Rock n Roll Bride - The ultimate guide for alternative brides

DIY

Anthony & Stephanie’s Sydney Harbour Wedding

Kat

March 9, 2011

Anthony & Stephanie were married in November in Sydney and had the wonderful and exceptionally talented Jonas Peterson to shoot their wedding. When Jonas emailed me to let me know he had a new wedding to share with me he didn't have to ask me twice if I wanted to blog it or not! Regular readers will know I am a big (massive, enormousness) fan of Jonas and his work so it's an absolute pleasure to feature this gorgeous wedding on these here pages. The ceremony took place at St Peter Chanel ("oh yes I had a designer's name in the title of MY church HA" laughed the bride) in Woolwich, Australia. After the ceremony the guests were treated to a boat ride across the Sydney harbour to Aqua Dining - a restaurant with the quintessential Sydney view - for the reception.
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Amber & Jeff’s Candy Land Wedding

Kat

March 9, 2011

Amber & Jeff were married in Crest Theatre and so their wedding had a pretty theatrical theme! "It has always been a dream of mine to get married at the Crest Theatre and have been going there since I was a kid and my comedy troupe used to perform there so it's always been close to my heart!" Amber told me. " I also have been part of a horror film summer festival for about 10 years and had some of my creative friends from there get involved; such as making the candy shop, the MC is a stand up comedienne friend, I really wanted to get all my creative friends involved!" A lot of the wedding was DIY and the Mother of the bride in particular really got stuck in - she made all the decorations, the decopauged suitcase, the vintage wedding cake toppers and the candy displays. Amber also had a friend who made her candy flower bouquet by melting down different sweets into the shapes of flowers - something she had always dreamed about having.
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Song & Dony’s Mythical Creatures Wedding

Kat

March 8, 2011

Song & Dony were married in October at The Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden. Their wedding had an unusual 'mythical creatures' theme which the couple told me all about. "The wedding theme was mythical creatures as two mythical creatures to decide mate for life. Song made all the invitations, ring pillow, mythical creature themed decorations, tissue paper pom poms and mythical creature brooches that were for wedding parties."
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Cazz & Liam’s Comic Book Geekery Wedding

Kat

March 8, 2011

"Everyone said for me to wear white would be the shocking thing" the bride, Cazz, told me. "My dream was to look like a cupcake. A big pink cupcake. It had to be pink, black and with polka dots. My dress was purchased off eBay for $40. It was a used costume from Buddy Holly the musical! One of my lovely maids of honour altered it for me and added my dream large black bow." I think that Cazz's dress might have helped to set the whole theme for her awesome wedding to Liam - a big pink cupcake of a wedding! Cazz wore shoes with cupcakes (and skulls!) on them and as well as a slightly more traditional tiered cake, which was gift, they had...you guessed it...cupcakes!
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Debbie & Jamie’s Tattoo Themed Rockabilly Wedding

Kat

March 7, 2011

Oh Debbie & Jamie how I heart thee! This Belfast couple had their very own rockabilly wedding at Belfast City Hall, followed by a suitability rockin' reception at The Printers Café. "My name is Debbie and I run a vintage nail salon in Belfast called Dazzle Me With Your Tips," the bride emailed me. "In my spare time I sell vintage clothes, accessories and homewares at vintage fairs and arts and crafts markets and also work as a stylist with several photographers. Jamie my now husband is a Maintenance Manager for a cleaning services company and his passions outside of the 9 to 5 are Skating, and BMX and Metal Sculpture. We both love getting inked going to rockabilly nights and festivals and most of all touring around Ireland in our beloved VW camper van Burt with our daughter Ellie." I loved them already.
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How to…Crochet Your Own Cupcake Garland (DIY Tutorial by Twinkie Chan) + Giveaway!

