Bride who drowned in her wedding gown purposefully climbed in the water for 'Trash the Dress' ritual... but was pulled under by the weight. A newlywed who drowned during a photo shoot in her wedding dress was purposefully in the water to take part in a popular ritual called 'Trash the Dress', it has emerged. The practice, in which brides pose for pictures while playfully destroying their wedding gowns, had tragic consequences for Maria Pantazopoulos, when she was dragged under the water by the weight of her soaked dress. 'I can't anymore, it's too heavy,' she cried before letting go of the photographer and slipping under to her death, the Toronto Sun reported. The 30-year-old real estate agent, who had just bought a home with her new husband, was pulled into the Ouareau River near Dorwin Falls, north of Montreal, on Friday afternoon. Her body was found about two-and-a-half hours later. Her bridal gown and high-heeled wedding shoes were later pictured lying on rocks along the river bed. Ms Pantazopoulos had commissioned the shoot following her June 9 wedding and instructed the photographer, Louis Pagakis, to snap away while she was in the water. 'At one point, she told him, "I want you to take some photos of me floating in the water",' the photographer's wife, Anouk Benzacar, said. But within moments of climbing in she realised that the weight of the soaked wedding dress was pulling her under. She was screaming and scratching and trying to stay above water, Benzacar said. '[Louis] tried to swim with her, but she was pulling him down. She was too heavy. He couldn't breathe anymore.' Pagakis told CTV Montreal that he did everything he could to save her. 'She had her wedding dress on and she said, "take some pictures of me while I swim a little bit in the lake,"' he said. 'She went in and her dress got heavy, I tried everything I could to save her.' Leeza Pousoulidis told the Montreal Gazette her friend wanted 'Trash the Dress' photographs. She's a really fun girl, and she just didn't want her wedding dress sitting in a box in the closet,' she said. 'She said "I want to have fun with my wedding dress. I want to have great pictures and memories of me in my wedding dress."' The soaked dress would have weighed at least 100 pounds, provincial policeman Jean-Michel Masse said. 'It was like an anvil,' he added to the QMI news agency. Pantazopoulos had just bought a house in the picturesque city of Laval, Quebec with her husband, Billy, and they had planned on starting a family right away, friends told the Sun. Ms Pousoulidis said her friend was 'a strong, tough girl'. 'She was very petite, but she was strong in character and in physical strength as well. She was very happy and caring. She had a big heart.' Quebec provincial police spokesman Sgt. Ronald McInnis described the site as being elevated and rocky, with water 'violently' rushing below. 'She was doing the photo shoot in about six inches or one foot of water when part of her wedding dress got soaked and became extremely heavy,' Mr McInnis told MailOnline. 'She started slipping and falling down when the photographer grabbed her but she was too heavy that he couldn't pull her from the edge. 'Another person tried to grab her but also was unable to save her from falling into the river.' Mr McInnis said Ms Pantazopoulos, from Laval, a small Island north of Montreal, was found 100 feet from where she fell by a private diver who knows the river and volunteered to help with the search. The diver pulled the young woman's body from an area of the river which was 20 feet deep. 'She had sunk to the bottom,' Mr McInnis said. Two witnesses, the photographer and an assistant, were hospitalised for extreme shock. Mr McInnis said the bride's husband was not present for the photo-shoot and neither were any family members. However, her cousins and her brother went to the site when they heard that she had died. 'It's horrible,' Mr McInnis said. 'This is the first time I've heard of a story like that. I told my partner, this is a story that is going to go all around the world.' Ms Pantazopoulos's family has declined to speak to the media. Maria Pantazopoulos: Tragic bride who drowned in wedding dress purposefully climbed in water | Mail Online May she rest in peace.
I personally can't imagine a more horrible death than drowning. Well I could, but not anything that is realistic. My heart goes out to the husband and family, not that he will ever read this or care, but I am still feeling for him. I can't imagine how it would feel to be at such a happy time in your life only to have it sucked away from you in a matter of seconds. She was probably gone before most people realized there was even an issue... So sad. It is also heartbreakingly-disturbing to think of how long it took the death of his newly-wed wife to sink in on the Pagakis. Was it immediate that he realized she was gone forever, or minutes later, or hours later, or has he yet to realize what has happened to him? When I lost my grandmother some years ago, it wasn't for weeks that it set in on me I could no longer see her and that she truly was gone. I cried harder at that point then when I had heard the original news. Death has been lingering on my mind too much lately. It really sucks.
You might want to consult a cardiologist to see whether you have a heart or not. What a sad situation. Losing your wife forever on your wedding day? Your daughter, sister, friend? What's supposed to be one of the happiest days of your life turns into one of the worst days of your life.
The saddest thing about this is that her death was probably very easily avoidable if she or anyone she was with at the time was capable of demonstrating the slightest bit of common sense.
There was nothing they could do once she got in the water, and leading up to that... she had just been married, they were all excited. Death was the last thing on anybodies mind. The truly saddest thing about all this is that nobody seems to feel sympathy for her and instead makes cynical jokes at a dead women's expense. Man, you guys are so much smarter than she is, nothing like this could EVER happen to you!
Accidents happen. It's not that surprising to me that she would not have considered that the weight of her wet dress may pull her under and drown her. What is surprising to me is the amount of people here who are completely insensitive about it. Not you so much, but a lot of other people. Laughing about it. Laughing about a woman who lost her life and her grieving family.
I may have not read everything but was it possible to wear her "birthday suit" instead of her wedding suit? Not trying to make a joke out of this but it seemed very much preventable. Regardless the damage is done and I am sad to hear about this.
Thats not what I'm saying at all... I'm not saying we need to mourn everybody's death, but if death is presented to you, at least try to squeeze the little bit of humanity out of you and see through the eyes of the husband and FOR FUCKS SAKE don't make fun of it. You don't even have to fucking post, you could have just left the thread... It is people who live like that who are weak and never really experience life. I pity those people.
lol because you know me so much It's called natural selection. I didn't make fun of it did I? It's pretty obvious that the dress is gonna uh.... get heavy when soaked with water? You didn't have to post either but...
I get the feeling that people who make light of it just want to be seen as some sort of badass. HAHA, I DON'T HAVE FEELINGS! LOOK HOW COOL I AM! A man lost his wife. Her parents lost their daughter. Forever. They lost this person that they loved forever. They'll never get to see her again, they'll never talk to her again, she'll never exist again. She's gone, forever. How the fuck is that funny to anyone?
No I don't know you, but I do make judgments like a natural human being and from what I have been presented with you seem like an insensitive person. If you don't want people to think you are a bad person, don't do bad things. As of right now, my mind has you labelled as... well, an insensitive person. Furthermore... Would you expect the dress to be heavy enough to pull you under in 4 feet of water and drown you? Would that be on your mind at ALL after you had just married the person you loved, and you are headed to take pictures and enjoy yourself some more? Probably within 30 feet from the spot you got married (I'm assuming the river was the spot nearby the wedding) and you expect the dress you have been wearing for hours to possibly become heavy enough to kill you? That sounds like the thought process of a maniac if you ask me. And no, I didn't have to post, but my morals and my natural tendency to discuss things made me do so. Had I thought I was going to offend anybody, I would not have continued in posting. But I don't know, maybe I'm a fucking loon or something and all NORMAL people are assholes. Thats how it seems, at least.
label me what you want... It's very irrelevant she got married and all that blah blah blah. The water was rushing and "violent" so i guess that's just a great time to go stand in it right?!
Yes that is why. Because I don't truly believe that anybody will have their feelings hurt or be upset with a harmless joke at nobodies expense, except perhaps your parents if you take things that seriously