Bride drowns taking wedding photos.

[jwbryson1]

I saw this story on the Today show this morning. How ridiculous and sad is this?

Trash the dress...I get that, but perhaps a few extra people around and she would have survived?

Bride drowns in wedding dress while taking photos in Canadian river | KDVR.com | Denver Breaking News, Weather & Sports – FOX 31 News in Denver, Colorado

 

[sm4him]

That's horrible! Really, just unspeakably horrible.

I confess. I'm old, AND I'm old-fashioned. And I just don't really GET the whole "Trash the Dress" thing. Why do you want to spend all that money on just the right dress for your wedding and then do that to it?? I really just don't get it, and I'm afraid that all the explanation in the world wouldn't help me "get" it. Besides, my grandmother MADE my wedding dress--no way I'd ever trash that thing!!

 

[Jaemie]

It's just a dumb fad, and in this case a tragic performance.

 

[pgriz]

This is a local story for me. Originally it was reported that she slid off some rocks, and fell into the current. Later (as it was written in this story) it emerged that they started shooting in the shallows of the river, and she wanted to go somewhat deeper... Unfortunately instead of floating, the dress dragged her down and there was enough current to pull her away from the shore. There were some local police officers who arrived shortly thereafter and they went into the water to look for her - it's not a big river, maybe only about 100-200 ft. across. A local scuba diver found her body in a pool somewhat further down, weighted down by the dress. In spring, these is a lot of current in this river, so it carves rather deep channels, and I'm sure if she started out on the sandbar, she would not have noticed that the bottom drops off really fast.


As for the "trash-the-dress" trend - I just don't get it. When my in-laws were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary, her dress was given place of honour next to the pictures from that time and the huge cake and buckets of champagne. My wife's dress is hanging in one of the closets, and when the time comes, it too will participate in festivities - only twenty more years to go to celebrate that milestone.

 

[camz]

Well the trash the dress is a way for brides to get down and dirty with flare as it wouldn't be possible to do so during their wedding day. They are also usually very willing as they only use the dress once. We don't offer it anymore...I think it went out of style a few years back. And to be honest, as willing as the brides are to get down and dirty, I rather not expose our equipment to such environments.

What a tragedy...

 

[zombiemann]

This is tragic. I am not a pro, but if I were to attempt a shoot like this I would be pretty insistent that there be other people there to help out if things went badly.

In regards to the trend: I can kind of get it. It's another way of symbolizing the "no turning back" attitude. A friend of mine explained it to me like this "If it's trashed I can't wear it again". I remember reading about an ancient civilization (don't remember which one) who would destroy their supply lines when they reached the enemy so they couldn't retreat. It sort of harkens back to that.

I think its a dumb thing to do, but I understand why some people do it.

 

[ceejtank]

It's a shame. I don't know how much a wedding dress weighs, but she should have thought about that....

 

[MLeeK]

I saw this a few days ago. I am not sure how I feel over the whole hub-bub. To me it seems to be common sense that you wouldn't want to go into a river with some current to it in a giant dress, but that might just be me. If you feel the need to be deeper in the shallows, then get down on your knees. Deeper yet? Sit, lay on your belly. Perhaps the current in the shallows was that strong too? I don't know.
I do know I feel horrible for the family, the photographer and the woman who lost her life in an incredibly stupid and totally avoidable accident.

As for the trash the dress sessions? Eh. I'll do them. It's not something I want to go out chasing after, but they can produce some amazing photos you wouldn't normally take on a wedding day! My dress is in a landfill somewhere. I know my daughter would never wear it no matter how timeless and beautiful it was. Why bother giving it storage space? I sure as hell don't want to put it on again-I look at the photos now and damn, that thing is ugly! So, why not?

 

[rexbobcat]

What the truck?

 

[jaomul]

I hope this is posted on enough blogs internationally to make people aware, so at least it wont happen again. Very tragic

 

[Big Mike]

I read about this too...very tragic. It really hits home as a wedding photographer...I'm always excited when a bride or groom is willing to go that extra mile for a unique shot. I've never done a trash the dress session, but I'd like to. I hate that my wife (and so many others) keep their wedding dress sitting in a closet for years and years thinking that their dress is timeless and their daughter will want to wear it or something. Might as well get some really cool photos out of it.

But with this incident, I'd certainly be extra cautious if one of my brides gets anywhere near water.
Actually, a friend and fellow wedding photographer said he was shooting a bride in a river just two days ago. They were very careful and he also said that they won't publicly release the photos for a good long time, out of respect for those involved in the incident.

That also brought up the topic of another local ex-photographer. He was climbing a tree, out on a limb, trying to go that extra mile for a shot. He fell, tried to protect the camera, and ended up in a wheel chair for a long time (maybe permanently).

 

[ProsPhotos]

This is kinda morbid, but I wonder how many pictures the photographer took as she started to get pulled under, and did they capture the horror on the brides face when she realized this was a dumb idea and turned into a life or death situtation. If I would been the photographer, I don't know what I would do with the pictures. I am sure the police would want them as evidence, but I think I would destroy the memory card after.

 

[jaicatalano]

I read that story as well. It almost sounded fake. I actually used to go to Montreal a lot and wonder if I have been at that location. So sad.

 

[Big Mike]

I saw a news brief showing a few seconds of an interview with the photographer, he was pretty shaken up. I feel bad for the woman and her family, but I can empathize with the photographer...it would be hard to continue shooting brides after that.

 

[ceejtank]

I saw a news brief showing a few seconds of an interview with the photographer, he was pretty shaken up. I feel bad for the woman and her family, but I can empathize with the photographer...it would be hard to continue shooting brides after that.

I don't think this type of thing happens often. I wouldn't change anything I do based on one occurrence (unless there's a severely high liklihood to repeat).