Rock n Roll Bride - The ultimate guide for alternative brides

Kat

The Five-Year Engagement Save The Date Sweepstakes – WIN $1000 of Amazon Vouchers!

Kat

April 9, 2012

Whenever I blog a wedding, I always ask the couples about their engagement story. I don't always include them in the final posts, but it really helps me get to know the couple and what makes them tick - how they got together, how long they were engaged and how they got from 'will you?' to 'I do'. In fact some of my favourite wedding stories have been those with interesting engagement tales. One of my besties, who was married just last month, was only engaged 3 months (in fact her now-husband did a lot of the planning before he even popped the question!) but at the other end of the scale, Emma & Pete were engaged for 3 years before their surprise wedding last year!
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Something Borrowed, Something Roo: Choosing My Bridesmaids

Kat

April 9, 2012

I’ve been thinking it over a lot this past week, and I figure that we know each other pretty well by now. There’ve been ups and downs as far as our wedding journey goes – so far – and you’ve been there through it all. I reckon I’m right in saying that you all know what makes me tick, but I realise that I’ve neglected to tell you about some of those who make me tick. In this instance, I am talking of course about my bridesmaids.
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A Sunday Kind of Love: Eggs, Baby Bunnies & An Ombre Wedding Dress

Kat

April 8, 2012

Well what else could I be loving this Sunday but Easter!? I don't like chocolate at all (I know, I'm a freak) but I do love spending the day with my loved ones and taking some much needed time off work. I couldn't leave you without some Easter inspo pretty though could I!? Today I wanted to share something a little different, Melanie & Michael's sweet Easter inspired shoot that was sent over by wedding photographers Jenn & Derrek of Jennifer Sullivan Photography. If this doesn't get you in the Easter egg munching, baby bunny petting spirit I don't know what will. I hope you all have a fabulous day whatever you're up to.
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The Green Eyed Plateau-Puss // How to Overcome Inertia and Jealousy: A Guest Post by Amma of Beyond Beyond

Kat

April 6, 2012

Hi, my name is Amma and I would like to confess that sometimes I have green eyes. Yes, I know that biological anomaly that I, as a child of African parents could have emerald green peepers – but I’m talking about professional jealously and how you get over it. As, some of you may or may not know – I still have a day job; as day jobs go mine is not half bad and given the state of female unemployment at present; I certainly know which side my bread is buttered; so I am more than happy to plod along – albeit sometimes sulkily as a 5-9er until I hit my professional tipping point. Now, without getting into the nitty-gritty of it all – I had some personal stuff going on that really meant that despite streaking the sky like a comet when I first began my foray into business. I got forced to slow down, in fact not just slow down – I had to hit the brakes and I experienced a mega slide into a career plateau. Although, work requests and projects were coming in thick and fast, there was no way that I could take it on, and circumstance meant that ‘my stuff’, blogging, and the day became an all encompassing festival of woe.
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A Barbie & Breakfast at Tiffany’s Inspired Wedding: Anna-Marie & Paul

Kat

April 6, 2012

Anna-Marie & Paul had a simple, down-to-earth and beautiful wedding. Barbie pink accents sat perfectly with their eclectic styling ideas and Breakfast at Tiffany inspiration. The reception was held at The Grand Café in Oxford, as the bride explained, "We went for a high tea affair in a beautiful 1920s style café. It is a special place for us as we started our dating years visiting Oxford and The Grand Café. In fact Paul proposed in Oxford too. We were aiming for a relaxed and informal atmosphere. No cutting of the cake, no first dance - just tea, cake and friends. We created a playlist of all our favorite songs and put it on shuffle throughout the night. It isn’t a wedding venue, partly why we picked it, we didn’t want anything typically wedding style. We aren’t crazy party animals so we only hired it for 4 hours, (5pm – 9pm). We wanted maximum impact, and minimal drunk people (the latter bit didn’t work out, It seems people cram more in a short space of time!!) All in all, it was the perfect choice for our wedding reception."
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Thursday Treats – 5th April 2012: Instagram on Android & Shabby Apple Giveaway Winner

Kat

April 5, 2012

Oh sweet lord this is the most exciting thing to happy to me in weeks (OK so slight exaggeration but...) Instagram finally came to Android! No longer will I be envious of all the cool kids and their beautifully filtered phone photos. I'm RocknRollBride (duh!) so why not follow me? In other wonderful news, I had a rather exciting Skype date with Gala & Nubby this week. Watch this space lovers, we're planning something quite spectacular.
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A Dramatic Alpine Wedding: Brie & Leonard

Kat

April 5, 2012

With a penchant for the dramatic, is it any wonder that I went a little gaga over Brie & Leonard alpine wedding? The black wedding dress, the intimate ceremony, the epic mountain top photographs...I love it all! The bride even had a rams skull (yes really!) instead of a bouquet. "Basically our story goes like this," the bride began, "Leonard and I are not really conventional people and despite a few failed ideas to do things more traditionally we quickly discovered that your wedding is not the time to be what you are not. So we followed our hearts to our dream wedding in New Zealand. Leonard proposed to me on the top of a New Zealand mountain in the snow, which was just magical, so we decided that a snowy mountain would make the perfect place for our wedding. We had no guests so we decided to use a helicopter to travel to a completely isolated place with no road access."
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A Low Key, Family-Centric Wedding with a Bowling After Party: Daniel & Zara

