Rock n Roll Bride - The ultimate guide for alternative brides

1950s

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.
Read more...

A Quirky, British, Cupcakey Kinda Day

Kat

January 17, 2011

Oh I do love a pretty & retro photo shoot to brighten up a Monday morning and this fabulous one, sent over my Bethan of Haywood Jones Photography, fits the bill perfecto! "The main aim of this shoot was to achieve a real vintage glamour look and feel," began photographer Bethan. "We wanted a big slice of silver screen elegance with a large portion of delicious cupcakes on the side! My Pretty Little Things specialise in making veils and fascinators which hark through the eras of the 20's right through to the 50's and approached me to organise a vintage themed session. When organising the shoot, I contacted Queenies Cupcakes who have a shop in Ironbridge right around the corner to me, to see if we could use them as a location for part of the day. They were absolutely brilliant and we all had a good nibble on the cupcakes while we were there, work is so hard sometimes!"
Read more...

A Dia De Los Muertos, Punk Rock Wedding Shoot

Kat

January 14, 2011

This awesome punk inspired wedding was actually a faux-wedding - a photo shoot set up by stylist & blogger Lauren of Every Last Detail and photographer's Jeff & Anna Katherine of K&K Photography. They wanted to showcase some awesome alternative wedding styling and they certainly achieved that. I am totally smitten and almost a little upset that it isn't a real wedding - this looks like the kind of party I want to go to!
Read more...

Chris & Jenn’s Rockabilly Car-Inspired Wedding

Kat

January 5, 2011

"The style and ambiance of our wedding had more to do with who we are as people than outside inspiration," newlywed's Chris & Jenn explained. "We find culture and appeal in a simpler moment in history. The 1950's are, after all, the birth of subculture; car culture was at the heart of this movement. We live, breathe, and bleed this car culture so it followed suit to incorporate our life into our wedding." So it was themselves and their own personal style and outlook on life that inspired their rockabilly wedding. The Californian couple made the wedding their own and wouldn't have changed a thing. Jenn's dress by Allure Bridals wasn't perfect for her until she cut it short herself to show off her awesome saddle shoes. Aren't those gorgeous?
Read more...

Nicola & Steve’s Intimate New York City Wedding

Kat

January 3, 2011

Happy New Year! I'm starting 2011 with a bang, and the wedding of loyal Rock n Roll Bride reader Nicola to Steve. The couple, from Northern Ireland, were married in New York and Nicola spent a lot of her planning time on Rock n Roll Bride - in fact when she emailed me her wedding submission, I actually recognised her name from all the comments she'd left along the way. It was almost like we were old friends, so of course I I said yes to featuring her gorgeous Rock n Roll New York wedding on these pages.
Read more...

Polly & Stuart’s Wartime Wedding

Kat

December 10, 2010

Polly & Stuart's wartime inspired wedding was held in a marquee in Polly's parent's back garden. "We love vintage style from the 1930's-1960's. We wanted to incorporate our love of 1950's Rock n Roll into our wedding and combine it with the aesthetic of a wartime garden party," explained the bride. "We furnished our marquee and gentleman's smoking room with pieces of furniture, decor and paintings from our home. I can safely say that I don't think that anyone else has ever had a 1940's waxworks dummy in their wedding marquee! We also wrote our own 'hymn' for our wedding service. We put sticks of rock on all the tables.We combined stylistic references and it worked- We backed the stage with 1950's style working men's club red curtains and had Victorian birdcages stuffed with ivy and pearls suspended from the ceiling. We turned my parents' summer house into the 'gentlemen's smoking room' complete with pipes, silk smoking jackets and a drinks cabinet. We had our dog Enid Mouse as our whippet of honour. Our magnificent nautical cake complete with Marzipan octopus tentacles was by Annie at Yummy Nice. The cake was topped by a sculpture of us in a boat made by my husband Stuart. We didn't want to be constrained with any particular rules!"
Read more...

Casey & Richard’s Sunny, Seaside, Sailor Wedding

Kat

December 3, 2010

My original plan today was to head out into my garden and take some snowy snaps for Photography Friday...however as I stared blankly through my kitchen window I had second thoughts and realised that it's flippin' COLD out there and you know what!? I'd rather stay here, wrapped in my slanket (blanket with sleeves - oh yes that is Rock n Roll!) For some further justification, I've got an amazingly SUNNY wedding from South Africa to share instead. This should warm your cockles...
Read more...

Adrienne & Christian’s Budget-Friendly, Central Park Wedding

Kat

December 3, 2010

Adrienne & Christian were married in Central Park in a simple but perfect ceremony, "Central Park allows the rental of any place (except for the Conservatory Gardens) for just $25," explained the bride. "The challenge is that they do not allow you to bring in anything, including chairs, so we all had to stand. It worked out perfectly, though, since we were in a beautiful location that did not need decoration, and we had two friends organize everyone upon their arrival into neat rows with an aisle. Another friend handed out whistles and ribbon wands on the path leading to the ceremony location, so everyone could arrive while making their own music with a smile. Our assortment of slide whistles, kazoos, and siren whistles were from Century Novelty."
Read more...

Hannah & Jack’s Rockabilly Party Wedding

Kat

November 30, 2010

"When I was little, I dreamed of having my very own big, white wedding," began Hannah. "However, when Jack and I decided to get married and started to make plans, it became apparent that even if we’d been able to afford it, we’d both feel out of place at a huge, formal gathering. What we really wanted was to have a great party with our families and mates, a party that just happened to include a wedding ceremony. So we threw ourselves into the planning and tried to make it ours." And that's exactly what this Rock n Roll couple did! The entire day reflected them and the things they love.
Read more...

