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---
title: Texas Woman Blows Up Wedding Dress For Divorce: Video
description: A Texas woman celebrated her divorce after a 14-year marriage by blowing up her wedding dress with an audience of friends and family.
canonical: https://time.com/5455822/blowing-up-wedding-dress/
author: Cady Lang
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article:content_tier: free
article:published_time: 2018-11-15T17:10:46.000Z
article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:56:03.093Z
og:title: Texas Woman Celebrates Divorce by Blowing Up Wedding Dress
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og:image:alt: Yellow color burning fire frame
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twitter:title: Texas Woman Celebrates Divorce by Blowing Up Wedding Dress
twitter:description: As one does
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# Texas Woman Celebrates Her Divorce By Blowing Up Her Wedding Dress

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![Cady Lang](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd534f2cb81c3b094/69894087e76ad2e66b633ad3/c_lang.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1:1)

by 

[Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)


![Cady Lang](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd534f2cb81c3b094/69894087e76ad2e66b633ad3/c_lang.jpg?branch=production&width=96&quality=75&auto=webp)

## Cady Lang


Nov 15, 2018 5:10 PM UTC

![Yellow color burning fire frame](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd86c64e244b9a139/69893f3d656a3f1501bd5ff1/woman-blows-up-wedding-dress-to-celebrate-divorce.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=3:2)

Yellow color burning fire frame

Yellow color burning fire frame sbayram—Getty Images/iStockphoto

![Cady Lang](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd534f2cb81c3b094/69894087e76ad2e66b633ad3/c_lang.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1:1)

by 

[Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)


![Cady Lang](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd534f2cb81c3b094/69894087e76ad2e66b633ad3/c_lang.jpg?branch=production&width=96&quality=75&auto=webp)

## Cady Lang


Nov 15, 2018 5:10 PM UTC

A Texas divorcée showed that she knew how to go out of a marriage with a bang when she celebrated her [divorce being finalized](http://time.com/5405757/millennials-us-divorce-rate-decline/) by blowing up [her wedding dress.](http://time.com/4803546/woman-burns-wedding-dress/)

According to the [_Star-Telegram_](https://www.star-telegram.com/news/state/texas/article221527670.html), Kimberly Santleben-Stiteler of LaCoste, Texas, commemorated the end of her 14-year marriage by filling her wedding dress with $200 worth of explosives and then shooting it with a rifle on her father’s farm. Forty of her closest family and friends were on deck to help her celebrate this momentous occasion.

“I wanted to remove all things from our marriage from our house,” Santleben-Stiteler said. “Photos in the attic, ring in the safe (but probably going to sell it) and the dress I wanted to burn.” She decided to up the ante by making her dress explode with the help of her father and brother-in-law, as well as a friend who was a bomb technician. The explosion ended up being so vast that it was felt and heard in their county, up to 15 miles away.

“The explosion was huge,” she said. “It was liberating pulling that trigger. It was closure for all of us.”

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