The Wedding Gown in Ruins

Every bride's dream is to walk down the aisle,
all eyes upon her, in a flowing beautiful white gown made of satin and
lace. The precious gown is so special that the bride takes care not to
rip or soil it in the festivities promptly following the ceremony. And
after all the excitement of the 'Big Day' dwindled down to a bit of
euphoria as the honeymoon tour starts, the bride takes care of the gown
by sending it to cleaners. Afterwards, she wraps it in plastic and
lovingly arranges it inside the bridal box for safekeeping.

In the
months or years following her wedding, she might take a peek inside the
box and caress its contents, lost in the dream of her wedding day. This
dress, this piece of clothing that held so much promise and happiness
might never be worn by any person again. There is this sentiment
towards this possession that the bride could never bear the thought
that someone else will wear it someday. Well, a child might, perhaps,
change that sentimentality someday, but the bride does not really think
that far beyond on her wedding day. The dress is precious; photographs
of it will not suffice.

Something tells me that the tradition
is about to change, though. Videos of brides ruining their gowns are
rampant on the internet. With 'bride' I mean The Bride on her own
wedding day! And yes, you are reading it right. If the dress was cared
so it won't be soiled in traditional weddings, it is being wet or
dirtied in the modern weddings. Extremists have gone to such lengths as
ripping the gown to pieces or burning it. Think of a way to ruin
something...and they've probably thought of that already. Paintball
anyone? Well, that was thought of, too! Doing a random search on the
internet will shock the wits out of you. Videos have popped up all over
YouTube, and one can't help but wonder if these ladies are involved in
a contest of sorts. It seems that putting the precious little wedding
dress into ruin is the "in" thing these days. Sadly, the treasured
possession of the long ago bride is merely a piece of cloth to her
modern counterpart.

So, who mothered the craze and can this be
stopped? No one knows for sure how this started. However, a search on
Wiki will tell you that it was not mothered - but was fathered by a
glamour photographer as early as 2001. But doing it in a real wedding
is a different thing as in a wedding in glamour photography, isn't it?
Somehow, the lines between the two have dissolved.

The craze
might never be stopped. Various "Trash the Dress" sites have sprung all
over the internet showcasing beautiful brides in beautiful poses trying
to ruin their beautiful gowns. Many call it art, and might argue that
the models might are not really ruining the dress but just wetting it a
little. Some sites offer professional photography for such events. And
the slogan of these sites will tell you that this is being marketed "to
create memories that will truly be remembered". And the ladies will
tell you that, "no one's going to use it anyway!"

So, is trashing the wedding gown a way of creating memories? Or is it destroying a precious possession? You be the judge.