Trash the Dress

What started out as a joke, turned into an awesome afternoon of eight brides running around the streets of Manayunk in their wedding dresses.

While I was planning our wedding, I spent a lot of time on The Knot message boards, and became friendly with some of the local girls.  Even after we all got hitched, we kept in touch.  One evening we were discussing the trend of "Trash the Dress" sessions (also known as "Rock the Frock") where a bride will wear her dress after her wedding for more non-traditional pictures without worrying about having to keep it clean and pristine.   We expressed interest in doing this some day because, let's be honest, we all paid good money for those gowns and it would be nice to get a little more use out of them. 

The only problem is, these session can be a little expensive.  That's when someone came up with the idea of maybe if we did a big group, we could get a discounted price-- and this is how our Group TTD session was born. 

We contacted Rich LaVigne, a local wedding photographer, and asked if he would be interested.  He jumped at the chance and gave us an amazing deal

Our love for Rich runs deep

One Saturday afternoon, eight of us squeezed into our wedding gowns and ran amuck in the streets of Manayunk. 

Now we had started to plan this in January and I was so excited about it.  However, a week before the shoot, I found out I was five months pregnant.  Not one to be deterred by a silly thing like a baby bump, I notified the photographer, and rocked that frock as hard as I could.

We had the idea to have a shot of us fighting for a bouquet, so before I left the house, I snagged some blooms off of the rhododendron bush in our front yard

..and we pretty much ripped it to pieces.

It took some work, but here is proof that even at five months preggers, I got that dress zipped.

Isn't Diana stunningly gorgeous?  I swear, the girl did not take a bad photo all day. 

Hard. Core. DIVAS.

I adore this picture of Heather.  She looks so beautiful and ethereal.

We got a lot of looks as we were walking through the streets.  I guess it's not a common occurrence...

This picture captures Cassie perfectly:  the All-American girl. 

As we were waiting around for some of the girls to get individual pictures done I nudged Rich's wife, Anne, and told her to snap this picture of Hilary because it encompassed her perfectly.  I loved her hair pulled back with the aviators and the relaxed pose. 

Thumbin' for a ride in a wedding dress.  That's how I roll.

Left to Right:  Jen, Heather, Cassie, Melinda, Jennifer, Hilary, Diana, Me.

I had such a hard time choosing pictures for this post-- I probably could have doubled the amount!  Rich and Anne were so much fun to work with and made us feel so comfortable in front of the camera.  I cannot thank them enough for giving us this opportunity!

Always & Forever,

  ME