Rock n Roll Bride - The ultimate guide for alternative brides

DIY

A Lewis Carroll Gothic Wonderland Wedding

Kat

September 29, 2010

Amanda & Steph's wedding is one of those that as soon as I saw a sneak peek on their photographer's blog I immediately emailed asking (well...demanding!) that I be allowed to blog it! If this isn't a perfect Rock n Roll wedding, well I don't know what is! The couple loosely based their wedding around Lewis Carroll's Wonderland - i.e. Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass. They loved the almost dark and sinister twist this theme gave their wedding.
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Alisha & Casey Bowling Alley Wedding

Kat

September 29, 2010

As a kid, bowling was one of the ultimate treat nights out wasn't it? So what better way to keep the fun in your wedding day than having it at a bowing alley?! After a ceremony at The Woods on Ninth, Alisha & Casey and their entire wedding party headed to Bonwood Bowl for a right royal knees up of a party! "We did the bowling alley because we wanted something different," the bride told me. "We are not traditional people, and most of all we wanted to have fun, as well as everyone else. Its something we enjoy together!"
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Lisa & Tyrone’s Windy Wedding

Kat

September 28, 2010

Lisa & Tyrone got married on the South Coast of Kwa Zulu Natal in South Africa. Their bridesmaid and photographer, Jacki Bruniquel, told me the whole story. "Their wedding was a day of such love and celebration. Lis not just my sister she is one of my best friends and Ty is not just my brother in law he has been in the best friend category for long time now. Tyrone happens to be a really good photographer as well! I love them both to absolute bits and pieces and really wish i could just do their whole day all over again."
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A Las Vegas Alice in Wonderland

Kat

September 28, 2010

Amber & Mike pride themselves on their unconventionality and so wanted to make sure their wedding was just that too. "It made perfect sense to go to Vegas," Amber told me. "However, we even bucked Vegas tradition by not getting married in a small chapel by Elvis. We found an amazing garden complete with ducks, just right off the strip. I'd like to consider our wedding half elopement, half planned (we planned in 4 weeks). My muse for the entire wedding was a single lipstick that I'm obsessed with called Melrose Mood. Imagine the most obnoxiously, opaque, electric baby baby pink and you're sort of close to what it looks like." The bride is a make up artist so did all her hair and make up herself. In fact she seemed to almost enjoyed the getting ready part of the day as much as the actual wedding bit! "I spent the morning with my bridesmaids doing make up, eating gummy dice and card cookies (amongst other treats). We had an amazing bridal photo shoot in the atrium at Bellagio where we captured some sweet Alice inspired photos. Which is totally fitting since my husband is related to the real Alice in Wonderland, Alice Liddell (can you say "keeper"?). I wore were 6 inch heels entirely covered in Swarovski crystals. Needless to say the bridal shoot stopped traffic."
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“Yes, You CAN have a Rock n Roll Wedding!”

Kat

September 25, 2010

For today's guest post I asked one of my favourite bloggers and recent bride-to-be Britt of Bowie Bride to write me a little sommat sommat. I am VERY excited as I'm going to be blogging the full report on her "ballstastic Rock n Roll wedding" just as soon as her pro pictures are ready, so I thought a little word from the lady herself might be nice way to whet your appetites for seeing her killer wedding in full! (I blogged their engagement session here) Britt wrote about something that I KNOW a lot of you will struggle with when planning your weddings (hell, I know I did) - thoughts like "Am I Rock n Roll enough?", "How are my family going to react?", "Will people approve of our choices?" Well sit back and listen to Auntie Britt, because she of the "no holds barred, titstastic" wedding fame is here to kick you into shape!
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Jill & Neil’s Vintage “Englishness” Wedding

Kat

September 22, 2010

Jill & Neil's wedding is vintage "Englishness" in every sense of the word. The whole day - from Jill's floral Fur Coat No Knickers vintage gown, to the London bus that transported them and the personalised vintage postcards used as invitations and then re-used as the table-plan - was an authentic representation of the theme they loved so much. "We took vintage inspiration from our own families, finding old frames in charity shops for lots of photographs of our parents, grandparents and great-grandparent's weddings," they told me. "These filled the fireplaces of the Lodge and meant we were surrounded by reminders of our ancestors as well as being beautiful pictures. Also, to entertain our guests on our bus trip we had a picture quiz to guess who the couples in the old photos were - with the answers on the back of the original at the venue. These were in bags made by a charity from recycled newspapers from The India Shop and we also included bus related gifts to keep the children amused - mostly from the London Transport Museum, and old fashioned sweets and goodies. On the tables we used luggage labels from the Post Office for place names, which my nieces helped stamp with butterflies and tied to mini jars filled with old fashioned sweets from Hope and Greenwood."
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A Kitschy, Quirky, Vintage Wedding

Kat

September 15, 2010

Warning: this post has a hell load of photographs and I ain't going to apologise for that. I literally couldn't cut them down! I am so excited about Lindsey & Adriano's wedding I can hardly contain myself. The gorgeous bride and her musician husband had a beautiful and quirky vintage-themed wedding at Farbridge, West Sussex. "Our inspiration was easy we just collected things we love and are interested in," the bride told me. "I love all things vintage because I love that it has history and seems to have so much more personality than many modern things. I find that vintage things were made to last and made with care and skill unlike most things today are made to be disposable and are not designed to last. I wanted our day also to have lots of elements of fun so I came up with the idea of an ice cream sundae bar so guests could be kids again, make a mess and choose whatever topping they wanted! We also bought a kiss-o-meter for a bit of fun, it was from an American site and was from the 60's. In the reception barn at Farbridge they also had a projector. One of my favourite films is Cinema Paradiso, there is a scene at the end of the film which is called the kissing scene which features lots of kisses from famous old black and white films. We played this scene on repeat on the the projector to add another dimension to the room. We had a wedding cocktail which we served in jam jars and bought some quirky straws too.All these things were good talking points for the guests and added elements of fun and interaction."
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Rachael & Rafe’s Pagan Handfasting Festival Wedding

