Houston woman celebrates divorce by burning the symbol of her marriage

Screen shot of YouTube.com/Zachary Alan Betts' post

Earlier this year, a woman in Spring commemorated the end of her marriage by destroying a key part of its beginning:

Videos by Rare

Her wedding dress.

Brianna Barksdale, 34, said she held a garage sale after her divorce became finalized on January 31.

She reportedly sold nearly every item in her home, including furniture, clothes and electronics, with some items going for as low as $.50.

According to Barksdale, the point of the garage sale focused less on turning a profit and more on turning over a new leaf:

“This is symbolic of freedom. This is symbolic of moving forward,” Barksdale said in an interview USA Today. “This is symbolic of letting go of the past and moving forward to the future.”

RELATED: This Bridezilla takes the cake by asking her bridesmaids to pay for their dresses — and hers

Barksdale’s now-ex-husband reportedly behaved unfaithfully and physically abused her and the couple’s two children.

“It was a really rough situation, it was a bad situation there’s still criminal charges pending, so, I can’t talk about a lot of it, but, yeah, not a great guy,” she said in another interview with a local TV station.

The day’s liberating festivities concluded with guests writing messages on Barksdale’s wedding dress.

Many of the messages encouraged her in her efforts to move on from her past and make a new life for herself; others contained strong language toward her ex-husband, reportedly on probation for a domestic battery charge.

Seen featured below, Barksdale hung the wedding dress from a stand in the front yard and lit it on fire – an inferno greeted with cheers from attendees.

RELATED: Here comes the bride, all dressed in…black? She gave her traditional day a chic twist

Barksdale marked the occasion by wearing a T-shirt, which read, “Single Ramen/Married Filet Mignon.”

“Will I be eating Ramen until I’m 50? Probably,” Barksdale said. “But single Ramen is better than married filet mignon.”

What do you think?

Will the U.S. Senate actually do anything on immigration?

Houston Center for Contemporary Craft hosts show featuring the lost art of light