Rock n Roll Bride - The ultimate guide for alternative brides

Kat

Katie & Tim’s Rustic English Garden Wedding

Kat

May 23, 2011

Katie & Tim were married in August 2010, after being together for nearly 12 years! "We got married in Batcombe Old School Hall, a tiny listed building nestled within the rolling countryside of Somerset," Katie told me. "I was getting overwhelmed by the size and price tag of large stately homes. The Old School was £120, at this price we were able to hire it for the day before to decorate it too!" For their reception they took over an old manor house in Wiltshire (which is no longer doing weddings unfortunately) for 4 whole days with all their friends. A few people even camped in the grounds. "We loved it because it had a barn attached so we didn’t need to spend extra on a marquee plus our guests paid us to stay there which bought the cost down considerably," the bride explained.
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A Woodland Bridal Shoot

Kat

May 23, 2011

This morning's shoot was set up by photographers We Heart Pictures to showcase the types of brides they want to shoot. "Hector and I fly to Jersey often for client meetings as we shoot weddings in the Channel Islands," photographer Charlie told me. "I took the opportunity to make the most of our trip and the stunning location and heckled people into getting up at 8am on Easter Sunday to join us in St Catherine’s Woods. We wanted it to be fun so packed a picnic, chandelier, flags, bunting, balloons, bubbles, masks, several meters of fabric and threw in a couple of wedding dresses as you do!"
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A Sunday Kind of Love – The NOT Wedding 2011

Kat

May 22, 2011

I have been a fan of The NOT Wedding ethos for the past couple of years. I love the concept of a wedding fair that thinks outside the box and shows off the best local Atlanta vendors by actually putting on a fake wedding! This years event is going to be bigger and better. They explain, "This time we're mailing wedding invitations in lieu of purchased tickets, we're having a full sit-down dinner catered by the amazing Sun In My Belly, and we are throwing in some pretty fun surprises to keep guests on their toes."
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Post-it Notes – Top Tips for your Wedding Planning & Business – 20th May 2011

Kat

May 20, 2011

One of the most effective ways to keep your wedding theme strong throughout your day, is to invest time in to the table decorations and to ignore traditional flower arrangements for something more interesting. So if you haven't got time to completely dress your venue, then just a few simple personal touches on the tables will really bring out a theme. Here are some of my all time favourite past ideas:
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An Official Preview of ‘Rock n Riot’ – A Punk Themed Styled Shoot

Kat

May 20, 2011

This week I was Birmingham for my latest photo shoot. As always, I am so excited to share the results and as ever I've tried, with my trusty team, to go bigger and better with the theming, styling and general execution of the whole thing. The brief I gave was 'punk!' and the team I worked with on Wednesday were incredible (literally words can't describe) and really got into the whole idea. Every single person brought their own adaptation of the theme along, and somehow it actually worked together brilliantly.
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Thursday Treats – 19th May 2011 & A Little Teaser of Yesterday’s ‘Rock n Riot’ – Punk Themed Photo Shoot

Kat

May 19, 2011

Yesterday I was in Birmingham for my latest photo shoot. The theme was punk and oh my lord epic is not even the word! We did 6 different 'looks' (hence the 11 hour shoot time!) and this is just a teeny tiny tease of what I saw as I walked into the warehouse location yesterday morning. To say my jaw hit the floor would be the understatement of the century. I will have a few proper preview shots from photographer Steve Gerrard for you tomorrow but for now, I hope this picture that I took on my phone will keep you satisfied and suitably intrigued... (You can see a few more phone pictures via my facebook page and on twitter)
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‘No Rules, Just Right’ – Amanda & Tyson’s Party Hard Weekend Wedding

Kat

May 19, 2011

Ut oh...new wedding obsession heading your way. Seriously, Amanda & Tyson's wedding is what dreams are made of and I'm so excited to share the full thing, in all it's colourful glory on these pages. Some of you might know Tyson. He is the genius behind this site, and a pin up artist (I actually found his site myself when I was searching for tattoo inspiration.) So needless to say, with such a creative groom, this wedding was always going to be bad ass. The wedding was held at Highland Falls in Blairsville, GA. Amanda's stunning green dress was by Teri Jon and she wore it with Jessica Simpson shoes which she added peacock clips from The Headband Shoppe on Etsy to tie in with the theme. She also used the decorative shoulder strap of the dress as her headpiece which gave her a really unique look.
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Rachel & Nicky’s Punk Luxe Andaz Wedding

Kat

May 19, 2011

Rachel & Nicky were married at the super swanky Andaz Hotel in London. The bride read Rock n Roll Bride throughout her planning and I'm oh-so-excited to see some of my favourite touches throughout this wedding (that cake? effing awesome!) "Nic and I have been immersed in music since we were young, we have both grown up listening to punk and hardcore and a massive spattering of Bruce Springsteen!" the bride told me. "We wanted to make sure that our day really represented this. From invitations that featured Springteen lyrics, tables named after Springsteen songs from Born to Run to Badlands. I wanted to make sure that the day was a total celebration and that everyone was smiling all the way through. I walked down the aisle to 'Bring Me Sunshine' sung by Morecambe and Wise, just stopping short of doing the walk/dance that goes with it, which raised a laugh out of everyone attending and we left the ceremony to Springsteens 'Two Hearts'."
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Under the Spotlight – Plan the Destination Wedding of Your Dreams with Sandals & Martha Stewart Weddings

