Bride Trashes Wedding Dress After Being Dumped
Shelby Swink was dating her boyfriend for two years, engaged for another one, and planning a wedding for months. Five days before getting married, Swink was dumped.
“I poured my heart and soul into the wedding plans to try and make it the best day it could be. It was going to be a celebration of our love and commitment to each other, so I wanted it to be absolutely amazing,” the 23-year-old wrote on OffbeatBride.com. And then her fiancé unexpectedly told her that he didn’t love her, didn’t want to marry her, and didn’t want to spend the rest of his life with her.
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Photo: Elizabeth Hoard Photography
As the set date for her nuptials approached, Swink, her family members, and bridal party brainstormed ways to distract themselves from what was supposed to be. They decided that a pity party was off limits, and instead threw a trash the dress get-together. “My mother spent so much money on the dress and alterations, so I was nervous to even think about destroying it, let alone try and pitch the idea to her,” she said. “But after thinking about it, I knew that doing something to mark the occasion was the perfect thing for me. I was not going to let my ex-fiancé’s mistake of letting me go take away my happiness.”
Photo: Elizabeth Hoard Photography
Armed with paint, Swink and her bridesmaids covered her white wedding gown and their two-toned blue dresses in bright colors. Ruining the ceremonial clothes—even her parents got in on the paint splattering—turned out to be the cathartic act of rebellion she needed. “I can’t even describe how liberating and cathartic the experience was for me. I let go of all the hurt and became myself again,” Swink says. “I decided that I will not let this tragedy and heartbreak consume me, and bring me down in life.”
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The dress on display at The Barefoot Bride. Photo: Elizabeth Hoard Photography
Following the Jackson Pollock-inspired fun, the finished product was put on display at The Barefoot Bride, a bridal boutique in Memphis, Tenn. The store has promised to donate a portion of the profits from each wedding dress bought while the gown is on display to Be Free Revolution.
That’s two ways to make a gloomy situation much brighter.
