It was quite cold to be shooting outdoors yesterday. Some would even argue that it was freezing in fact. Despite that, Venesa and Matthew went out with me on a stylish photo shoot at the old port and Venesa had nothing on except for her wedding dress. I felt really guilty to have a sweater and a winter jacket on, and still I was still cold. despite that and the strong wind at times, this lovely couple went through with the photo session gracefully and with style.

As I might have mentioned before, it is really refreshing to work with couples who really appreciates what I do and who are willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen for me. I mean I could’ve asked this couple to jump off of a bridge, and they would’ve done it, because they would’ve trusted that I’d probably get a really good image out of it. Lucky for them though, there were no bridges around. Hmmm, come to think of it, that would make for a good image. At least while they are still in the air that is.

Well, we spent a few hours at the old port and I am very happy with the images we ended up with. Here are some of my favorites:

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Okay so I’ve written before about the poor state of the dress by the end of a typical Montreal wedding, and how it may be wise to squeeze a little more out of the dress by doing a trash the dress photo session. Now this doesn’t mean that the dress that you’ve spent a pretty dime on should be tossed in the trash bin by the end of this session. In fact, I’m all for giving the dress a nice dry-cleaning and keeping it even if only for sentimental reasons. Now weather this means you should do a photo session while you roll around in a muddy pit wearing it, or pose gracefully in a more sophisticated metropolitan setting is entirely up to the bride. One thing is for sure, she well get a lot more out of it by doing this session wherever that may be. Just take a look at some of those photos from the last few weeks, and I’m sure you will agree with me that those brides are happy they did:

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The trash the dress session is becoming one of the hottest most sought after sessions I offer. I try to keep these sessions fresh, romantic and as some brides have described them, epic. Still some bride’s have yet to here about them and I often get a negative reaction when I first describe that session to them. Some brides will immediately tell me that there’s no way they will trash the dress and, of course, I totally understand that first reaction. However, I always ask them what they are planning to do with their dress after the wedding? Ninety nine point nine percent of those brides don’t really have a good answer. They say that they haven’t really though about it, or that they will probably put it in a closet and forget about it. What most bride’s don’t really know is that in order to properly store your wedding dress, you will need to have it professionally dry-cleaned and prepared for long term storage.

Most brides don’t know that proteins excreted when we sweat along with other substances such as champagne, wine, beer, Vodka shots and even chocolate from the chocolate fountain at the dessert table, will accelerate the disintegration of the dress while it hangs in your closet. The dress will also discolor over time and wind up unusable in the long term if not properly cleaned.

Another thing most brides don’t know is that from the point they walk out of their parents’ house till they toss the bouquet, the dress has gone through a great deal of wear and tear. It is almost halfway trashed anyway. You should see what those dresses look like at the end of the night.

So I always say, if you’re going to hold on to the dress, and you will have them professionally cleaned anyway, why not get a little more mileage out of them by wearing them one more time for the trash the dress session. After all, you’ve probably spent a lot of money on them to wear them only once. Besides, despite of what the name of the photo session implies, the dress does not have to be trashed or even thrashed. Just dirtied a little more during the two hour shoot.

I should also mention that the weather does not always cooperate and you may not get to go to your favorite outdoors spot on your wedding day. So why not take advantage of a beautiful day that you get to choose soon after your wedding when the weather is perfect.

The resulting photos from those sessions are always breathtaking, and some brides will go as far as choose only the photos from this session to use in their wedding albums. Here are some photos from the last trash the dress session I did with Carla and Davide at a local beach in Montreal. I hope you enjoy it and I will love it if you shared your thoughts on the session in the comments below. Thanks and enjoy:

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Well, here’s a bride who was not only excited to trash her dress, she wanted to do it in style. And that’s exactly what she did. Check out these shots from this unforgettable session:

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I was flattered when this beautiful young lady contacted me and asked me to do a fashion shoot together. I was blown away by her elegance and natural beauty and how she handled herself in front of the camera.

Here are some of the photos from this session:

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The trash the dress session is becoming the most sought after photo session that I offer my clients. Most brides who are coming to see me  for next year are going with the trash the dress package. That includes a 12 hour photo coverage of their wedding, the DVD with all the high resolution images, all touched up and ready to print, a beautiful 12X12 30 page album and a two hour TTD session anytime after their wedding.

I have to admit that it is my favorite session to do as a wedding photographer. The bride has the option to go back into her wedding dress or she could choose to go with a totally different dress. The idea behind this session is to be able to get stunning photos that are just not possible to do on the wedding day.

Here’s one of my favorite sessions from this year with the lovely Loredana and Giulio:

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Here are a lot more teaser shots from this wedding:

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