'Trash the Dress' is the latest wedding photography import from America. It involves organising a photoshoot some time after the wedding where the bride will wear her dress in an environment which is completely out of place, even hostile. Beach shots are very popular and also city streets, rooftops, fields, forests, abandoned buildings and rubbish dumps. The bride wears her wedding dress in these surroundings and ruins it in the process by getting it wet, dirty or even burning or tearing it. The idea is to reflect the personality of the bride without showing much respect for the dress. It is almost a declaration that the wedding is done and the dress will not be used again. It is seen as an alternative to storing the dress away, never to be seen again.

If you know of anyone who has done trashed their dress or you are a photographer who has photographed this, we would love to hear from you and see your pictures.

Emily and Sam have been pondering the meaning of Valentine's Day have discovered that there are two possible origins to this special day. Many believe that the day is named after an Early Christian martyr named Valentine and that the day became further associated with romance and love during the time of Chaucer in the High Middle Ages when courtly love was both fashionable and flourishing.

An alternative theory is derived from the story of St. Valentine who suffered rejection from his mistress and was so heartbroken that he cut out his own heart and sent it to her as a token of his undying love.

Whichever theory strikes a chord with you, there are plenty of love songs on which to muse and reflect the passion and the pain of romantic love. Some of Emily's and Sam's favourites are listed below :

I Will Always Love You - Dolly Parton
Dedicated to the One I Love - Mamas and Papas
Love Hurts - Gram Parson and EmmyLou Harris
Ever Fallen in Love with Someone - The Buzzcocks
You Are the Sunshine of My Life - Stevie Wonder
Nothing Compares to You - Sinead O'Connor
Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley
Crazy - Patsy Cline
Woman in Love - Barbra Streisand
It's Not Right but It's OK - Whitney Houston
I'm Stone in Love with You - The Stylistics

PS...did you know that it was on Valentine's Day in 1984 that Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean won the Olympic Gold Medal with Bolero.... have a look

 

On Friday, Sam and Emily had a great day at the National Wedding Show. It is a fantastic event and you can literally plan your whole wedding on one day.

There are wedding venue stands, music, DJs, caterers, shoe, dress and tiara designers, wedding cars, wedding photographers, hair and make-up artists, (check out Emily having a make-over!) and honeymoons. We mean it, everything! Recently engaged Denise Van Outen was doing just that….We spotted her at one of the designer wedding dress stands!

We really enjoyed meeting some of the young, emerging designers as well as some of the more established ones. We met Charlotte from the beautiful award-winning boutique, ‘Ellie and Charlotte’ www.ellieandcharlotte.com - they make the most ravishing bespoke wedding dresses, and Ann-Marie D’Amato who makes timeless and chic custom-made gowns specialising in corsets, bride and bridesmaids dresses, www.damatobridal.co.uk as well as handmade veils, stockings and garters. Next stop, Mark Valentine, of Free Love Entertainments, www.freelove-ents.co.uk. We had a very funny chat to him – a great character as you can see by his attire and he gave us all the low down on what brides and grooms are after in terms of music.

There were many venue owners, including ones promoting amazing foreign destinations which is great if you are planning a wedding abroad. And despite the recession, more and more people are doing this.

We loved talking with Lisa Gilchrist who is the events co-ordinator at Dream Weddings in Spain – www.dreamweddingsinspain.com - the website is really worth checking out as they have a huge amount of venues, catering for every taste and budget.

We've lined up lots of great features and interviews with wedding suppliers we met at the National Wedding Show which will be appearing over the next few months.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The WedSocial team, Emily and Sam from EOM Media at the National Wedding Show