US3 min(s) read
A photographer has issued a warning about the hidden dangers of the popular 'trash the dress' trend after a bride tragically drowned during a post-wedding photoshoot.
Wedding dresses can cost thousands and are often worn just once, so some choose to organize a separate photoshoot where they can wear their outfits again without the pressure of their wedding day.
One increasingly popular idea is known as 'trashing the dress', where brides deliberately pose in messy or unusual surroundings, including mud, paint and, in some cases, bodies of water.
But the trend can carry potentially serious risks, as tragically demonstrated by the death of Canadian bride Maria Pantazopoulos.
The 30-year-old had travelled around 75km from her home in Montreal to a wooded location with photographer Louis Pagakis, hoping to capture photographs of herself wearing her wedding dress in a river.
The shoot quickly turned into a tragedy when the water caused the heavy dress to drag Pantazopoulos beneath the surface.
The current was too powerful for her to escape, while Pagakis was unable to rescue her.
The photographer later recalled her heartbreaking final words: “I can't anymore. It's too heavy.”
Pagakis previously described the horrifying moments to CTV Montreal, explaining that Pantazopoulos had asked him to photograph her in the water.
“She had her wedding dress on and she said, ‘take some pictures of me while I swim a little bit in the lake,’ she went in and her dress got heavy, I tried everything I could to save her,” he said.
“I jumped in, I was screaming and yelling, we tried our best.”
Expert photographer Rhiannon D'Averc has previously written about the risks involved in taking photographs in rivers and other moving water.
She warned that people can become increasingly exhausted when trying to fight against a current.
“As you are pulled along, you will get weaker through trying to fight the current,” D'Averc wrote in a blog post.
She added: “And there are documented cases of people finally becoming so weak that they drowned or lost consciousness.”
Strong currents can also send people crashing into rocks, branches and submerged tree roots, potentially causing serious injuries including broken bones, cuts and bruises.
Being thrown against an underwater object can also result in a potentially fatal head injury.
Some bodies of water can contain wildlife that may pose another danger. Even if someone avoids obviously hazardous locations, there is no guarantee that they won't encounter an animal beneath the surface.
D'Averc warned: “Big fish could even knock you over. Leading to trouble like being swept away or held underwater by the weight of the current.”
There can also be additional concerns for anyone planning a water-based photoshoot in the UK, where polluted or contaminated waterways can potentially expose people to water-borne illnesses.
While 'trash the dress' shoots can create dramatic and memorable photographs, the tragic death of Pantazopoulos serves as a stark reminder that entering moving water in a heavy wedding dress can be extremely dangerous.
For anyone planning to recreate the trend, the safest option may simply be to keep the wedding dress, and themselves, completely out of the water.
