Lifestyle

After Getting Divorced, Woman 'Trashes' Her Wedding Dress in Epic Photo Shoot

LifestylePublished Sep 20, 2017
By Kathleen Wong
divorce photo shootJaimie Maynor

What are you supposed to do with your wedding dress after the big day? Wrap it up and let it sit in your closet to preserve the memories? Donate it? Save it for your children? Well, how about when your marriage ends in a way you didn't see coming back when you said "I do"? For recently divorced Kristen Jewel Costner, a North Carolina–based hairstylist at Ulta Beauty, her wedding dress became the perfect prop for an empowering photo shoot called "Trash the Dress."

After nine years of being together, Costner and her partner unexpectedly split up and she needed a means of closure.-placeholder
After nine years of being together, Costner and her partner unexpectedly split up and she needed a means of closure.
Jaimie Maynor

After nine years of being together, Costner and her partner unexpectedly split up and she needed a means of closure.

Enter: her wedding dress -- and fire, dirt, mud, and middle fingers.

"[It] was for kind of myself," Costner tells CafeMom. "I have seen kind of other people doing it too on the Internet. It was more like closure for myself."

Her home in North Carolina provided the backdrop for her photo shoot.-placeholder
Her home in North Carolina provided the backdrop for her photo shoot.
Jaimie Maynor

Her home in North Carolina provided the backdrop for her photo shoot.

"I actually did it at my house," she says. "Everything was just around my house."

More from CafeMom: 13 Cowardly, Insensitive & Just Plain Heartless Breakup Stories

To Costner, the breakup was one-sided. "I was kind of left without even a conversation of like anything," she says.-placeholder
To Costner, the breakup was one-sided. "I was kind of left without even a conversation of like anything," she says.
Jaimie Maynor

To Costner, the breakup was one-sided. "I was kind of left without even a conversation of like anything," she says.

"Besides text messages," she adds.

So while the photo shoot was, of course, meant to make the other person a little upset, it was mainly for her to get the proper closure she was never given.

It was also a reminder for her "not to ever get back to that or allow things like that to happen," she explains.-placeholder
It was also a reminder for her "not to ever get back to that or allow things like that to happen," she explains.
Jaimie Maynor

It was also a reminder for her "not to ever get back to that or allow things like that to happen," she explains.

It must have worked. "I feel a lot better since then," Costner says about the shoot.

More from CafeMom: 14 Online Dating Horror Stories From Single Moms

Costner didn't expect her images to go viral, but many other women began relating to it, saying her photos were an inspiration.-placeholder
Costner didn't expect her images to go viral, but many other women began relating to it, saying her photos were an inspiration.
Jaimie Maynor

Costner didn't expect her images to go viral, but many other women began relating to it, saying her photos were an inspiration.

"Sometimes shit just happens, you know," she said. "And you just gotta not let it tear you down. Just be positive about bad things [that] happen."

Amen to that.

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