Rock n Roll Bride - The ultimate guide for alternative brides

Kat

Alena & Geoff’s Circus-Themed Costume Party Wedding

Kat

April 11, 2011

Alena & Geoff were married at The Granada Theatre in Santa Barbara. Their fancy dress, circus themed day was certainly a show-stopper, especially as the majority of their guests really got into the swing of it and made a real effort with their outfits. "We invited our guests to dress up, and that made them fully participate in all aspects of the circus/carnival wedding," they told me. "We had 2 guests as 'door clowns' who checked people in, gave them clown noses and flags. We had a popcorn man in the lobby of the ceremony giving out popcorn bags. We borrowed huge circus banners from other friends and used them to decorate for the reception."
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Rachael & Jake’s Maui Beach Engagement Session

Kat

April 11, 2011

When it came to shooting Rachael (from Maui) and Tim's (from Florida) engagement shoot, where else could be as perfect as on the beach? "These guys are all about the beach and rock the surf style," said photographer Wendy Laurel. "I mean who else wears their bikini on their engagement shoot? The shoot was at one of their favorite beaches on Maui, Ironwoods, and in the Honolua Valley (next to the famed Honolua Bay). Both places are on the upper west side of Maui where lots of good surf and a large surf community can be found."
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A Lil’ Bit of Monday Morning Happiness – Win Two Tickets to the (Rock n Roll) Party of the Year!

Kat

April 11, 2011

Monday's suck right? Well not this one! Oh what a sneaky little scamp I am... I only went and held back two tickets to the Rock n Roll Bride party didn't I?! The party of the year (fact!) will be taking place this Thursday (14th April) at a top secret London location. As most of you know the venue I booked only holds 200 and over 500 of you applied for tickets (wow) but one of you lucky sausages (and a friend) is about to get some Monday Happiness thrown right at ya! The party is open to all readers of the blog - brides, grooms, newlyweds, bloggers, photographers, stationers, cake-makers, dress designers...any other wedding suppliers, wedding obsessives...
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A Sunday Kind of Love – The Niemierko Wedding Academy at The Dorchester

Kat

April 10, 2011

Wedding planner du jour, Mark Niemierko is a genius. In May, at The Dorchester no less, he will be sharing his trade secrets on how to plan a wedding in his own enviable style. Are you a budding wedding planner and want to learn from the best? Well my darlings, this is the event for you... "Following overwhelming demand, Mark Niemierko, the UK’s foremost luxury wedding planner,will share his trade and style secrets at the very first Niemierko Wedding Academy. Consisting of a high-end inspirational experience, the Niemierko Wedding Academy will help equip its students with the tools and contacts to become wedding planners of quality in the future."
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Post-it Notes – Top Tips for your Wedding Planning & Business – 8th April 2011

Kat

April 8, 2011

Inspiration boards are your friend. Taking the time to put together a selection of your favourite wedding (and non wedding) images will give you a strong and cohesive idea about what your ideal wedding theme or colour scheme will look like. They will also help you visualise what works together and what doesn't. Above is one I made using BHLDN's new online moodboard tool - looks like my next wedding will be a sea-green and peach theme, who knew?!
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Thursday Treats – 7th April 2011 (+ Happy Birthday to ME!)

Kat

April 7, 2011

Today is my favourite day of the year...because to day is my BIRTHDAY! I'm 27 today and I know people say this every year, but I feel old...old and very grown up! This last year has been pretty mental and my life has been flipped on it's head in the last 12 months, but I've got a feeling that this next year is going to be even better. Who's with me? Because of this day of celebration, this week's Thursday Treats is a little shorter than usual. In essence, today I plan to mostly be found eating ice cream and sushi (not together though...), opening presents (I hope), going shopping (undoubtedly) and generally treating myself a lot (no question.)
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Vanessa & Brian’s Bicycle Themed Wedding

Kat

April 7, 2011

Vanessa & Brian's DIY wedding has a vintage bicycle theme because cycling was what brought them together. The day was held at Simpson House, Kansas City and started with an intimate ceremony on the gardens. Vanessa walked down the aisle to "I Will" by the Beatles, performed acoustically by a local couple. After the kiss, everyone rang bells that were placed on their chairs. They also decorated their venue in a way personal to them. Wheat was an important decorative element as Vanessa's Dad was a wheat farmer and passed away when she was young. She even has a tattoo of wheat on her arm in memory of him.
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Jaclyn & Joseph’s Rock Star Wedding

Kat

April 6, 2011

Jaclyn & Joseph's Californian wedding was certainly one with rock star credentials. With colours like bright pink, lime green, gold & cream all mashed together, the result was sure to be a spectacular one. "My inspiration was to create a fairy tale wedding with and Alice in Wonderland twist", explained Jaclyn. I" wanted both elements of shabby chic and edgy to blend together. It came together beautifully. Our wedding was breathtaking. All of the details like the cake, flowers, craft tables and accessories made this wedding become extra stylish. The food was a priority for me too and I think it had a rock star element as well. We served a late night snack bar for our guests as well as a candy bar for take home favors. Each of these elements made our wedding unique and memorable. We had funky furniture for our reception that we rented from Blue Print Studios. This furniture was bold and bright and created a rock star feel for the reception. A one of the best ideas that our guests loved was our photo booth. It was the highlight of the late evening. Our photo booth company had so many awesome accessories for people who wanted to get funky. From boas to beer glasses it was awesome. I wish we could do it all over again!"
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Rock n Roll Bride TV – Rock n Roll Bride meets Ali Lovegrove ~ Part 1 of 4: Blogging Basics

