A Christmas Meets Halloween Wedding: Holly & Gareth

Kat

February 15, 2012

Holly & Gareth were married in late November and so had a kind of Christmas meets Halloween themed wedding. "Originally I quite liked the idea of a festival-y vibe wedding but Gareth's not very outdoorsy and I'm not keen on hot weather so a winter wedding it was!" Holly explained. "We were also on a budget so an out of season wedding also worked in our favour! My sister described our theme as, 'What do you get if you cross Christmas and Halloween?!'"

Mexican Art Wedding: Kirsta & Alec

Kat

February 13, 2012

Kirsta & Alec's Arizona wedding had a Mexican art theme. Being married in an arts centre and with a mutual love of travel and other cultures (they met while working in an orphanage in Kenya) the idea of having this vibe for their wedding just felt right. "We met working at an orphanage in rural Kenya," Kirsta told me. "Luck would have it that both our loves of travel and adventure lead us to being in the same remote place at the same time. We just happened to be placed as roommates and the rest is history! We fell in love over working with kids, farming projects, and other development work. After moving back to the States to live in Seattle for a year, we got the itch to live abroad again and moved to South Korea so that I could teach. We had a series of serious discussions (neither of us really 'proposed') and decided that we wanted to make it official. In April, we had an awesome little Embassy wedding in Seoul totally by ourselves. We knew we'd be going back to the US for the holidays, so it felt like a natural time to have a bigger ceremony with our families and friends. The whole idea behind having a second wedding was simply to have a big party to celebrate with those people that we love and miss so much while we are off adventuring."

DIY Tutorial: ‘Be Mine’ Tattoo Heart Valentine’s Cupcake Toppers by Restoration Cake

Kat

February 13, 2012

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, I fancied sneaking in an extra bonus DIY tutorial for you just before the big day. Get yourself to the supermarket sharpish and make these cute Valentine's themed cupcake toppers for your beau (and if you buy the cupcakes to put them on I promise not to tell...) Thank you to the amazing Charlotte of Restoration Cake for the awesomeness. She would also like to offer all readers of Rock n Roll Bride 10% off any wedding cake order placed after seeing this feature. Simply email Charlotte on info@restorationcake.co.uk with the subject header ROCKNROLLBRIDEOFFER. Charlotte will also randomly pick one of you to receive a whopping 50% off your wedding cake (more info at the bottom on this post).

DIY Tutorial: Heart Shaped Cookie-Pops

Kat

February 11, 2012

Who doesn't love cookies?! Who doesn't love cakepops? Combine the two and I'm just about ecstatic! These heart shaped cookie-pops would make perfect wedding favours, a cute addition to your dessert table or the perfect a Valentines day treat for you and your loved one! Over to you Miss Cake... (by the way, be sure to go check out her website for some totally adorable perspex cake toppers and jewellery!)

A Classic Retro Wedding: Adrienne & Nic

Kat

February 10, 2012

Adrienne & Nic's retro wedding was held at Greystone Hall, Ohio "My Mom and I wanted to have the wedding and reception all in one place for convenience's sake," the bride told me. "I wanted to have the wedding in downtown Akron for nostalgia's sake. The building is historic and very important to the city, plus they have great food! Nic and I loved the subtle eerie goth vibe from the preserved masonic imagery."

A Colourful DIY Wedding: Rhian & Toan

Kat

February 8, 2012

My favourite wedding photographs are those with happy smiling faces in them. The ones that when I look at them, I hazard a guess that people's faces were aching at the end of the day from grinning so much. Now obviously most weddings are full of joy and smiles, but I think Rhian & Toan might win the 'most smiley' prize. Big cheesy grins all round! "We absolutely love our wedding photos, and genuinely couldn’t be happier with them," begin Rhian. "We had a very tight budget for everything, but photography was the one thing I wouldn't skimp on the quality. I love it so much in my day to day life I knew the value of getting good ones done for the big day. When I saw Shell de Mar’s portfolio I could see straight away that she has a beautiful eye for detail and lots of talent. We like to think that we found an excellent photographer who happened to do weddings, rather than a ‘wedding photographer’."

A Help Yourself, Village Fete Wedding in Cornwall: Rosalie & Fergus

Kat

February 8, 2012

Rosalie & Fergus had a sweet homespun wedding in Cornwall. "The whole ethos was to get all our creative friends and family together for a two week holiday in Cornwall," the bride explained. "The deal was, that they spent the first week, sewing, making, cooking, baking and generally doing anything and everything - then we had a massive great wedding/party which continued for the rest of the week. I don't think they feel used, it was a great vibe and a really chilled way to organise a wedding."

