Trash the Dress - Preview

Well, we didn't really trash the dress. As Judy, the photographer, said--it was more like "celebrate" the dress. And we did.

Judy just e-mailed me with some preview photos. Weeeee! She made sure to say, "These aren't even some of the best ones... I figured I'd save those for later." So now I'm really curious as to what they all look like. But I'll share the teasers with you. Photos are copyright of Judy Cormier at Elementz of Fotographie.

To tell you a little bit about the shoot as I take you through the pics...

It was a lot of fun. When I got there, Judy had a makeup artist ready to do my makeup for the shoot. Judy wanted it to be dramatic, so that's what she did. It was pretty funny to catch glimpses of myself in a mirror now and then. I don't wear a lot of makeup so it was like I wasn't even looking at myself.

We started off in an old, abandoned brick factory in Toronto. We sorta had to sneak in through an opening in a fence--which was a challenge in a wedding dress--and down this short, steep hill into a makeshift entrance at one of the corners of the building. As soon as Darsi (Judy's assistant) stuck her head inside, she was like "Oh my god!!" (Judy and Darsi had never actually been inside before. They had only heard it was cool.) At first, I didn't know if that reaction was a good or bad thing. As it turned out, it was good.

There was graffiti everywhere, which made for some interesting backdrops. All of the catwalks and kilns and such were all still standing, so I was all over the place in there for different poses.

At one point, when I was up on the catwalk, something happened to catch my eye on the far wall. Someone had actually spray painted "TRASH THE DRESS" in big red letters. So apparently we weren't the first dress trashers to ever be in the brick factory. But of course we had to stop and take a few photos in front of it. Can't let a perfect backdrop like that go to waste.

They also played around a bit, using a video light and a grate/cage looking door. These ones are actually sorta dark (almost creepy!) looking. Very non-bridal. I like it.

Then I went down into one of the kilns (they were long and hallway-like), and she asked me to run. From an axe murderer. OK, she didn't say that, but doesn't it look like I'm maybe in some horror movie?

I think this next shot is from Judy's favorite location/pose of the day. Also in one of the kilns. The brick factory had these skylights all throughout, and in these shots, Judy used the natural light coming down from them.

I'll recap the rest later this week/next week when I have the rest of the photos. I think some of the stories will make more sense that way.