Shelby was excited to have her wedding planned out. She was getting married in 5 days and couldn’t be more thrilled to start her life with her new husband and the love of her life. When out of nowhere, her fiance gave her the devastating news, he was not in love her and wanted to call off the wedding. Absolutely crushed, Shelby could have curled up in a ball and let her sadness take over. Shelby is a lot stronger than that. She knew she didn’t want to have a pity party so she did something else about it instead. What should have been the best day of her life has turned into something much more in order to help her move on from heartache. Here’s her story.
Shelby and her fiance started dating in 2011 and were set to be married in November of this year.
When she received the news that her fiance was calling off the wedding, her photographer, Elizabeth Hoard in Memphis, gave her the brilliant idea of doing a “trash the dress” party.
Shelby stated “Bam. My dreams of marrying and having kids with what I thought was the man I would spend the rest of my life with vanished,” she said on Offbeatbride.
“Nov. 1 was supposed to be a fun and happy day surrounded by friends and family who loved me. I decided that I would not let my ex-fiancé’s mistake of letting me go take that away from me.”
Instead of sitting home and crying, she and her bridesmaids decided to enjoy a very unique photo shoot.
With everyone in their beautiful and symbolic dresses they decided to have fun and “trash the dress”.
Her best friends and family came together and remembered her special day in a different kind of way full of smiles.
Her parents decided to join in on the celebration in their formal attire too.
Rather than tears on this day, they were set on sticking with smiles!
Shelby is having a blast with the people she loves most. The people who will always be there for her.
And together they all trashed their clothes, drank champagne, and smoked cigars.
Her dress now sits on display in a bridal store. Donations and percentages of purchases will be donated to the “Be Free” campaign.
You’ve got to give it to the photographer, Elizabeth Hoard, for coming up with such a great idea. You can check out her Facebook page here.
“Always remember to remain true to yourself and believe in your own strength and you can overcome anything life throws at you”, Shelby advises.
It looks like Shelby has had a great start on a hopefully short road to recovery from heart-break.
The ladies have a message for the ex groom as well. I don’t think he expected anything like this.
I think Shelby is better off and going to be just fine.
What an incredible story of taking something so devastating and turning it around. This entire ordeal was very liberating and freeing for Shelby. The experience has helped her to move on from something that was once tragic in her life. She’s now “free” thanks to her family, friends and the awesome concept by her photographer. It makes me smile that she turned her situation around and made an incredible memory from it.