Trash the Dress competition

We've had an amazing summer, packed full of beautiful weddings to photograph. And to celebrate we're offering one lucky bride a free Trash the Dress shoot.

For the trash the dress shoots we use a range of locations such as beaches, riversides, glens, farms, city centres, industrial estates, etc, etc! Sometimes our brides have a particular location in mind that they would like to use and we try to incorporate this into the shoot where possible. We also base our choice on the individual style of each bride, tailoring the locations to suit their look and their wedding dress. Husbands are also very welcome to take part in the shoot!

To be in with a chance of winning, email your contact details to info@elementalweddings.co.uk The winner will be drawn on Friday.

To view our Post-Wedding (TTD) shoot gallery go to our wedding website

To stay up to date with our competitions and offers, follow us on Facebook and Twitter

Trash the dress/Post-wedding shoots

Just a quick reminder that our post-wedding shoot season is drawing to an end. In order to avoid goosebumps we take a break from these shoots over autumn and winter, re-starting them as soon as it's warm enough in the spring!

If you'd like to get back into your dress for a fun, fashion-inspired shoot, now is the time to give us a shout. Husbands are more than welcome too.

To view images from our Post-wedding shoots go to the gallery section of our website

Engagement/pre-wedding shoots

Regular readers of our blog will notice that we're being kept busy with pre-wedding shoots at the moment. With the wedding season about to kick off again in earnest very soon, this is a great time for us to focus on these shoots.

Engagement shoots are very popular in North America. Remember that episode of Sex and the City when Charlotte & Harry had a photo shoot in Central Park for their Sunday Times announcement? While not everyone makes it into the New York Times, engagements do tend to be announced with a photograph in the local newspaper.

Here in the UK, the engagement/pre-wedding shoot is growing in popularity. Couples are increasingly using these photographs for their save-the-date cards and wedding invites. Signature boards are also becoming very popular - an image from the pre-shoot is enlarged with a border for the guests to sign at the reception. This highly personal alternative to the guestbook looks fantastic.

Our favourite part of the pre-shoot is the wonderful bond that it creates between our couples and us. It's a great way to get to know people better and to find out the best way to photograph them. We usually spend our pre-shoots clambering around urban locations, lying on the ground when the need arises, and always laughing a lot!

Most importantly, the shoot gives the couple the opportunity to get used to being in front of the camera. By the time the wedding day comes they then know exactly what to expect (and we don't get too many raised eyebrows when we drag them off to a random location for photographs!).

Our post-wedding shoots (also sometimes known as Trash the Dress shoots) will be starting up again this month. We have a really exciting location to work in for our first TTD shoot of 2009 so watch this space!

Trash the dress - Brighton beach

Here are a few of our favourite shots from a recent trash the dress shoot on Brighton beach. Jess looked stunning in her gorgeous wedding gown. She was also fantastic fun to work with - we turned our backs for a second and suddenly she had found a rope swing!

Drown the gown and soak the suit!

Having been married in the African sun, Sarah and Steve opted to brave the British weather for a post wedding/trash the dress shoot! Brighton beach at dusk proved the perfect setting and these former lifeguards weren't afraid of getting wet...

Should you trash your dress?

It’s every bride’s dilemma: what to do with their wedding dress after the big day. Some choose to sell their dress and recoup some of the costs while others pay a substantial sum to have their wedding dress dry cleaned and boxed, in a bid to preserve it for future generations.

Faced with a large box languishing in the attic and the niggling feeling that their own daughter will reject the offer of wearing this family heirloom on their special day (just as the bride in question laughed when offered her mother’s circa-1970 wedding dress), many brides are now starting to consider a relatively new phenomenon…trashing their dress.

Originating in the USA, trash the dress has now reached UK shores and is hotly tipped to become the newest phenomenon in wedding photography. Having invested heavily in their dress, many brides feel that wearing it once just isn’t enough. For others, the trash the dress photo shoot allows them to use different locations – perhaps a beach or an industrial estate – and relax in the knowledge that it doesn’t matter if their dress gets wet or dirty.

While the term is likely to strike fear into the heart of most mother-of-the-brides, a dress trashing is not necessarily literally that. In fact, many brides say that after the photographic shoot their dress cleaned up without any problems. Others prefer to go the full distance – submerging themselves in water, getting greasy in a garage, or even cutting their dress to shreds.

Whatever the level of trashing, the shoot offers the bride the opportunity to let her hair down and have a great time in the process. All brides want to look beautiful, composed and elegant on their wedding day. The trash the dress shoot is a chance to show your fun, carefree and possibly even sultry side!

So, you’ve decided to go for it. But before you do, make sure you choose the right photographer. After all, if you are going to “trash” your beautiful dress, you want to be sure that the end result will be worth it. A quality trash the dress shoot will result in striking, fashion-inspired images that will remind your new husband of what a lucky man he is!

When choosing your trash the dress photographer, check to see if they are a member of a professional organisation such as the Master Photographers Association, the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers or the British Institute of Professional Photography. Also decide before the shoot what level of trashing you would like to do – a good, professional photographer will not ask you to do anything you don’t feel 100% comfortable with.

Finally, relax and enjoy the shoot. After all, this probably will be the last time you wear your wedding dress so make the most of the opportunity to enjoy a top model experience!