Sarah and Dom Trash the Dress!

August 14, 2012 Sarah and Dom Trash the Dress!

This Sunday I did two of my favorite sessions to date. I met up with Dom and Sarah for a sunrise Trash the Dress session, and concluded the day with another amazing couple and their engagement session. I’ll blog about that one later this week. This post is all about Dom and Sarah! I’m sure they sound familiar to you by now. If you’re a reader of my blog I’m sure you know who they are. I did their engagement session earlier this year as well as their Annapolis courthouse wedding in June. When Sarah told me that she wanted to do a trash the dress session I was thrilled! I posted about trash the dress sessions a couple of weeks ago. Although you definitely get “down and dirty” with this type of session (I did with mine and Sarah certainly did with hers) we don’t really do anything that will actually permanently damage the dress. It’s just a fun way to get more daring photos than you would have on your wedding day.

Not only was Sarah excited about getting to wear her dress again and get great photos (in decent weather no less, a stark contrast from their 40 degree engagement session and 103+ degree wedding) but she got her hair cut the day before and was excited to get photos with her new ‘do. If you ask me, I think she looks amazing. But doesn’t she always?

Sunday morning we met at St. Mary’s Church, right by Falling Branch. We got some beautiful sunrise photos in their corn field before walking to the Falling Branch section of Rocks State Park.

None of us realized quite how tall the corn was until we looked at this next picture…

Ahh that beautiful morning light. This is why I love shooting during the “golden hour.” Sunrise and Sunset are definitely the best times of day. They aren’t always the most convenient but the reward is well worth it.

After getting some GREAT warm up shots on the church’s property we made the approximately one mile hike to the waterfall. As a natural light photographer I try to avoid flash whenever possible. I feel like it gives a really unnatural look. Because of the major tree cover here, every shot from here on out in this session used off camera flash. I am now a believer! When used properly, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it! Here, I used the flash on the ground shooting up at them to fill the major shadows on their faces.

Of course we took pictures in front of the waterfall. But we weren’t quite ready for them to get in the water. There was so much beauty to the area that we wanted to capture before getting wet because, well, once you do that you can’t undo it.

This next one is a favorite of mine. Sarah, you’re beautiful!

Then it was time to get in the water! It was freezing but they were troopers!

There was this hilariously amazing moment and of course I failed to capture it because I was too busy trying to pick my jaw up off the ground. I was directing Dom and Sarah (using sign language since the waterfall was so loud) to move over to the left, closer to the waterfall. Sarah just walks her way over there with no issues. Dom follows and the ground dropped out underneath him and he started doing the doggy paddle to try to get to where she was. It was both hysterical and terrifying at the same time. As soon as I realized he was okay I snapped this photo. This is definitely one for the blooper reel.

The photo on the left here was on my photography bucket list for the longest time and I’m very happy to have finally captured it. When I mentioned the idea to Sarah she was, as always, eager to please! Though of all of the amazing photos that resulted from this gorgeous couple and equally gorgeous location, I believe the one to the right is my favorite. Dom calls it his “Notebook” picture.

So what happens after you trash the dress? Sarah is doing exactly what I did. Right now the dress is hanging up to dry in their apartment and it will be taken to the cleaners and then shortened so she can wear it again. As long as you don’t do anything too damaging there’s no reason it can’t be worn again! If you are really done with your dress, you can always donate it to someone in need.

Comments

comments