A ‘Make Do & Mend’ Wedding: Rosie & James

Kat

February 7, 2012

I actually saw Rosie & James' wedding in the archives of Adam, of Viva Wedding Photography's, own blog. I dropped him a line to say I was sure another wedding blogger must have featured it when he first published the photos, but just on the off-chance...and to my utter surprise he said they hadn't! I have to say, I was thrilled. This wedding has a serious amount of cuteness. The wedding may have taken place in 2009, but it's still hella inspirational!

A Colourful Barn Wedding: Paul & Hayley

Kat

February 6, 2012

Paul & Hayley planned their wedding in just four months! They were engaged in July and wanted a winter wedding but the didn't want to have to wait a whole year...so a speedy engagement it was! They were married in November at Vauxhall Farm in Suffolk. "We decided that we wanted to decorate the reception ourselves and bring in caterers so Vauxhall Farm was perfect, " Hayley told me. "It was essentially a big empty barn in the middle of some fields! Our thoughts for the venue styling was lots of colour and lots and lots of fairy lights!! We found lots of vases and lanterns and filled them with fairy lights and strung more lights across the ceiling as well. Our table names were pubs that we love. So we painted the inside of photo frames with chalkboard paint and wrote the names on there, we then gave our guests chalk so that they could wipe off the table name and have some fun!! Someone said that our tables looked like children's party!"

DIY Tutorial: Seriously Cute Fabric Bow-Tie

Kat

February 4, 2012

I love this super adorbs fabric bow-tie tutorial from Chloe Adlington of Adore by Chloe. I think they would be perfect for your fiance, his groomsmen... or even your pets to wear at your wedding (check out the sweet doggie photo at the end of the post!) Plus, once you've mastered the making the bow, why not use them to make something for yourself? You could add it to a headband, attach them to a belt, make it into a brooch... The bow-y possibilities are endless! Have fun! Over to you Chloe...

A Casual & Intimate Outdoor Wedding: Michael & Mariko

Kat

February 3, 2012

Michael asked Mariko to marry him at a festival, "in a trashed tent with some beers, talking with some friends about relationships and life," he told me. "You know… those most profound things you talk about at festivals. It was just the right moment." So then they had their wedding theme - a festival style, party wedding! "We wanted our wedding to be intimate, nothing big, loud or expensive," Micheal continued. "The most important thing was that we were getting married and be together forever, to share our love with the people we love, all our friends and family."

A Laid Back, New Age, Irish Wedding: Britta & Oscar

Kat

February 2, 2012

When I grow up I want to be as cool as Britta & Oscar please. They not only got married at their own home in Dunmanway, Ireland but they put the whole wedding together themselves including building their own marquee! "We built the structure with ash poles and tied tarpaulin to the poles with zip ties and lots of rope," Britta explained." It would not have been possible without the help of our friends especially Will Dukes who pretty much did most of the hard work as Oscar had broken his leg a few weeks before the wedding.... convenient you might say!"

A Two-Day Hindu & Catholic Wedding: Lucy & Vish {Part Two}

Kat

February 1, 2012

After the festivities of their Hindu ceremony, Lucy & Vish woke up on the Saturday morning ready to do it all again - this time in a Catholic church. The ceremony was held at St Patrick's RC Church, Manchester, with the reception that followed back at St Peter's Hall. Their Catholic wedding has very British influences - from high tea to xx. Lucy wore a vintage wedding dress from Elizabeth Avey. "I knew I wanted a vintage Betty Draper-esque dress, as the 50s is my style era! Elizabeth's was my first stop, which was ideal as it was only up the road from where I live in Kentish Town. Although I didn't find the dress straight away, Elizabeth knew exactly what I wanted and told me to return in a few weeks as she was due to get in more pieces. I'm so glad I went back as when I returned she pulled out THE dress, which was an original 50s number, fresh from LA! Although she needed a clean she was in pristine condition for her 60 years! It was originally a drop waist dress but the lovely ladies at Designer Alterations raised the waist to make it m

A Two-Day Hindu & Catholic Wedding: Lucy & Vish {Part One}

Kat

February 1, 2012

This afternoon's wedding is being split into two parts. I'm not usually a huge fan of the two-parter, but there's just so much going on in Lucy & Vish's weekend-long wedding I did't want anything to get overlooked! On Friday 28th October they had a Hindu wedding ceremony and reception, and then the following day, they had a catholic ceremony and another reception! First up, the Friday... The day started with a ceremony at St Peter's Hall, Manchester. "We always knew we would have a wedding of 2 parts as we wanted to honour both of our cultures and religions," Lucy told me, "so we chose to have a traditional Hindu Blessing on the Friday followed by a Church wedding on the Saturday, an epic 2-day wedding!"

