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Real Weddings
"Mess With The Dress"
One of the most talked about trends in wedding photography the last couple years has been the phenomenon known as Trash the Dress. For those of you not familiar with the term we called on Frank & Helen Coombs of You Ought to be in Pictures to explain about this exciting buzz in the industry.
“In short, Trash the Dress is a photo session, usually sometime after a wedding, with a bride just having fun in her wedding gown. It can be something as simple as a bride sitting on the grass, or on a beach, or as radical as a bride jumping into the ocean.” Coombs continued, “On a wedding day brides are usually very careful with their wedding dress, but in this session they understand going in that we are going to have some fun, and the situations we will put them into will be far different than the very formal and pristine conditions of a wedding day.”
It’s unclear where and when the origin of Trash the Dress came about, but when Helen & Frank first heard about it, they were both very excited to offer it as a service to their wedding clients, embracing it as an extension of their fashion photography style.
As we researched it, we found the TTD styles offered by other photographers around the country to be very regional in nature. For example, big city photographers love to shoot their brides in urban scenes such as on a busy street corner, in taxi cabs, or with a graffiti-filled wall serving as a backdrop. In the mid-west, it is common to see a bride on a tractor, in the loft of a barn, or sitting in the back of an abandoned pick up truck. But here on the Cape with our unique environment, it lends to a whole new look for this very contemporary and fashionable photography session.
Says Coombs, “We wanted to establish ourselves as the go-to studio for this style of photography. We love the concept and we felt that this was a perfect companion product to go along with our glamour photography, as it is fun, a little edgy and very contemporary. We are very enthusiastic about offering this service!”’
So enthusiastic in fact that they decided to create their own brand name for their service. “We found that our brides were a little apprehensive with the term Trash the Dress,” says Helen Coombs, co-owner of You Ought to be in Pictures. “So we softened it up a bit by calling our sessions Mess with the Dress, and it seemed to have helped calm their fears that their wedding dress didn’t necessarily need to be harmed during our session if they didn’t want it to be”.
It turns out there are many options available for the brides and their dresses. “Naturally the most common request is for the bride to spend some time at the beach’”, says Frank. “’We can do some things as simple as just lying on a beach, sitting on a pier, or we can get a little wild too.”
Meet Stephanie, a 2008 Cape Cod bride who booked her Mess With The Dress session last summer after her wedding.
“I first heard about Trash the Dress on the wedding chat boards as one of the more talked about topics. It sounded like a lot of fun, so I started to check with photographers that were into it.”
Stefanie continued, “this session is a great way to get another use out of your dress and have a little fun with it. On my wedding day I was always worried that my dress would get dirty or be wrinkled, but this photo session was a way to let that fear go and have a good time wearing my dress again. I think it’s such a popular idea for brides today because so much work is put into planning the wedding and before you know it, it’s over. This session is a way to extend the feeling of being a beautiful bride again.”
Other brides we spoke to also felt the same way. Danielle told us that the timing of her wedding day didn’t allow her to be at the beach at sunset, so her Mess With the Dress session allowed her a second chance to not only get those photos, but also get some other fun and creative shots that just weren’t possible on her wedding day.
Shannon loved her session too! “Mess With the Dress is an amazing opportunity to let your true personality come out while you are wearing the most important dress you will ever own. Since I knew deep down that I would never wear this dress again, I felt it was another excellent opportunity to get my money’s worth from my dress. I could only get back again to the Cape in early June for my session and so the water was a little too chilly for me” she laughed. “So we shot at several interesting locations in the Hyannis area that were fun and gave the images a Cape Cod wedding fashion photo look. Helen and Frank were receptive to my ideas and they also made some great recommendations based on their knowledge of the area”.
One of their more unique Mess With the Dress sessions involved a bride on horseback! When Reene first approached Helen & Frank about their service, Helen asked her a few questions about her personality and interests. Reene’s passion for horses was quickly discovered and the theme for her session was set.
“I had the most fun riding that day”, Rene told us. “The photos came out beautifully and they are something I can look back on and be so happy I did. I was never worried about the dress and not only did we do the riding shots I wanted, we also did some other interesting shots around the stable area that I am really happy to have! ”
Although none of the girls have any future plans for their gowns, all agreed their beautiful dresses survived without any damage and could be worn again with just simple dry cleaning. And they also agree it was a great way to capture one amazingly fun and final day with their expensive wedding gown before it gets placed in storage forever.
Helen & Frank Coombs of You Ought to be in Pictures are located in West Barnstable. Images of their Mess With the Dress sessions can be found on their wedding website at www.capecodphotovideo.com and also their new dedicated site, www.messwiththedress.com
