The Elemental elves have packed up our last order, festivities and Fire Punch are calling, and another year is drawing to an end.

And what a year it has been! We’ve been lucky to once again meet, get to know and work with a lot of very lovely people, and in incredible locations ranging from cliff tops to castles to cowsheds. We’ll be posting our 2011 wedding highlights here from early January.

There were sad faces at Elemental Towers when we had to turn down destination weddings in Cuba & Jamaica this year – we love to travel but our diary gets booked up pretty far in advance! But we did manage to squeeze in a trip to Rome with some of our favourite wedding industry friends in autumn. We look forward to sharing these photos with you as soon as we get a  day or two spare to edit them!

We also got to unleash our inner fashion photographer divas on  creative shoots this year. The final shoot (codenamed ‘forest’) is still under wraps, but we promise it will be worth the wait and  can’t wait to share it in the New Year!

Last, but definitely not least, we were over the moon to win Best Photographer at the VOWS Awards in November, and to become the first photographer ever to win this coveted award twice. It means a huge amount to us – particularly when the competition was so stiff – and we really, really appreciate the support of our lovely clients who voted for us.

That’s it from us, we’re off to overdose on Christmas films, and to catch up with our friends and family here in Scotland. And then we’re going to do it all over again in Canada in February.

Wishing you a fantastic Christmas  & New Year!

Christina & Jay

P.S. We will be back in the office on January 3rd. Unless the snow conditions are good, in which case we may be some time.

Her summer soirée, held at the uber funky Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art,  celebrated all that is great about the UK wedding industry, and brought together some of the best suppliers from all over the country for an evening of drinks, dancing and other delights.

With a dress code of “glamorous, vintage and extremely gorgeous”, we knew we were in for an incredible night. And it surpassed all of our expectations. My highlights included wearing accessories belonging to both my glamorous grannies, gawping at all the gorgeous outfits, the mesmerising burlesque performances, great chat & laughter with old friends (and random banter with new ones), throwing big shapes on the dancefloor, and lots of photobooth fun.

But first up, we had to turn back the clocks. And while the boys enjoyed a cheeky beer or two, the girls headed to Savannah – a fantastic salon in Newcastle where our vintage makeover took place.

From top to bottom – Alie of Blue Sky Photography, Mette of Freja Designer Dressmaking, me, Grace of Lindsay Fleming Couture, Yvonne of Cherry Tree Films and Donna of Archibald Photography. And in the last photo, Alie, Mette, me and Donna.

Huge thanks to Annabel for a fantastic night. If you don’t yet follow her blog then you need to start. Like now.

You can see some photos of us in our gladrags over on Blue Sky’s blog.

And Donna has also blogged some photos over on Archibald’s  blog.

The website was created by one of our lovely brides, style journalist Sarah Tolan, and features Kate’s latest looks. Pop the kettle on and go check it out!

Our romantic plans for the day include going to see Thor, and then Insidious if Jay gets his way (Eek! Are you allowed to bring your own cushion to hide behind?), drinking Champagne cocktails, and signing karaoke…badly.

Later we will dig out our wedding photos and film, and retell our favourite stories from the day, and laugh, and remember how amazing it felt to have our people together in one place, for us.

Jay – I am so glad I chose Whistler! You are the best partner in crime. Thanks for another amazing year. Can’t wait to have more adventures with you. x

Photo by our lovely friends at Blue Sky Photography.

And most of all, cheering on Wills & Kate! 

Within that circle there are lots of incredibly creative and talented individuals, and several of these lovely peeps have become very good friends. People often assume that wedding photographers are ridiculously competitive with each other, when in fact the truth couldn’t be more different for most successful pros. After all, who else would be available to help us get giddy on Champagne on a Monday evening in November.  ;-)

And so it was that after a couple of vinos one night over at Blue Sky Towers, we came up with a cunning plan, subtly codenamed ‘Paris’. There would be friends, there would be fashion and (the cherry on the cake) there would be film!

Notes from our first planning meeting…

On Sunday, while Hollywood’s best were frocking up and preparing to strut the red carpet, an equally glamorous – yet admittedly less well-off – group of individuals were gathering here at Elemental HQ for a film premiere of their own.

As the hosts, we kicked off the proceedings with our highlights from the trip.

And then it was the turn of  Team Blue Sky and Team Archibald – whose photos (as always) frickin’ rocked!

Finally, the time had come for Team Cherry Tree to air their masterpiece. And OMG (this is the first and only time Jay has  allowed me to say that on our blog!), is it not just the best film ever! Sorry Colin Firth, but clearly it is.

You can watch it here.

Firstly, congratulations to uber talented make-up artist Lynne Mills, who runs EyeCandy. Lynne has been nominated in the prestigious 2011 Professional Beauty Awards (PBAs), in the ‘Make-Up Specialist of The Year’ category.

The PBAs recognise those who make a real difference to the industry and encourage professional development.  They are viewed as a sign of excellence, as those nominated have been judged by their peers to be at the top of their profession.

We can’t reveal too much at the moment, but we are very excited to be working with Lynne on a fashion shoot next week. In the meantime, to see some of her recent wedding work, take a look at our gorgeous bride Samantha in the blog post below.

Our second big up goes to the  awesome team at Planet Flowers, who feature in The Independant’s 50 Best Florist’s today. They are highlighted for their ability to bring the ‘wow factor’ to any big event.

We love working with Planet, and are always really excited to see what creative delights they come up with. They take floral design to another level, and as someone commented to us just this week, create ‘works of art’.

Here’s an example of their work…

Here’s a taster of the shoot…

We’d like to say a huge thanks to our fantastic models Sarah, Aubrey & Satya.