A Simple & Homely Wedding in Milan: Roberto & Cherie

Kat

February 1, 2012

Italian Roberto & Chinese Cherie planned their Milan wedding from other sides of the world, "Until 2 months before the wedding, we had lived in 2 different countries (Hong Kong and UK) for 16 months, " Cherie told me. "I had taken a sabbatical to spend time with my family in Hong Kong and the majority of our ideas exchange and planning was done on email or Skype. We found the organising super boring, couldn’t wait to party on the day!" The couple met in London and so filmed their Save the Date video in the city, and they actually ended up having two weddings (the Italian one pictured and another in Hpng Kong) so it really was a multicultural, multinational affair!

A Rock n Roll Shoot & Iron Fist Ruby Slippers: Cat & Louis

Kat

January 31, 2012

It started with those ruby slippers. When wedding photographer Kat Forsyth first laid eyes on the Iron Fist beauties, she knew she had to do a photo shoot styled around them. "I’m not even a shoe girl, and I hardly ever wear heels, but hot damn, I wanted everything on the Iron Fist website," Kat wrote. "I couldn’t get the ruby slippers out of my head, so a few weeks later I popped into a shop to see them in person. Well, the only pair left was the display pair, and they were one size too small for me. But they were On Sale. On Sale for one fifth of the original price! So in order to justify the purchase, I decided I would buy them to use in a shoot one day. Photographing them’s just as good as wearing them, right? In fact, better, because it’d be more comfy!"

An Owl & The Pussycat Themed Wedding: Kerryn & Joel

Kat

January 27, 2012

"The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea. In a beautiful pea green boat, They took some honey, and plenty of money, Wrapped up in a five pound note..." With The Owl and the Pussycat as inspiration, it would be hard for Kerryn & Joel to go far wrong when planning their cute and quirky wedding. Although the wedding wasn't really 'themed' to match the poem, its message resonated throughout their planning and on the wedding day itself. They used it on their wedding invitations and Kerryn read the poem as part of her speech. "The Owl and The Pussycat popped up because around the time that we got engaged, I read The Owl and The Pussycat to my 3 year old niece, Amy," Kerryn told me. "At the last page there was a lovely illustration of the owl dancing with the pussycat in mid air..."

A Music & Literature Themed Wedding: Claire & Scott

Kat

January 26, 2012

Claire & Scott chose an old movie theatre in as the setting for their ceremony, The Lantern Theatre, Sheffield. Although they hadn't even thought about marrying in a theatre, after seeing one in Whitby they loved the idea. "We’d originally planned to marry in Whitby, as it’s a special to place to us both," Claire told me. "Whilst looking at venues there, we were shown a theatre hidden away at the back of the sea front community centre. We hadn’t thought about marrying in a theatre, but we both fell in love with the idea. In the end, we decided that we’d rather marry closer to home in Sheffield, but the idea of marrying in a theatre stayed with us. After an afternoon on Google, Scott emailed every theatre within a fifty-mile radius of us to ask if they did weddings. The Lantern Theatre was one of the few that replied and it turned out to be barely a mile from our house. When we arrived we fell in love with the place. It’s an old 84-seat Victorian theatre with anaglyph wallpaper and red velvet seats. The staff there were so flexible and open to all our ideas. They even bought a mirrorball so that I could walk down the aisle in spiralling light. They served cocktails in teapots, put together a lighting and music programme so that the ceremony ran without a hitch and Keith – the volunteer who ran the bar – even dressed up in a dapper waistcoat and tie."

A Rainbow Rockabilly Wedding: Jennifer & Jon

Kat

January 25, 2012

If you're a long-time reader of this 'lil wedding blog of mine, you'll be well aware that I'm a huge fan of the rainbow wedding trend. I even modeled in an 'Over the Rainbow' themed shoot last October. So you can imagine my glee when Jennifer & Jon's wedding landed on my desk. The couple wanted a huge party, and with 200 guests and only a $10,000 budget they were determined to not spent a fortune to do so. "We honestly would never have been able to pull of any wedding without our friends and family," Jennifer told me. "It was truly a DIY wedding with everyone helping out days beforehand by shoveling, raking and baking in the hot sun to make my friend's ranch into a kick ass outdoor wedding venue. Caitlin & Michael Burns, owners of Rebar Ranch were gracious enough to make our vision come true (or turn our lack of vision into something amazing!)"

A Budget-Friendly DIY Wedding with the World’s Cutest Wedding Video: Melissa & Robbie

Kat

January 25, 2012