Kat

March 5, 2011

I have adored Twinkie Chan from afar for a long time. Her "Eat your cake... and wear it too!" motto kind of speaks to my sweet tooth-loving self you see! Her colourful and super kawaii blog has brought daily rays of sunshine into my life for quite a while now ad I'm pretty much jumping over rainbows with the excitement of sharing our little collaboration with you all today! For those of you not familiar with Twinkie Chan, she is a crocheting marvel from San Francisco who has risen to fame with her cute and food inspired creations. She has made everything from scarf's, hair accessories and other wearable goodies from wool and her designs literally fly off the shelves as soon as she posts them to her etsy store. In short, she makes crocheting cool again! She's even released a tutorial book of some of her adorable creations, which got me thinking...
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Serena & Brent’s Day of the Dead/Hello Kitty Themed Wedding

Kat

March 4, 2011

A Day of the Dead and a Hello Kitty themed wedding?! Could Serena & Brent's wedding be more perfect for Rock n Roll Bride if it tried?! The bad news is that I don't have any further info on the wedding, but they photos were just too awesome to not share and I'm sure you can get some awesome DIY ideas just by looking at what they created. I am literally dying over the Hello Kitty in the bouquet and her Tarina Tarantino jewellery. Classic bridal style?! Screw that!
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Tara & Travis’ Denim & Diamonds Wedding at The Burning Man Festival

Kat

March 2, 2011

Tara & Travis met at The Burning Man festival in 2007, so where better than to be wed than the very festival that brought them together? The ceremony, which they wrote themselves, took place under the Bliss dance statue in the middle festival and was performed by a close friend of the couple. The theme for the wedding was Denim and Diamonds/Cowboy Chic. The couple did everything themselves and due to the festival location, had very laid back attitude to the 'formalities' of a wedding, "We had a good old fashioned BBQ for everyone - no one was turned away" they explained.
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Heather & David’s Whimsical & Wonderful New Orleans Wedding

Kat

March 2, 2011

There was one thing that struck me in particular when I laid eyes on Heather & David's New Orleans wedding...Heather's incredible dress! She bought it from Natural Bridals on etsy and had it custom altered to make it perfect for her. She wore it with striped tights (rad!) and incredible orange boots. In fact their own wedding was a whimsical and wonderful mishmash of Rock n Roll fabulousness! Heather explained, "We wanted to throw a wedding that was going to stand out from the other weddings that people would be attending throughout the year. Our goal was to get a reaction out of our guests. Cool! Um, interesting. Wow, fun! Very whimsical. Those were the target reactions… anything, but, nice (blah). We did almost everything a little strangely which caused a LOT of extra planning and negotiating with vendors. Most vendors in the city of New Orleans (and other cities I am sure) are bogged down with traditions and preset packages. We found that the vendors that were excited about a challenge were the ones for us."
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Alice in Weddingland – The Engagement Session

Kat

March 1, 2011

This month Rock n Roll Bride intern and columnist, Alice headed out with her fiance Graham for their very first photo shoot together - their engagement session with photographer Sassy of Assassynation. The engagement session can often be a bit of a nervous time for a soon-to-be-wed couple, as for the majority of people it's the first time they've had a processional photo shoot. So, this month I asked Alice to tell us all about her experiences and why, when you've got your perfect photographer on the job, there really is nothing to be afraid of! I am seriously chuffed to share Alice & Graham's engagement session with you today...seeing these is making me super excited to see their wedding photos too! Also...is is weird that I'm a little bit proud of my Alice when I see these? Awww love... ♥ ♥ ♥ A couple of weekends ago Graham and I ventured into the heart of the Cotswolds, for our engagement shoot. We drove to Sassy’s house, where she settled our nerves by cooking us bacon sandwiches with cups of tea! After Graham got to know her a bit (I had met her for the first time the day before at the Designer Wedding Show) we discussed possible ‘venues’ for the days shoot. Thankfully the weather was beautiful, and we decided that outside would be best, so we could make the most of the natural light. Sassy explained that the shoot would last around a couple of hours, and that what we did in that time was pretty much up to us. When she mentioned an abandoned RAF watchtower and runway a few miles from her house I was beyond excited: I am a bit of a War History buff so the thought of being able to include that element in our engagement shoot was amazing! We got in her car and drove to the tower.
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Ashley & Jen’s February Beach Wedding

