Rock n Roll Bride - The ultimate guide for alternative brides

Kat

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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Lucy & Andy’s Budget-Friendly, “Let’s Do It Our Way” Wedding

Kat

April 1, 2011

This beautiful, vintage-inspired wedding came about after Lucy proposed to Andy on a trip to London. "I took Andy away to Tower Bridge London, to stay in a 5 star hotel on Valentines Day 2010," the bride told me. "He kept saying,'You're not going to propose are you?'. I said 'No of course not, don't be silly'. Then as we were walking back to the hotel under the bridge by the dolphin statue, I placed a ring box shaped like an orange in his hand. He looked at it and said 'What's this?' with a scared look on his face. And I said 'Open it', then 'Will you marry me?'. The colour drained from his face, I cried, he said 'Oh, I was planning to propose to you, and I started saving for a ring, and what is everyone going to say?' I just said, 'Look, I have saved you the bother of saving your money for months and months. Let do this our way'."
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Post-it Notes – Top Tips for your Wedding Planning & Business – 1st April 2011

Kat

April 1, 2011

Happy April Fools Day everyone! Have you spotted any of the obligatory 'April Fools' style news reports or anything yet? Well something that won't make you a fool (omg that was the most terrible pun ever but I kinda wanted to get it out of my system...) is if you check out today's Post-It Notes tips & tricks. I've also been loving the readers who have been sending me actual photos of my tips on real life Post-Its. That's kind awesome! Feel free to link to your own photos in the comments.
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Chi Chi Revolver’s Tattooed Bridal Shoot

Kat

March 31, 2011

"I was really inspired reading the winning entry to your Knot Couture dress competition recently," photographer Bethan of Haywood Jones Photography told me. "It was hard to picture how it would feel to be made so uncomfortable in a shop who were clearly disapproving of you, thinking we live in a properly modern society (!) until it happened to me last weekend (not because I have beautiful body art sadly, but much more because I was dressed a bit scruffily and went into a very posh art shop. They actually got another member of security to stand in the shop while me and my friend walked around!!) It suddenly became clear that you really can't judge a book by its cover and that even though the *mainstream* wedding industry is becoming more accepting of the *alternative* side of peoples wedding creativity and gorgeousness, there are still many blinkered people out there who wont look past stereotypes and make you feel less than worthy of their attention."
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Emma & Pete’s “Enchantment Under the Sea Dance” & A Big Fat Surprise Wedding

Kat

March 30, 2011

I honestly don't know where to begin describing Emma & Pete's wedding to you all. From the reaction to just the sneak peek post (epic) that I put up last week, I know pretty much the whole of blog-land has been eagerly awaiting to see this wedding too and so I'm pretty flipping honoured that not only was I invited (and let into the secret that it was a surprise wedding!) but that Emma & Pete have allowed me to share it with you all. I have the best job in the world.
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A Fast Food Adventure

Kat

March 30, 2011

I don't feature a whole load of engagement or couple shoots on the blog, preferring to share all the incredible real weddings I get sent instead. However sometimes, just sometimes, a session stands out so much that I'd be mad not to share it. Remember the bunny suit session I featured recently? Or the awesome wolf-head shoot? (also by Love Me Do Photography) Yeah, things like that are what rock my boat, not vintage picnics and balloons and cupcakes...not that they aren't cute as hell, but I just don't get very excited about shoots styled that way anymore. You see them everywhere and they've kind of been done to death huh? ...and really, let's be honest, what does a shoot like that really tell us about the couple as individuals? Diddly-squat that's what. Anyway mini-rant over (!) I was sent Kim & Matt's photo shoot by the fabulous Carina & Amanda of Love Me Do Photography and lets' be honest, any couple that are happy to dress up as fast food are freakin' awesome in my book. "We wanted to have fun with this," Carina told me. "Both of us felt like we've been seeing a lot of the same images show up in wedding photos; trends and whatnot. We know it's hard to look at other people's wedding photographs and not get influenced by them, but we really wanted to take things as far away from all of that and really go outside the box. We wanted to show that we can make a joke, be ironic, and still be artistic."
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Under The Spotlight – Doodlelove

Kat

March 29, 2011

What is it with girls and stationery? I love it. I think its the fact of owning something simple, but beautiful and personal - something you can actually hold in your hand in all it's prettiness (as weird as that sounds!) So needless to say I love love love getting emails from wedding stationery designers. The guys that contact me are always such a creative bunch and it's really awesome to see first hand, and then share with you, what they can do.
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Jess & Brian’s Backyard Holga Wedding

Kat

March 29, 2011

I spied Jess & Brian's wedding, shot almost entirely on Holga, on one of my regular scouts around Flickr. I was not only blown away but the stunning photography by Laura Burlton (who doesn't love a bit of Holga magic?) but the actual wedding itself, and all the love and attention to detail that the couple put into it made it super duper Rock n Roll worthy. "I didn’t want the standard cheesy wedding photographs," Jess explained when I asked about her decision to have her wedding shot on a toy camera. "I am a photographer myself and I have a love affair with my Holga. I went searching for a photographer who shared the same love, but also did weddings. No easy task! I found Laura Burlton though and she’s won quite a few awards with her Holga work. And joy, she also does weddings! My parents and I are both happy now and I love the way the Holga shots perfectly portray the feeling of the day."
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