Kat

May 18, 2011

I've got a slightly different kind of post for you today, sponsored by Sandals and Martha Stewart Weddings. I have to say, I got pretty darn excited when I received the call from these industry giants wanting to work with little old me! Sandals have put together a series of three videos, following the story of a couple getting married in Jamaica using their service. The incredible Martha Stewart Weddings are working alongside them to style the weddings of their lucky clients too. The companies were keen for me to be the lucky blog to share these fabulously made videos and I have to say my mind has certainly been changed as to what a 'package destination wedding' can really be. Doesn't the whole wedding looks just totally divine? The couple were able to escape from it all and plan the intimate wedding they wanted - just for them - and that dear reader, is what being Rock n Roll is all about!
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Isobel & Dave’s Vintage-Inspired Budget Wedding

Kat

May 18, 2011

Isobel & Dave's incredible vintage-inspired budget wedding gives me butterflies! I am so excited about sharing all the beautiful personal touches that they put into their day. The whole wedding is a testament to the fact that you don't need to spend a fortune to have your perfect wedding. "The two things we had in our heads from the start were; that we didn't have a very big budget and that we wanted our wedding to reflect us," Isobel told me. "We started by approaching it as a really big party where we’d just happen to get married. The important things for us were that our favourite people were there, our favourite music was playing, and everyone would have fun! We aren’t particularly conventional and there was never any question of following rules or doing things because we ‘should’. I didn't buy a single bridal magazine or visit any bridal shops during the whole process! Rock n Roll Bride and DIY Bride were my only ‘go to’ blogs for inspiration and ideas! We just did things because we wanted to (if we could afford it)! With the little touches – the badges, the teapots as vases, teacups full of sweets, the birdcage for cards and messages, the photo booth (definitely a Rock n Roll Bride idea-steal!), and the bunting – I think we created a wedding that was fun, unique, and best of all, exactly what we’d imagined."
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A Country Barn Glam Styled Shoot

Kat

May 18, 2011

"Always in search of new ideas and cool, unique locations with a story, I was thrilled to explore one of the very last working farms in Chelsea, Quebec, Canada for my inspiration shoot," writes photographer Anne-Marie Bouchard. "I wanted character and grit for a session that would showcase something a bit different with an edge to inspire the modern Rock n Roll Bride. The work horses were a perfect fit to the true natural, rustic feel and a tattooed bride in a soft flowing Vera Wang gown with wild dark flowers just felt so right, opposites do attract after all!"
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Under the Spotlight – Yestercake

Kat

May 17, 2011

Launched by cake designer Sarah Spangle in January 2011, Leeds based Yestercake pride themselves on their high quality bespoke service. "The idea of Yestercake was born when I got married in November 2009 and found, like many other aspects of the wedding industry, there wasn’t much scope to get a cake that wasn't off- the-peg" Sarah told me. "Like with all other aspects of our wedding we didn’t just want to pick something out that didn’t really reflect us. In the end I decided to go down the DIY route. It had mixed results (!) but it reconfirmed to me how baking was one of my greatest passions and inspired me to take the plunge to retrain in cake decoration and design and to build upon the idea of starting my own business."
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Caleb & Eliza’s Beautiful Handmade, Vintage Wedding

Kat

May 17, 2011

I have been loving the photography and videos of photographic team For You Love Me for a while now, so I'm super excited to finally share one of their weddings on Rock n Roll Bride...and believe me, it's a beaut. Caleb & Eliza beautiful hand-made, vintage wedding is what wedding dreams are made of. The ceremony took place at Wheatland Presbyterian Church, Lancaster PA, followed by a reception at The Iris Club. Eliza wore a genuine vintage wedding dress that had belonged to her Grandmother. She had worn it for her own wedding in 1952. Eliza even hand-made her headpiece from the fabric of the matching jacket that came with it. She added a brooch from Designed by Jane to complete he bridal look. Her bridesmaids also wore brooches from Designed by Jane. The bridesmaids were asked to choose their own dresses and shoes, and were just given the task of getting something that was 'greyish and knee length.'
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Jenni & Neil’s Eclectic DIY Wedding

Kat

May 17, 2011

"I read something on a wedding blog during my planning, which I clinged onto for my own sanity," bride Jenni wrote, "It said not to worry about decorations etc matching, if you like what you have, in the end it will all go together. This was my mantra for our wedding and it worked. We didn’t have a theme and I didn’t really have a plan or a colour scheme. I operated like a magpie, picking up inspiration where I found it and with the help of my husband and our friends it worked for us!"
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