Kirsty Henshaw, 39, set fire to her £2,000 wedding dress with a blowtorch at a funeral-themed divorce party on 4 October, after her 17-year marriage ended. The mother of one, from Macclesfield, Cheshire, also burned 15 wedding photographs featuring her former husband as she marked a divorce finalised the previous month.
The care home operations director chose to destroy the gown rather than sell it or leave it in storage. She had spent much of her adult life in the relationship and said the decision came after months of struggling with the separation.
Videos posted to TikTok under @kirsty.henshaw2 show Henshaw laughing as she sets the white dress alight before dropping the burning garment into a metal bin. Another clip reveals that three friends had arranged a surprise mock funeral procession, complete with black outfits and a cake.
A £2,000 Wedding Dress Goes Up in Flames
Henshaw hung her former wedding dress on a hanger before setting it on fire, turning a garment associated with the start of her marriage into the centrepiece of its farewell. She also wanted to dispose of wedding album photographs showing her former husband. Henshaw said she started by burning two pictures from the album, then lit the hanging gown. The footage shows the dress catching fire before she puts it into the bin, while another clip documents the photographs being burned.
The decision was not about salvaging the dress's value. Henshaw said she had no desire to keep storing something she no longer wanted, and chose to burn it instead of selling it on. She described relief at getting rid of the wedding photographs too, rather than preserving them simply because they represented memories.
'It was liberating,' she said of the celebration. She described the burning as an emotional release following a difficult year. The dress, once kept as a memento of the wedding, had become something she wanted to part with.
Friends Arrive for a Surprise 'Funeral'
@kirsty.henshaw2 Some people might not agree… but this was well worth it #divorce #cheater #newbeginnings ♬ original sound - kirstyhenshaw4
Henshaw's friends added their own theatrical element before the burning began. Three women approached her home dressed in black, walking in a solemn procession as though attending a funeral. They carried a black, heart-shaped cake decorated with the words 'divorced af', turning a funeral ritual into a divorce celebration. Henshaw later said their entrance was completely unexpected, as she had not known about the planned outfits or procession.
Their support went beyond organising the party, Henshaw said. She explained that the three friends had repeatedly supported her during the separation and had been there when she needed them. 'Those girls have been everything to me,' she said, crediting their support throughout the difficult months.
Once the dress and photographs had been burned, the group went out for a roast dinner. The day combined the friends' darkly humorous staging with the more personal task of saying goodbye to objects from Henshaw's marriage.
From Heartbreak to a New Chapter
Henshaw said she had been with the person she believed was the love of her life since she was 21. Their separation left her struggling at the beginning of 2026, before the divorce was finalised in September. 'I was so broken the first few months of the year,' she recalled.
With the divorce finalised, Henshaw said she was relieved to leave the marriage behind and was looking forward to the next year. She has encouraged others going through divorce to hold their own celebrations, arguing that marking the occasion helped her turn the page. She said she wanted to enter 2027 without continuing to dwell on what had happened during 2026. For her, the party offered a chance to 'start living life again'.
