A dirty little secret – Get your damn wedding dress dirty!
You’ve spent a lot of time trying to choose a wedding dress. Either in magazines, on pinterest and websites or in a bridal shop. This is THE dress. The one you’ll become a Mrs in… and that’s a big deal. Of course it is – all you can think about is experiencing your wedding day with everyone you love.
But that’s the thing … you want to EXPERIENCE your wedding day, right?
I’m going to tell you one thing that you’re going to have to do to make sure you experience this day to the fullest:
I’m not talking about rolling around in the mud or going off-roading in an open side jeep, but I’m saying, a little dirt don’t hurt.
Often, we see/hear brides that say “but I don’t want to get dirt on my wedding dress!” or “I don’t want anything on it before I go down the aisle.”, or “no! my wedding dress can’t get dirty!” Guess what? As soon as you get it out of the bag and onto your body, it’s getting dirty. Unless your bridal suite floor has been cleaned by professional machinery and then air-locked until you stepped foot in it, there is dirt on that floor, and it IS going to get on your wedding dress.
Those epic wedding photos on your pinterest boards or on photographer’s websites? They went outside for those. They stood in dirt and grass and sometimes mud. They did this at whatever hour of the day they scheduled photos – which is usually before the ceremony. These brides were not afraid to get dirt on their wedding dress, because guess what? No one is going to notice the bottom of their dress is dirty.
When you’re going down the aisle and saying your vows to the love of your life, no one is staring at the bottom of your dress and trying to determine through their tears if it’s “clean enough”. This whole experience of life and love and marriage isn’t about staying clean anyways, right? It’s about loving all the dirty imperfect parts of someone. And you know what makes a wedding day perfect? Imperfection and flexibility and the willingness to BE PRESENT in every moment and live it out loud – which means you can’t be worried about the dress.
And think about it – you’ve bought this amazing wedding dress to wear for one day, right? And you probably spent more on this dress than any other piece of clothing in your closet. Why not wear the heck out of it then? Your wedding day is about celebration and joy and life and laughter and fun. You will want amazing photos of that day… which means we (you the client or us the photographers) can’t be worried if the ground is dirty or wet or has pine needles. With as much as you’ve spent on this dress to never wear it again, why are you worried about it being perfect? Is it worth ruining your wedding day experience over?
Here’s another little secret: Dry cleaning is amazing. I’ve had a bride get red wine and MUD on her lace wedding dress – and then had it dry cleaned. It’s spotless and perfect now, just like when she bought it. She’s the one on the John Deere below.
So here’s what I’m telling you – get your D*&^ wedding dress dirty. Make memories. Live life. I know your bridesmaids and grandma and mom are all going to worry about every little scuff … but I carry a tide pen and distilled water if it’s really that big of a deal. Think back to weddings you’ve attended? Did you notice dirt on the dress? No? Funny… because I guarantee it was dirty, even if their entire wedding was indoors.
When you look back on this day in 10 years, 25 years, 50 years, you’re not going to regret that you had dirt on your dress – you’re going to regret it if you didn’t. You’re going to regret worrying about that instead of being in the moment and living your wedding day to the absolute fullest, because you can’t go back and do it again. All you’ll have left is photos and videos of you being completely and totally in love – and I promise you you won’t even notice if you have a little dirt on that gown. All you’ll see is your smile.
Get your wedding dress dirty. Not just for us, but for you.
