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.”

The first Cher­ish the dress images to launch at The National Wed­ding Show were these ultra glam­orous pho­tos, taken at the Man­ches­ter Hilton and with all the drama and ele­gance of a Bond movie

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