Contributed by Ross James Photography

To start off, here are a few words from Christy (the Trash the Dress Bride):

"We got married in Miami, FL last year and had a traditional photographer that took beautiful images of our wedding day.  However, he failed to capture the spark that my husband and I share. So for our one year anniversary, my husband surprised me with a shoot by Ross James Photography!  We flew all the way from Florida to Washington with my wedding dress in tow and had an experience of a lifetime.  The pictures were so amazing I could not believe it was us!  My husband always seems to close his eyes during pictures and he never looks like himself, but with Ross and Melissa we felt so comfortable that each picture really did capture him as himself instead of a posed, stiff person.  Thank you Ross and Melissa for capturing one of the most special times in our lives and for allowing us to leave a legacy for our children. You've gen us a way for them to know us and catch a glimpse of who we were at this special time in our lives.  This trip was worth every mile traveled."
Ross James Photography:

"I couldn't have said it better!  Ross and I were AMAZED and EXCITED when Carlos contacted us about surprising Christy with a one year anniversary "Trash the Dress" session in Seattle, WA.  We were amazed because they lived in Florida, and excited because Christy was one of my (Melissa's) college roommates!  And since it was such an event for them they chose our 6 hour session."

Contributed by Nick Adams

This is a TTD shoot that I captured on Captiva Island, Florida. It just so happened that a sailboat got washed ashore during a storm  which made a great prop for my shoot. Lucky for me I got some great shots. Unfortunately for the owner  the sailboat was unrecoverable.

We are thrilled to announce two new site admins for TrashTheDress.com!  These ladies will be helping to keep the site fresh, fun, and funky while we focus on creating the upcoming Modern Photographers site.

We asked each of them to submit a profile pic and a bio to introduce themselves to our readers.  So please help us welcome them!

First,  Charise Proctor from California.  Check out her amazing work at www.photographybycharise.com

(Profile Pic by www.jenharrisphotography.com )

  I am horrible at writing about myself.  So horrible that I literally have sat staring at the computer screen for a good hour, I will type a few sentences and then delete and attempt to start again.  So rather than write a little paragraph about me I thought this little thing floating around the blog world would be better.  And to be honest, its much more me....casual, simple and to the point :).  

I AM … a wife, a mother, a friend and a photographer.

I WANT… to laugh...alot...daily.

I HAVE … a wonderfully supportive husband and family.

I KEEP … everything.

I WISH I COULD … show my gratitude for making my dream a possibility.

I HATE … getting up before 9am. I FEAR … failure

I HEAR … my daughter singing...such a precious sound.

I DON’T THINK …. there is ever too much reality TV...I'm a junkie what can I say.

I REGRET … not pursuing my passion earlier in life.

I LOVE … shooting people in love...I'm a hopeless romantic.

I AM NOT … good at saying no.

I DANCE … like nobody is watching....preferably when nobody really is watching.

I SING … as loud as I possible whenever I drive by myself (I so belong on that hidden camera show where people sing in their cars to themselves).

I NEVER … want to loose touch with my drive to succeed.

I RARELY … take life too seriously.  

I CRY WHEN I WATCH … pretty much anything, I'm a sucker for a good drama or love story.

I AM NOT ALWAYS … a good house wife.

I HATE THAT … everything that is so yummy is so bad for me.

I’M CONFUSED ABOUT … why the Internet is so addicting.

I NEED … a few more hours in the day.

I SHOULD … get back to editing. And one extra...cause thats how I do it,

I AM ... SUPER excited to be a part of the Trash the Dress team and cant wait to share some of the amazing talent that is out in the photography world with all of you!

We are also thrilled to bring aboard a long time TTD contributor,  Kara Pennington!  Check out her amazing work at www.karapennington.com

  Hi everyone!  I am so excited to become a part of the TTD & DBUI team!  My husband and I are wedding photographers based in Jacksonville, FL . . . our style is modern, artistic, & fun.  We definitely love what we do and being able to work together is a blast.  Please feel free to check out our work on our site (www.karapennington.com) and our blog (www.karapennington.net).  I am excited to talk with you all more soon!  

God Bless,  Jeremy & Kara

Contributed by Mike Cowart

This was one of those shoots that just happened on the spur of the moment..   My fiancee and I were heading to Gulf Shores to shoot a wedding on the beach and I was REALLY wanting to do one of these "trash the dress" sessions. Having met with the bride and groom, I could already tell that it was NOT something they were interested in doing.  :-)  So being the lucky man that I am and having the oh-so willing lady by my side.. I threw the idea at her and in an instant she's PUMPED! So, we finally make it to the beach and now it's shopping time!  After searching in several stores, we finally find this cute white dress for $90!  We didn't want to spend a fortune because we knew it would be "trashed"!  When we get back to our hotel, I was feeling a little bit discouraged because there were some major storms moving in.  Nevertheless, we get everything ready and head out to the waters...  and wow, it turned out being one of my favorite shoots...not only because I was shooting the woman of my dreams but also just because of the weather that day. The wind was so powerful, the sky had a gloomy darkness about it, and I was camera-ready!  It's really an honor to be featured here on "Trash the Dress".  The only thing that I would've changed about this shoot is to use some type of protective casing on my camera because I ended up getting sand in my release button and had to send it off for repairs!  But hey, it was all well worth it right! :-)

We stumbled across this very talented artist on Flickr.  Once we saw his work, we immediately contacted him about being featured on TTD.  Check it out: Ash Imagery