Kat

April 5, 2012

Daniel & Zara wanted a really low key wedding that focussed on family, friends, celebration and laughter. The ceremony was held at Camden Town Hall (where the bride's parents were married 35 years earlier). The reception kicked off with drinks at The Gilbert Scott or Cider Tap (the guests went to either or both!) and finally Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes. "Over several bottles of wine on holiday last summer we drew up lists of things we did and didn't want as part of the day," Zara told me "Over-formality was a big no-no and fun was a big yes! We fell in love with the Kingpin Suite at Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes as soon as we saw it so that became our after party venue. It was as close as we could get to running off to Vegas without sacrificing having our friends and families there. Dan and I are both terrible at bowling, but he did propose outside a bowling alley (with a ring in a packet of hula hoops) just before we went in for a game - so it all seemed to fit into place. We managed to keep the reception venue a secret from guests until they turned up. No-one had a clue and it was brilliant for Dan and I to greet people with massive surprised smiles on their faces."
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A Dusky Pink Wedding with a Touch of Vintage: Louise & Paul

Kat

April 4, 2012

Louise & Paul were married in London on 11th February, just a few days after their 12 year anniversary. "Our 12 year anniversary was the Thursday before our wedding!" Louise told me. "This is the reason why we chose this date. We got engaged two year’s previously on our 10 year anniversary! We were lucky enough to find our photographer Annamarie Stepney through a wedding blog and we just fell in love with her pictures. They are so romantic and unconventional. Her photos just tell a story of the day - people who were there can re-live every fab moment and fill in the gaps on the moments they couldn't remember or missed. And those who weren't there, get transported to the day. I've been blown away by all the amazing comments on them!"
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The Inspirations: Abbey Warner of Sugalily

Kat

April 4, 2012

Abbey Warner is one of those incredibly giving and beautiful people. She is someone that I can always count on to dish the advice as well as have a dirty gossip with! I love her dearly and I'm totally chuffed to have her in The Green Room today. Women don't come much more inspirational than my friend Abbey. Hi Abbey! I'm so excited to have you as part of my Inspirations series. Can you tell us a little about yourself - Who you are, what you do etc? Hello! I am Abbey, a little bit of the team that makes up the Sugalily design studio, which is based in Derby, right in the middle of England. I also spend at least one day a week in London town, meeting clients. Within the business my role is as Creative Director, doing {most of} the design and looking after our wedding clients.
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How to Win Friends and Influence People: Social Media

Kat

April 3, 2012

The late, great Dale Carnegie once wrote, "You will go further in two months by becoming genuinely interested in just two other people than you will in two years trying to get other people interested in you." This quote blows my mind. It's so damn spot on (after writing this article I actually went out and bought the book as I've never read the whole thing - I can't wait to get stuck in!) As a side note, can you believe that it was written in 1936, but it's still just as relevant today? Amazing! The section of my workshops and talks where people always seem to ask the most questions is the bit about using social media. People always want to know a) how to get more followers or 'likers' and b) what to actually write about so people don't think they're a weirdo. Yeah seriously.
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A ‘US Meets UK’ Rock n Roll Wedding: Aaron & Melanie

Kat

April 3, 2012

This is unadulterated Rock n Roll Bride gold and I'm thrilled to share it with you today. The couple, who met in San Francisco while Melanie was there on holiday, were married at the end of January at Old Marylebone Town Hall, London. "We met whilst out dancing at a rockabilly club called the Jay n Bee, and whilst there was instant attraction, I was only on a two week holiday so nothing really happened," Melanie told me. "However, I returned to the USA a few months later for Las Vegas and a three month stay in San Francisco, and that's when we started dating. We continued travelling between San Francisco and London, and got engaged on our 8 month anniversary (which was also Christmas Eve) whilst out dancing at the Southbank Centre in London. We had originally planned to get married in SF, but one sunny day last October, we were laying in the garden here in London, and I said to Aaron 'We should get married in London...in January!' and so we planned our wedding in just over three and a half months!"
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An Alice Wedding in Australia: Stew & Ali

Kat

April 2, 2012

The Australian wedding of Stew & Ali was held at Leaning Church Vineyard in Tasmania. "We knew even before we were engaged that we wanted to be married in a vineyard," Ali told me. "We love to visit the amazing vineyards in our area of Tasmania, which is famous for its Pinot Noir. We’re known for our somewhat overzealous love of said Pinot Noir….So a vineyard screamed Stew and Ali. We chose Leaning Church because of its rustic charm, hills full of vines, a quaint little lake, long yellow grass and absolutely fabulous wedding coordinator!"
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A Leap Day Wedding Planned in Just 10 Days: Jennifer & Michael

Kat

April 2, 2012

Jennifer & Michael were married in The Candy Factory, a warehouse in Lancaster PA, on February 29th this year. They picked the venue as Jennifer loves the space (she's a model and has shot there a few times). They also planned their wedding in...wait for it...TEN DAYS! Jennifer told me all about it, "Our wedding was planned in under 10 days. I went to my seamstress with a 7 day window, and the desire for a 50s style, tea length wedding dress and she pulled through. The venue is one of my favorite shooting spots as I am very fond of putting pretty things in old, ugly places. This spot just matched us so well. Even though there was no lighting or heat, my husband fixed all that with his all-knowing sensibility. We picked a very rainy day, so the roof leaked horribly and we had buckets everywhere, but I guarantee no one will forget this wedding!"
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