Kat

April 6, 2011

After our Photo Night Live Skype interview a couple of weeks ago, photographer Ali Lovegrove spoke to me and said she still had loads of blogging questions that she'd like to ask me, so wondered if we could meet. Brainwave time! I've been meaning to do some more video blogs but finding the time to do so has been pretty difficult at the moment but Ali's idea seemed like the perfect new mini-series for the blog. Over the next 4 weeks, I'll be sharing the 4 videos that we filmed, all covering different aspects of blogging. I hope you find some of my tips useful. We were both pretty nervous, I was sick (brilliant!), my hair looks...erm...windswept... and we had to rush a little bit due to unhelpful staff at the bar we were in. Self-deprecation over, I hope the content will be useful for all you budding bloggers and the whole (slightly traumatic) experience will have been worthwhile in the end.
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Sabrina & Kenny’s Classy, Tattooed Wedding Day Shoot

Kat

April 5, 2011

"I have two main inspirations," began newlywed Sabrina. "The late, great Bettie Page for one. I am a huge fan and have always looked up to and admired her as a person as well as of course her work as a model. I love her adorable bangs and have been wearing the "Bettie" bangs ever since I discovered her. Also, Audrey Hepburn has been very influential. I was actually named after her character in "Sabrina" the movie. She is absolutely gorgeous and has a love for fashion not to mention an all around classy gal!"
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Chris & Courtenay’s Pirate Ship Wedding

Kat

April 4, 2011

Chris & Courtenay had a "Book Nerd/Steampunk /Pirate/Sci-Fi" themed wedding which was held on The Hawaiian Chieftain, a historical replica of a 1880’s trading ship. "We really wanted the wedding to reflect who we were, and a celebration of what we loved about each other," the couple told me. "We wanted to be able to have a killer party with our closest friends and family and not compromise our tastes and values. Our venue came complete with cannons (which they fired off for us in celebration!) The double edge of this was a headcount of under 40, which was great to us, but some people just assumed they would be invited who were acquaintances and we had to explain this wasn't an everyone in the world kind-of affair." Courtenay wore a custom dress from Dark Garden Corsetry and shoes from Fluevog. "The Dress is a combination of Victorian and Indian influences, made out of silk dupioni in lavender/gold and a wedding sari from an Indian bridal store in Berkeley," the bride continued. "I knew that a dress from a traditional bridal store was never going to feel right. Mostly because of all the beautiful dresses available at those places they were never going to fit my curvy 5’2” short waist-ed frame. Autumn at Dark Garden was able to perfectly capture and create my personality and vision into an awe inspiring corset and bustle skirted wedding dress."
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A Sneak Peek of My Shoot For “London Tattoos” – A Forthcoming Book from Photographer Alex Macnaughton

Kat

April 4, 2011

About a week ago, I got an email from my friend Amma telling me about a new book she'd just heard about. London Tattoo, was being put together by photographer Alex Macnaughton with the aim to photograph and document the stories of a diverse collection of tattooed people in London. I figured I had nothing to loose and so quickly filled in the application form. "I'm not the most tattooed girl out there," I thought, "but it's always worth giving these things a go."
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Alice in Weddingland – Beautiful & Affordable Wedding Flowers

Kat

April 4, 2011

With less then 12 weeks to go everything is (hopefully!) coming together. Still, there remains a few pieces of my wedding puzzle that need to be organised, and this month I’ve been an absolute bridal machine getting as much sorted out as possible. Wedding flowers always caused me slight concern when allocating a budget to each element of the wedding, because, quite frankly, I had no idea where to begin! I’d never stepped foot in a florist, and found the ones that I walked past in Brighton quite unapproachable and intimidating. So needless to say, organising my wedding flowers was not something I was looking forward to.
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How to…Make Your Own Fabric Bouquet

Kat

April 2, 2011

The eagle-eyed amongst you may recognise the above image from Nicole & Aaron's 'Just Married' Session that I blogged back in February. As I was blogging it, I fell a little bit in love with Nicole's handmade fabric flower bouquet so I thought I'd try my luck and ask her if she'd be willing to share how to made it with my readers. Luckily for me (and you!) Nicole was more than happy and excited to share her tutorial with us. Enjoy this guys and as always, if you make this yourself I want to see pictures! Nicole has her own blog, Knitcole, so if you are interested in seeing more of her work then be sure to go check it out. The bouquet she made especially for this tutorial is even for sale through her blog (along with others) for the less crafty among you (ahem...like me!)
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Michelle & Deborah’s Romantic Parisian Themed Wedding

Kat

April 1, 2011

Michelle & Deborah's touching ceremony was one of the main reasons I wanted to share their wedding with you all today. Quite apart from all the beautiful and individual details the couple put into their day, the readings and poems that they selected for their ceremony made this wedding really special and signified their relationship perfectly. They chose Shakespears Sonnet 116, a section from the children's book "I Like You" by Sandol Stoddard and "I carry your heart with me" by E.E Cummings for their vows. Finally in order to include the fight for equality they read the Massachusetts ruling on marriage. They thought it was so simple and basic and spelled out what marriage meant to them in a perfect way. "FROM GOODRIDGE V DEPT OF HEALTH (Mass. 2003): Marriage is a vital social institution. The exclusive commitment of two individuals to each other nurtures love and mutual support; it brings stability to our society. Without question, civil marriage enhances the “welfare of the community.” It is a “social institution of the highest importance.” Civil marriage is at once a deeply personal commitment to another human being and a highly public celebration of the ideals of mutuality, companionship, intimacy, fidelity, and family… Because it fulfils yearnings for security, safe haven, and connection that express our common humanity, civil marriage is an esteemed institution, and the decision whether and whom to marry is among life’s momentous acts of self-definition….It is undoubtedly for these concrete reasons, as well as for its intimately personal significance, that civil marriage has long been termed a 'civil right'."
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