Women Choose Destruction Over Preservation of Wedding Gowns

Forget carefully preserving your wedding dress for posterity. Many women are choosing to photograph themselves after the wedding swimming in their dress or even setting it on fire.

On the website Trash the Dress, you can view recently wedded women posing for photographers in front of prisons and rolling in the sand in their dresses. Forgoing the traditional preservation for wedding gowns, these women are choosing to keep only the photographs as memories.

It may not be a surprise that the idea was thought up by photographer John Michael Cooper. This Las Vegas wedding photographer conceived of the Trash the Dress website after dealing with fussy brides who were more concerned with the pristine condition of their gown than creating memorable wedding shots.

The Trash the Dress phenomenon has been touted as a way for women to celebrate their wedding without becoming obsessed by it. However, some are skeptical that the Trash the Dress trend is liberating. Or at least, they argue, the website never got the memo.

"The website's manifesto implies that TTD is less about iconoclasm and more about brides stroking the egos of their brand-new husbands!" writes the celebrity and fashion website Jezebel.

On the Trash the Dress Website it states, "You've made a commitment to your husband. He's your one and only true love, right? Then you'll never need the dress again. And no, your daughter won't wear it in 20-30 years. So you have two choices: 1) Suffocate it in plastic and throw it in a closet, 2) Show your husband how committed you are by trashing the dress, and get some great fun pictures while you do it!"

Others are concerned by the violent and potentially misogynistic images that are showcased on the website. Some images show a bride lying on railroad tracks. Another is near a truck that showcases numerous bulletholes.

The New York Times notes in their article "Brides have long had an admittedly complicated relationship with their wedding gowns, which they struggle to find, spend a small fortune on, and sweat over making fit properly - all for a fabric confection that is typically worn once."