A tragic story has come out of Canada in the last few days, with the news that a woman taking “trash the dress” photos near a picturesque waterfall, drowned after being pulled under the water.
Newlywed Maria Pantazopolous, 30, had recently returned from her honeymooon and was deliberately posing in the water for the ‘arty’ shots when things went tragically wrong.
Pantazopolous was married on June 9 this year and was having photos taken with her feet in the water of the waterfall when her dress got wet and became so heavy that she was unable to remain standing.
The photographer and a bystander both tried to rescue Ms Pantazopoulos but were unable to because of the huge weight of the dress.
This from the :
Maria PantazopoulosSergeant McInnis told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Ms Pantazopoulos may have been doing a “trash the dress” photo, which the broadcaster said was a photography trend where well-dressed people are pictured in scenes that “seem slightly out of place”.
Family friend Leeza Pousoulidis told the Montreal Gazette Ms Pantazopoulos was “really, really happy” after her wedding and honeymoon in the Caribbean.
“She’s a really fun girl, and she just didn’t want her wedding dress sitting in a box in the closet,” Ms Pousoulidis said. “She said ‘I want to have fun with my wedding dress. I want to have great pictures and memories of me in my wedding dress.'”
So what is trash the dress?
Trashing the dress is an emerging style of wedding photography. The idea is that you’ve bought this rather expensive gown that you’re not going to wear again any time soon – so you may as well do something with it.
So in the months after the wedding, you put your dress back on, head to the great outdoors – either with or without the groom – and you, well, trash it. It’s an artistic style of deconstruction in that the photographer creates an artwork for the bride to keep that involves her ruining hew wedding dress at a beach, or in the bush or even at a garbage dump.
It’s not known exactly how the trend started but it’s growing in popularity and is now offered as part of the package offered by many wedding photographers.
The result is often very beautiful….something about the contrast of the raw or unkempt environment and the elegance the most expensive dress a woman will ever own. Take a look:
There isn’t necessarily some greater lesson or bigger picture view to take here. This story of a young woman, who was just embarking on the next exciting chapter of her life dying so unexpectedly, is quite simply a tragedy.
Maria Pantazopoulos’ death was a freak accident – certainly, the majority of trash the dress shoots aren’t dangerous. But some of the photographs in this gallery do make you fear for how far amateurs will go for the right ‘shot’.
Top Comments
A very sad story and tragic accident.
The photos are pretty amazing but I'm more of an up-cycling type of girl why not donate it to a young women who can't afford a dress to marry in, pay it forward.
I'm so torn over the trash the dress trend! On the one hand I think the photos would be spectacular, but then the thrift shopper inside me sees the act as such a waste of a beautiful dress! This is when it's completely trashed mind you - some can be dry cleaned and then good as new. Each to their own!
I don't exatly disagree that this is a self indulgent act, I more or less agree with Oddsocks. Sure its indulgent. But how do you define the limits and parameters for self-indulgence?
Think, for example, of all the packaging, card board, napkins, etc... That you destroy or throw away on a daily basis. Is that not also wasteful? Yet you do it anyway. What makes destroying a wedding dress any more or less indulgent? Because it costs a lot?
Really of all the things we waste on a daily basis, why criticize the wasting of the dress? People trash cars, tvs, steroes...all kinds of things. Would it be any less wasteful if the dress was already damaged?
So basically is it wasteful because of the act of destorying it, or that someone else COULD be using it??
If its because you think its "too wasteful" you need to take a closer examination of all the trash you throw out on a weekly basis.
If your logic is that "someone else can use the dress", let me ask you this question. "Do you password protect your wifi access? Cuz someone else COULD be using that you know. Its pretty wasteful to have multiple wifi connections serving one small areal proximately."
Face it, there are all kinds of things you throw out, waste or don't give to other people. What makes the trash the dress trend any more of a wasteful abominaion?
So go ahead and acknowledge that this trend is physically wasteful, but stop being the pot calling the kettle black and more importantly, show a little respect for someone who died untimely, no matter how preventable this may have been, it doesn't remove tragedy from the equation.
Ah, it just breaks my heart to see someone's perfectly decent handiwork get trashed.
Also: Poor, poor woman and her widowed husband and family. And I can't imagine what it must have been for the people who tried to save her but couldn't.