Cherish The Dress

Love your wed­ding dress? Now Cher­ish it too!

I’ve no doubt you’ve heard of “Trash the Dress” pho­tog­ra­phy, as it was a really big wed­ding indus­try trend a year or two back, start­ing in the US and mak­ing its way across to the UK.


The con­cept was inspired, and sim­ple: wear your wed­ding dress again, after the big day, on the beach, in a river, have a mud bath, play some foot­ball or go paint­balling… have fun and your pho­tos will look fantastic.

The idea of Trash the Dress was great. In prac­tice though, not so many Eng­lish brides were keen to ruin the most expen­sive dress they’d ever bought, not even for the most amaz­ing pho­tos and a great day out at the sea­side, zoo or theme park.

Hav­ing fea­tured Chris Hanley’s fab­u­lous wed­ding pho­tog­ra­phy on the Eng­lish wed­ding blog more than once, I couldn’t help but notice Cher­ish the Dress™ adver­tised on his web­site. I asked Chris about Cher­ish the Dress, and I loved his idea — I think you will too! Here’s what it’s all about.

What is Cher­ish the Dress™?

It’s a British take on Trash the Dress invented by Chris Han­ley, an exclu­sive fash­ion shoot where you are the model and your wed­ding dress is the star. Think of it as a fab­u­lous mod­el­ling adven­ture, a post wed­ding pho­tog­ra­phy expe­ri­ence where the dress is the Star not the Vic­tim of a photo shoot.

Your whole pho­to­shoot will be a delight and you will shine wear­ing your beau­ti­ful dress. There is, if you wish, room for pas­sion too; the per­fect oppor­tu­nity to have pic­tures of ten­der­ness with your man.

Cher­ish the Dress was brought to life as a con­cept by Chris Han­ley, and has since become a genre of pho­tog­ra­phy just like Trash the Dress. It’s not exclu­sive to Chris, but he’s still the very, very best at it!

How did Cher­ish the Dress™ come about?

Chris Han­ley was intrigued by the idea of Trash the Dress when it was first pop­u­lar in the US. His pho­tog­ra­phy style was always fashion-led and highly artis­tic, so the con­cept was fan­tas­tic. But after lis­ten­ing to Eng­lish brides at wed­ding exhi­bi­tions he realised we weren’t as keen to trash our lovely dresses as the Amer­i­cans seemed to be!

Chris says, “Brides really did like the idea of extra wed­ding dress pho­tog­ra­phy after their wed­ding day. They also wanted fash­ion­is­tic images, but they wanted the dress to stay clean and dry. They loved their dress and wanted to keep it forever.”

Vin­tage Cher­ish the Dress™

A brand new con­cept for 2010, Vin­tage Cher­ish the Dress is a won­der­ful oppor­tu­nity for you to visit some amaz­ing loca­tions for a vin­tage pho­tog­ra­phy ses­sion, play with props and enjoy a day out in what could be the 1950s!

If you wore a vin­tage dress for your wed­ding day (or if you have another beau­ti­ful vin­tage out­fit you’d like to treat to a photo ses­sion) then this is for you. Visit an old fash­ioned rail­way sta­tion or other time­less loca­tion for an amaz­ing new take on the Cher­ish the Dress concept.

Not only is your Vin­tage Cher­ish the Dress shoot going to give you some won­der­ful pic­tures to trea­sure, it’s also an expe­ri­ence you’ll never for­get. With Chris Han­ley you know you’ll be pam­pered and looked after, and you really will feel like Grace Kelly / Audrey Hep­burn / Mar­i­lyn Mon­roe with the star treat­ment you can look for­ward to!

If you’re look­ing for a per­fect wed­ding day gift for your bride-to-be, per­haps think­ing about an ‘expe­ri­ence day’, for­get the hot air bal­loon ride and book a Vin­tage Cher­ish the Dress expe­ri­ence. It’s every girl’s dream!