Kat

September 14, 2010

Rachael & Rafe were uninterested in a traditional religious or civil ceremony so decided to get married on their own terms. They were wed by one of their closest friends, Tara, in a pagan hand-fasting service which took place outside, in a small copsed wood locally known as "The Spinney". They knew very early on in their planning that this was where they wanted to get married as the couple had spent some time living on a narrow-boat on the river, and for that period The Spinney was their garden, "It was where we hung out, relaxed, partied and where our children played. It is full of trees and love and so naturally the first place we both thought of for our ceremony" the couple told me.
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Laura & Paul’s Vintage, Mismatched, Rock n Roll Bride-Inspired Wedding

Kat

September 7, 2010

I first laid eyes on Laura & Paul's fabulous wedding when I saw a sneak peek on their photographer's blog. Over the next few weeks I pretty much pestered their photographer Eliza Claire until she agreed to let me feature it - this is my favourite of all Eliza Claire's weddings to date! Laura, a regular Rock n Roll Bride reader throughout their planning, was keen to add personal and alternative wedding touches throughout their day...and they certainly did that. It was also a lot down to Paul too, who really got stuck into the planning and the desire to create something unique.
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A Locally Sourced Pool Party Wedding

Kat

September 7, 2010

Carmen & Gary had a laid back pool party wedding at Commons Ford Ranch, Austin. The couple actually had their first dance in the pool too! "The reception was supposed to be a dance party on the patio, with possible swimming as an afterthought, as there is a really nice pool at the ranch," the bride told me. "However as soon as dinner ended, guests were taking over the pool. We decided to move the DJ over to the pool deck since that was where the party was happening, and it became a full-blown pool party. We even had our first dance in the pool, after the official marital cannonball."
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Dinosaurs, Silhouettes, Black Cats & Fairytales

Kat

September 6, 2010

I featured Christy & Daryl's 'Modern Film Noir' engagement session at the beginning of June so it's an absolute pleasure to come full circle and feature their awesome wedding as well, which also had a bit of the 'noir' about it don't you think? The couple got married on Friday 13th and had a silhouetteand dark theme. "Daryl and I are both artists and musicians, and met through a mutual friend/bandmate" the bride told me. "From the get go, our relationship was anything but normal. Our first date was to a funeral and we officially became a couple on Halloween. It was only natural to celebrate our wedding on Friday the 13th. We stuck with the theme of silhouettes, and added black cats and crows to our forest ceremony decor. We wanted to give the evening a moody, magical atmosphere."
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Kaori & Alex’s Multi-Cultural, DIY-Fabulous, Vintage Bohemian Wedding

Kat

September 1, 2010

Do you remember Kaori & Alex's killer engagement session? It was all tattoos, awesome outfits and L.O.V.E. I have been dying to see the outcome of their wedding ever since and I ain't half excited to share it with you today. The couple were married at Old Zoo in Griffith Park, Los Angeles with a reception to follow at Señor Fish in Little Tokyo Area, Downtown LA. Both of them are designers so obviously their outfits were nothing short of unique and utterly fabulous.
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A Super Glam, Corpse Bride, Spanish Wedding

Kat

September 1, 2010

Anna & Andrew had a small wedding with only about 35 guests who came from all over the world. The Spanish bride and her South African groom, who actually both now live in London, had their wedding in Spain at the gorgeous venue Deluz. "They were very unconcerned with conventions and just wanted to do things their way" their photographer Kyle told me, "hence the Nightmare Before Christmas/Corpse Bride cake (made by the groom's Mother) the Batman garter, their crazy photographers from Chile, Andrew's brother walked Anna down the aisle, because he's the one who introduced them, their wedding planner was the one who conducted the ceremony, Anna wrote her vows five minutes before the ceremony started. It rained the day of so hard I thought the city would flood, but Anna's mother who grew up in Santander near the water said she could read the sea and that the rain would stop before the wedding. It did. Just in time for a beautiful sunset ceremony. All in all, it was beautiful."
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Have a Wedding that is Perfect for YOU – Greg & Michelle’s Low Key, Homespun & Family-Focussed Wedding

Kat

August 31, 2010

I went out with photographer Emma Case a month or so ago and as we dolled ourselves up in the hotel room before hand she was telling me all about Michelle & Greg's wedding. She told me how it was like nothing she'd ever shot before. The contrast of the awe-inspiring and dramatic Synagogue ceremony venue with the reception being held in Greg's Grandmother's house really was the ultimate depiction of what Rock n Roll weddings should be - you don't need any of the wedding "bits" and you don't need to spend a fortune - all you need is you two, in love, and a wedding that is perfect for you.
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Nathan & Marianna’s DIY-Fabulous New York Wedding

Kat

August 30, 2010

Oooh I am so excited about Nathan & Marianna's diy-fabulous New York wedding (although this is doing nothing to quench my desire to sign 2 weeks off and jet off to NYC!) The couple got married at St. Luke's Church and then had their reception at Sea Cliff Yacht Club. "Both are in the small one square mile town (22 miles from NYC) where I grew up in Long Island, NY" Marianna told me. The couple only splurged on the things that really mattered to them - one of them being the band that played their reception "This was probably the best splurge (and only) of the wedding. I highly recommend getting a live band, we had a great fun dancing ALL night long" the bride explained. "I thought we were just going to go the ipod shuffle route, but was convinced that the band makes the party and to have one. It was great advice, and is probably (most definitely) true."
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