Trash The Dress

from 2020 Summer PPOC Gallerie Magazine

by Professional Photographers of Canada

Introducing Nicole Noyce, MPA, PPOC’s 2020 Commercial Photographer of the Year

TRASH

THE DRESS

By Mandy Harding

SHORTLY AFTER MANDY HARDING GOT MARRIED 11 YEARS AGO, SHE RALLIED UP SOME PHOTOGRAPHER FRIENDS, AND FRIENDS WHO WERE RECENTLY MARRIED TO DO A GROUP TRASH THE DRESS PHOTOSHOOT. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN, THEY DECIDED TO DO IT AGAIN THE FOLLOWING YEAR TO RAISE MONEY FOR CHARITY. LITTLE DID THEY KNOW 10 YEARS LATER, THEIR EVENT WOULD RAISE OVER $169,300 FOR THE JIM PATTISON CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL OF SASKATCHEWAN FOUNDATION.

In 2010, The Children’s Hospital Foundation had just announced that a new Children’s Hospital was coming to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, the first in the province. When brainstorming charities to receive the donations from the event, it was decided that a children’s charity would be ideal, since most people have a special little person in their lives. With the announcement of this new, much needed, facility in our province, it didn’t take long to decide that the CHF would be the perfect recipient of our event’s donations. Harding along with her PPOC mentor Gina Yesnik decided it would be best to keep the photographer list to PPOC members to ensure the brides would get the best quality and value from the photographers. Each bride also received hair, makeup, and limo transportation from Living Skies Limousine to three top-secret locations on the day, all donated from local businesses. The brides also got to work with each photographer for 20 minutes and were delivered 10 images from each photographer on USB. The first year was a huge hit and $3,600 was raised collectively. The following year the group wanted to raise even more money so they asked each bride for a minimum donation of $600 which could be donated from them personally or given from their friends and family. Brides were asked to fundraise more, and in return for all their hard efforts, the bride who raised the most amount of money would win a grand prize. It consisted of a suite at the Sheraton Cavalier, plus dinner at a high-end restaurant, a spa package among many other gifts from local businesses. This was an excellent incentive to get the brides to spend a little more time on fundraising. Over the years the photographers have gotten more local businesses on board with donating amazing swag bags to each bride as well as beefing up the grand prize. In 2018 a record was set with the top fundraising bride, Brittany Johnston, who raised over $16,000 for the CHF, making the total that year over $34,000 alone. This year is their 10th year putting on the event and they

hope to break $200,000 in 2020. To do this, each bride must set a fundraising goal of $4,500 and reach their goals, which is no easy feat. How do brides raise that much money? Each bride has had success in different ways. Some of the events they put on included putting on a spaghetti supper for 200 people in their small town hall, while raffling off artwork that the elementary school students drew, to raffling off many high-end jewelry/clothing items on a Facebook online auction. Many of the brides put on online silent auctions, hosted steak nights or put on BBQs in the grocery store parking lot. Some brides have made and sold bracelets to support their efforts while others put a link to their fundraising page in the email signature. The possibilities are really endless when it comes to fundraising, and our brides have it down to an art.

Brides can often be a bit hesitant to participate as they don’t want their dresses ruined, so we’ve promised that their dresses are dry-cleanable at the end of the day. Over the last 10 years we have had two brides really trash their gowns, one by rolling around in the mud, and the other by bringing spray paint to paint her gown. Every other bride has taken her dress home and dry cleaned it to pass along to future generations. The photographers were asked what their favorite part of our event is. Here is what they said…

“I love seeing 14 people come together to raise money for such a worthwhile cause. Watching how each photographer works with the same brides in the same place, with the same light, and get completely different images is one of the best parts of the day.

One of my most humbling moments was seeing the event name on the wall in the new children’s hospital. I teared up seeing the hard work of so many women over ten years go into a legacy like Trash the Dress.” - Danielle Stasiuk

“I love being able to be creative without the pressure of an actual wedding. I also love the amount of money that’s raised for a great cause.” - Alison Berk-Johnston

“My favorite part of the event is at the end of the night, hearing the grand total, and seeing all the brides’ faces filled with excitement over what they accomplished individually and as a group. For me being able to stand there and be a part of something that will be helping so many families is just such an amazing feeling.” - Candace Sonmor

“Seeing the whole community come together to support our event is so rewarding. Hearing the total at the end of the day gives me goosebumps every single time. Knowing we have raised so much money for such a worthy cause, is the icing on the cake.” - Mandy Harding

The amount of work that goes into putting on the event is huge, but the friendships that are made each year and that moment we drop off the cheque is well worth the reward. The photographers involved have changed over the years and this year the following photographers involved: Mandy Harding, Danielle Stasiuk, Alison Berk-Johnston, Grant Romancia, Candace Sonmor, Erin Lindbloom and Krista Crellin. You can follow along with the trash the dress journey on Facebook: facebook.com/ TrashTheDressCharityEvent/ or on Instagram @trashthedressyxe.

Mandy Harding

Mandy Harding was born and raised in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and started her photographic journey 13years ago. She first joined the PPOC as a student 14 years ago and hasn’t left since. Mandy lives with her husband and two children and works full time at her Saskatoon photography studio: Memories by Mandy Photography.