[D4rknezz]

Quebec bride drowns in her wedding gown during Trash the Dress photo shoot

This is sort of old news , a few days ago. - was there a forum thread on it?

[jogiba]

Maria Pantazopoulos, 30, who was swept away in the current near Dorwin Falls in Rawdon


A scuba diver found Maria Pantazopoulos’ body.



Real estate agent Maria Pantazopoulos, 30, drowned after her wedding dress got soaked and she was dragged into the river near a rushing waterfall in Canada.

Read more: Canadian bride?s last words before being dragged to her death by water-logged wedding gown during ?trash the dress? photo shoot: ?It?s too heavy?* - NY Daily News

[RobA_Oz]

What an appalling thing to happen to a young woman. I had tended to dismiss this as just the sort of misfortune that befalls an incautious and overly romantic nature, but putting a face on her changes that view somewhat.

I do think, though, that there is a competitive tendency among young women to think they have to make their weddings special and different, and are led into potentially bad or at least hideously expensive situations as a result of that. The same can possibly be said of some photographers, on whom equally high competitive pressure causes them to overlook or minimise some of the possible dangers to their clients.

I don't know the particular circumstances in this case, but there can be little doubt that the end result is at least two familes in grief, and a photographer who will have to live with it for the rest of his life.

[Pentaxor]

instead of the dress getting trashed by the bride, it brought along the bride with it. although I felt sad about the tragedy that happened here, I do have my ire feelings toward people who promoted such ridiculous practice.

[JohnBee]

I know this is a long shot, but... why didn't they try to get the dress off?
Anyways, this is the 3'rd rendition of this news story that I read and each one seems to present a different version. The last one made it sound like she was dipping her feet in the water and slipped in. At which point the current swept her down stream while the photographer tried to pull her back in. Now... this version makes it sound like it was all the brides fault. - I don't know what to believe at this point tbh.

[RobA_Oz]

What it does illustrate for the professional photographer is the need to do a documented Risk Analysis and have a thought-through Emergency Plan when clients agree to do this sort of shoot. Getting client sign-off acknowledging this would be a necessity too, I would think. Anything less these days can put you in jeopardy in the courts, but, more importantly, the process makes you think through the reality of risk and how you can minimise the chances of harm to your client or fellow workers (including yourself, of course).

[Pentaxor]

I think this has to do with the myth that some movies emphasize that you could swim with a wedding dress. I asked my wife about this and told me that the composition of the dresses vary from the material used and how much it weight. she said that the fabric could act like a sponge when dipped in water. anyway, my take here is that both parties are at fault here for lack of research or plain stupidity. this was not a simple accident but a disaster waiting to happen.

[Frogfish]

Regardless of who's responsibile, this is a tragic loss of a young woman's life. Feel sorry for the family and especially the husband.

[D4rknezz]

My thoughts were similar to JohnBee's, I thought it would be a matter of ripping the dress open, but never having handled the material myself, maybe its made out stronger material than I thought it'd be. Also, the variation of the story is troubling, as is the lack of pictures - which would make it easier to corroborate the photog's story.

[Frogfish]

My thoughts were similar to JohnBee's, I thought it would be a matter of ripping the dress open, but never having handled the material myself, maybe its made out stronger material than I thought it'd be.

As an experienced trained rescue diver I can say that what appears simple logic, ripping open the dress, doesn't always apply when blind panic takes over. It makes an untrained rescuer's job almost impossible too.

[D4rknezz]

Frog, the body was found 4 hours later, and one of the stories seemed to say that a single diver pulled her up.
Do you know/ Can you elaborate on the difference of weight for 1. the body , 2. The dress, once its completely submerged 4 hours later as opposed to immediate?

[Frogfish]

Frog, the body was found 4 hours later, and one of the stories seemed to say that a single diver pulled her up.
Do you know/ Can you elaborate on the difference of weight for 1. the body , 2. The dress, once its completely submerged 4 hours later as opposed to immediate?

Weight difference doesn't come into it. It would be easy for a single diver to pull her up (even with a saturated dress) since of course a) the body is, for all intensive purposes, weightless and b) he has the benefit of using his BCD by justing adding more air to increase lift.

[Venturi]

They did not say whether the diver brought her up with the dress intact. After being submerged in running current for 4hrs the dress was likely quite tangled in debris. It likely had to be at least partially cut free to get her loose. Plus, I question the wisdom, or safety, of bringing her body up with that much material flowing in the current again.

Ripping a typical wedding dress off would be nye-on impossible without a knife. Most have multiple layers of fabric, heavily padded in the bodice, and often laced up in back to make them even more form fitting. I'd rather water land a parachute.

[Pentaxor]

They did not say whether the diver brought her up with the dress intact. After being submerged in running current for 4hrs the dress was likely quite tangled in debris. It likely had to be at least partially cut free to get her loose. Plus, I question the wisdom, or safety, of bringing her body up with that much material flowing in the current again.

Ripping a typical wedding dress off would be nye-on impossible without a knife. Most have multiple layers of fabric, heavily padded in the bodice, and often laced up in back to make them even more form fitting. I'd rather water land a parachute.

well, in general, most wedding dresses are thick fabric and in North America, elaborate designs are common choices. besides, a thin fabric such as silk is light enough or doesn't take in water substantially to cause drowning. so no need to tear an easily torn dress.