Rebecca & John’s Elegant Vintage Garden Party

Kat

November 28, 2010

Rebecca & John's beautiful Tennessee wedding took place at Almost Heavens Wedding Resort. With quirky details and elegant 50's styling, this really was a wedding worthy of Rock n Roll credentials. The bride wore a Paloma Blanca gown with awesome Irregular Choice shoes and a vintage veil that she found at a friend's yard sale. A friend of the bride who is a costume designer re-worked it for her to suit the style she was going for. She carried and vintage lace parasol.
Read more...

Shalma & Leo’s 1950’s Inspired Candy Anthony Wedding

Kat

November 18, 2010

Shalma & Leo are what I like to call friends of the blog. Not only did they find photographer David McNeil though a feature on Rock n Roll Bride, but I featured their gorgous A Bout de Souffle engagement session over the summer ANDmyself and the bride have exchanged regular emails ever since they got engaged about all things wedding! So when David asked if I wanted to feature them ...well he didn't have to ask twice!
Read more...

Danielle & Carl’s Incredibly Gorgeous Red & White Vintage Wedding

Kat

November 8, 2010

I am a little bit over excited about featuring Danielle & Carl's vintage wedding today. As soon as I laid eyes on her amazing dress I knew this wedding was going to be incredible... and you know what? I was right! The couple, who met at school, got married in June at St Peter's Church in Doddington, Lincolnshire. A 1950's vintage theme was really important to the couple as it really reflected their everyday style. "Having been to a few 'traditional' weddings, as soon as we started to plan our wedding, we knew that we wanted to do things differently," Danielle told me. "We wanted every part of our wedding to be personal to us, and be able to show our personalities. We didn't just want to do something because it was the way people usually do things at weddings, we wanted to put our stamp on it. We both love all things vintage, particularly the era of the 50's and 60's, after all, our first car was a 1969 Volkswagen Beetle. For this reason, having a vintage rock 'n' roll 50's style wedding just seemed to come naturally to us. Our inspiration came out of our love not only for the 50's fashion, but the music and the whole lifestyle. Having a dancing vicar was not something we planned but that was an added bonus!"
Read more...

Jessica & Forbes’ Retro Rockabilly Brighton Wedding

Kat

November 3, 2010

Brighton was the location for Jessica & Forbes' rockabilly wedding this summer. They chose May 1st as their date as it was Jessica's late Grandmother's birthday and having it on this day was their way of inviting her to the wedding. All the guests were invited to dress up in their finest retro get-up," Absolutely everyone joined in," the bride told me, "We were so convincing a hotel guest asked if we were a convention!"
Read more...

Patti & Frank’s Tattoo-Heavy, DIY-Crazy, Totally Rock n Roll Wedding

Kat

October 27, 2010

Patti & Frank are just the epitome of Rock n Roll Bride! Whenever people ask me what my favourite type of weddings are, weddings like this one are what I describe - tattoos, DIY, short wedding dresses, fabulous bridesmaids and happy, smiling faces! Patti wore an original 1950's vintage dress, awesome shoes by Harajuku Lovers and feathers in hair. "I originally spent $2,000 on a custom made dress which I had designed myself," the bride told me. "Well I had someone who specialized in wedding dresses make it (first problem) and I guess our vision was not the same and I didn't like what she made at all! I went to Cambridge Antique market looking for some vintage brooches to jazz it up and the first thing I saw see when I turned the corner was this dress. I think it had a light shining on it with my name! It was meant to be and just a week before the wedding and it fit like a glove! Oh and the best part? It only cost me $150!"
Read more...

Sarah & James’ Rockin’ Rockabilly Wedding

Kat

October 22, 2010

Sarah & James 1950's rockabilly wedding was inspired by Sarah's Grandparents who got married on September 12th 1953. "We wanted to get married as close to this date as we possibly could, hence the choice of 11th September 2010," Sarah told me. "My Grandparents celebrated their 57th Wedding anniversary the day after our wedding - the rose tattoo's on my feet (by Sam Ricketts) have their names 'Alice' and 'Mervyn' in recognition of how special they are to me."
Read more...

Sophie & Jonny’s Burlesque Themed Rock n Roll Wedding

Kat

October 1, 2010

This is one of those posts that's going to have a lot of photographs (hello, burlesque Rock n Roll wedding - there's no way I could leave any out!) When photographer Marianne Taylor showed me a sneak peek of Sophie & Jonny's wedding a few weeks ago, I knew straight away that they were right up my street...you'll see why! The couple got engaged in Paris on Sophie's Birthday. "It was a dream come true," the bride told me "Jonny had booked us into a plush Moulin Rouge themed hotel. We sat on the steps of the Sacre Coeur and drank pink champagne and then he surprised me some more with tickets to the Moulin Rouge that night! I had no idea that he had not only secretly booked the trip but also tickets to The Moulin Rouge. My favourite film and as a burlesque fanatic, this was perfect. At the end of the show, on the red carpet, I was surprised with a box which I unwrapped to find a smaller box. Upon opening the small box and finding my Princess cut platinum ring (perfect!) he got down on one knee in front of everyone and asked me to marry him, to which I screamed and replied yes!" The Paris proposal and Sophie's love of all things 1940s and 50's (she is a burlesque dancer herself) inspired the entire wedding which was a real DIY effort. She sourced the white ostrich feathers for a burlesque theme and the ‘Eiffel tower’ vases herself and set everything up for the reception. She also designed and made all the stationary and paper goods as well as helping out to make the cake. Instead of a guest book they dressed a vintage looking birdcage (found in a boutique shop) with feathers and pearls and had little black and white cards for people to write messages on and post them in the birdcage.
Read more...