I’m delighted to let you in on a lit­tle secret as well… we have a spe­cial offer espe­cially for read­ers of the Eng­lish Wed­ding blog, cour­tesy of Chris Hanley:

Just quote “I love English-wedding.com” for a spe­cial offer on your Cher­ish the Dress photography!

Chris Han­ley Pho­tog­ra­phy: Cher­ish The Dress™

With absolutely no weather wor­ries, you will begin your cre­ative jour­ney sip­ping cham­pagne, whilst being pam­pered with pro­fes­sional make up and hair styling.
Your pro pho­to­shoot takes place in the award win­ning con­tem­po­rary inte­rior design of the Man­ches­ter Hilton and starts with an ele­va­tor ride to the bar in the sky “Cloud 23”. Over­look­ing the breath tak­ing city sky­line, you will feel beau­ti­ful, sophis­ti­cated and ele­gant as we cre­ate mas­ter­piece fine art pic­tures.
Your Cher­ish the Dress expe­ri­ence will be a mem­o­rable one giv­ing you the oppor­tu­nity to own an out­stand­ing pic­ture col­lec­tion that will be enjoyed by you, your chil­dren and future gen­er­a­tions of your family.

Lib­er­ate your dress from its wardrobe, rekin­dle pas­sion, breathe new life into wear­ing  it again. Treat your­self – Cher­ish the Dress shoots are avail­able in 3 sizes.

Vital Sta­tis­tics

Cham­pagne
Pro­fes­sional Make-up
Pro­fes­sional Hair styling
Pho­to­shoot for up to 2 hours with expert Fash­ion shooter Chris Han­ley on des­ig­nated days.
Stun­ning Inte­rior design loca­tions, includ­ing ‘Cloud 23’
Your own per­sonal view­ing a week later, where you will be able to buy your gor­geous images.  From as lit­tle as £40
£495

Enhanced real­ity pic­ture edit­ing (beau­ti­ful and skil­ful artis­tic dig­i­tal retouch­ing) £250

Per­fect Fit

The per­fect gift for some­one spe­cial
As per vital sta­tis­tics, Plus
Overnight stay and break­fast at the Man­ches­ter Hilton for you and your guest.
Flex­i­ble shoot dates to suit your diary
Enhanced real­ity pic­ture edit­ing
First 10 images in a fine art album. Beau­ti­fully printed images on pho­to­graphic fine art fibre paper pages, in a 12 x 8 leather bound album.
Addi­tional images from £40 each.
£1350

Pure Cou­ture

Sim­ply the best.
As per vital sta­tis­tics, Plus
Overnight stay and break­fast at the Man­ches­ter Hilton for you and your guest
Flex­i­ble shoot dates and times to suit your diary
Enhanced real­ity pic­ture edit­ing
First 30 images in your choice of album
Addi­tional images from £40 each
£2795

Terms and con­di­tions apply.

Vin­tage Cher­ish the Dress™

As above but on var­i­ous loca­tions on UK main­land. Travel and accom­mo­da­tion to Euro­pean and world des­ti­na­tions at cost.

Quote “I love English-wedding.com” for a spe­cial offer on your Cher­ish the Dress photography!

Cher­ish the Dress™ is the trade­mark of Chris Han­ley Photography

Terms and con­di­tions apply.

Cher­ish the Dress is by Chris Han­ley. The orig­i­na­tor and cre­ator of this genre of photography.

Hilton Dresses cour­tesy of Michelle Hinds at Time­less Bride www.timelessbride.co.uk

Vin­tage dresses by Kathryn Han­son Bespoke www.kathrynhanson.co.uk

Twi­light dress sup­plied by Yvonne Gillon www.yvonnegillon.co.uk

Floristry www.greenearthflowers.com

Make up artists

Saman­tha Gard­ner (vin­tage) http://www.modelmayhem.com/739610

Vic­to­ria (Hilton) http://www.hairlineshairandmakeup.co.uk/

Hair­styling (Vin­tage) Vic­to­ria Cun­ning­ham, Salon 7. Tele­phone 01772 434777