Newlywed dies in a 'Trash The Dress' shoot

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 SMH:

Sergeant 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’.