After their wedding, most brides get their dress professionally cleaned and put it in a box for safe keeping.
Eveny Lageschulte is not most brides.
Instead of going a more traditional route, she and new husband Kraig decided to play volleyball after their wedding ceremony - in the mud.
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T-R PHOTO BY DAVID ALEXANDER
Eveny Lageschulte, the bride, serves the ball during a mud volleyball game following her wedding ceremony Saturday afternoon. The wedding and game took place at the home of her new father in-law, Kevin Lageschulte, on Elmwood Drive. “Destroy the dress” parties like Eveny’s have been gaining popularity in recent years.
"I'm never going to wear the dress again," Eveny, 26, said. "I might as well have some fun."
The $1,700 dress was ruined prior to the game when the bride and her bridesmaids tussled in the garden of the Elmwood Drive home where the ceremony took place.
Kevin Lageschulte, father of the groom, converted his garden into a mud pit for the occasion.
Minutes into the game, Eveny had a guest cut off her dress's train so she could better compete with her bridesmaids, new husband and his groomsmen. The game pitted bridesmaids against groomsmen.
Kraig said the game represents a life full of spontaneous possibilities. He loved the idea as soon as he heard it.
"We are starting a new life full of firsts," Craig, 28, said.
The iconoclastic "destroy the dress" movement has gained popularity in recent years, with brides across the county staging similar showings of tradition breaking.
Although the Marshalltown couple wore their wedding clothes, the rest of the wedding party changed into clothes more appropriate for the game, prior to the first serve.
"Some of us want to wear our dresses again," said Jill Lageschulte, 22, Kraig's sister and a bridesmaid.
Jill said she wasn't surprised at Eveny's decision to ruin the dress, saying she is a spontaneous person who simply wanted her wedding to be a fun celebration instead of spending the day stressing about every little thing being perfect.
"I guess the old adage of having the dress clean and put away, I guess they don't do that anymore," said Kevin Lageschulte.
The groomsmen won the game 21-10.