When saying your wedding vows before family and friends, the prospect of divorce is perhaps the furthest thing from your mind.
Disney films taught us long ago how marriage is a happy ending, neatly wrapping up a past life of hardship, forced cleaning and erm, singing mice.
However, for many people, a marriage is merely one chapter in their lives, with many further adventures to come once the divorce papers are signed.
One woman from Illinois decided to begin divorcee life with a bang, freeing herself from the past with a cathartically fiery photoshoot.
On her wedding day, Katlynn McKee looked every inch the fairytale princess, with a pristine white gown, ladylike veil and bridal bouquet.
Fast forward four years, and Katlynn could be found cheerfully wading through muddy water in that very same wedding dress, the once gleaming gown spattered with filth.
Now sporting vivid crimson hair, Katlynn took a pair of scissors to the ivory fabric, she stripped to her undies before setting the $1,500 (£1,200) dress alight. Grinning from ear to ear, Katlynn looked as happy as she did on the day she said ‘I do’.
Yup. Tradition be damned, Katlynn’s original wedding photographer helped her carry out a photoshoot to celebrate splitting from her husband, with her bouquet replaced with a bottle of wine and a can of petrol.
Katlynn and her ex-husband had been in a relationship for 10 years and married for four.
The couple – who have a young daughter together – decided to divorce after growing apart, but reportedly still remain amicable. Her former hubby even volunteered to partake in the photoshoot, however Katlynn knew it was something she had to do alone.
Katlynn said:
My relationship wasn’t a good one, so it was a relief to finally be free. We’d been together since I was 16, and married for four years. We grew apart.
She added:
I did a bit of research but all the ideas were my own and it was exactly the way I wanted to do it. It was like my rebellion against the marriage, my way of saying I’m free.
We went out to this little area with mud and water and I had a bottle of wine and a gas canister in a basket.
About her feelings during the photoshoot, Katlynn said:
I cracked open the wine, took it off and then set it on fire. I watched it burn while I drank the wine. It was very liberating, exciting and empowering. It actually ended up being quite sexy because I stripped down to my underwear.
Good luck to this fiery lady as she moves forward with her life with a good sense of humour and a penchant for drama. She may well be my new hero.
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Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.