogs too! Of course, nothing that’s going to actually ruin my dress or be what we feel is disrespectful.

However, getting back to that dress I have in my basement…I ran across Jody Garland, a photographer in the Chicago area looking to do a few TTD sessions for free. I sent her an e-mail telling her that I’m not getting married until later this year but if she wanted to do a session where we do some dark, artsy photos and actually do ruin the dress I’ve got a spare I wouldn’t mind donating to the cause. She thought that was a great idea and will be setting up something this Spring or Summer!! I have lots of fun ideas and can’t wait to see how that goes! I love artsy photography and think it would be fun and maybe even a little therapeutic to do some scorned bride shots in that dress. I can’t wait! Stay tuned to see what we come up with.

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