Kat

March 1, 2011

Ashley & Jen were married in the beach at Boesmanland in Langebaan South Africa just last week (gotta love that SA weather huh!?) "Ashley is a surfer so it was inevitable we have the wedding on the beach!" newlywed Jen told me. "We wanted the day to reflect our fun and outgoing personalities. My walking down the aisle song was “White Wedding” by the legendary Billy Idol! Ash and I are the best of friends, we enjoy every minute we spend together and really wanted this to be reflected on the day. We didn’t do any of the traditional things like cut the cake, throw a garter or bouquet (this uses up very important dancing time!) and our guest book was a custom made surf board made by the awesome Ian from Blank Boards. Most of the details were made by ourselves which we really enjoyed as it added our personal touch to the day! I didn’t want flowers, how sad that they are beautiful and fresh the 1 day and dead the next? My bouquet was inspired to my beautiful fur-kid, Holly, who passed away, rest in peace Mommy’s baby! I religiously read wedding blogs for a year to get loads of ideas but add our own twist, thank goodness for the world wide web, especially the rocking Kat at Rock n Roll Bride!"
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Kirsten & David’s Folk Wedding

Kat

February 28, 2011

Kirsten and David's beautifully folky, Cape Town wedding is the pure essence of why I love my Rock n Roll Brides. Pretty much their whole wedding was crafted from either second-hand or vintage items, and the majority of the details were hand-made. They had home-made pie instead of a wedding cake and they put together all the centrepieces and flowers (bouquets & bridesmaid's headbands) themselves. "We pretty much made all the decor, even the tablecloths and runners," Kirsten told me. "We had so many friends helping us the month before and went a bit overboard with ideas, but it was so much fun! We also made sure (almost completely) that we had finished everything we wanted to do before the last week so that we could spend some good time with all our friends, and made it a big celebration." Kirsten wore a second-hand dress that a friend gave her with leather Oxfords on her feet. All of the jewellery she wore was found at various markets and antique stores. For David's outfit, he went and picked out his own material at a fabric shop with his friends and then they all drove to Mexico (David is from San Diego) and found a cheap tailor to make his suit! "Of course he left this to the week before he moved to South Africa," Kirsten laughed, "so he only got to see if it fit him the week of the wedding! Mexicans can tailor good!"
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Autumn & Kevin’s Romantic Vintage Valentine’s Wedding

Kat

February 28, 2011

Autumn & Kevin were married the day before Valentine's Day so of course their wedding had to be a full on romantic affair. The bride is a self-confessed Valentine's addict and so the theme was not only perfect for the fact that it was a wedding (aww love!) but because it was themed around the celebration she loves so much. The wedding took place at the bride's Mother's house which was not only the ideal setting for their colour scheme of red and white, but made the day a lot easier for Autumn's Grandmother who also lived in the house with her. It was very important to the couple to have her there. Autumn explained, "I wanted to have the wedding at my Mom's because it would be easiest for my Grandma since she lives there too. Plus my Mom's living room is red and white, with wood floors and a fireplace, which was my ideal setting. I knew from the beginning I wanted to have a vintage Valentine's day wedding. It's my favourite holiday and I already had tons of vintage Valentines. After christmas I transform my white retro christmas tree into a Valentines day tree and I wanted to incorporate that. A lot of the other decor was found at craft stores, or hand made by my Mom. We also incorporated a lot of personal items, like my antique cameras, and Kevin's model airplanes that he had built. We featured a wall of photos with us as kids, and as a couple."
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Quay & Jory’s DIY, Maui Wedding

Kat

February 28, 2011

Quay & Jory were married under a giant tree, on the beach in Maui, Hawaii. "The wedding was very non traditional," photographer Molly Marie told me. "It was a gay wedding, almost everything was DIY, both girls love tattoos, and planned the entire wedding themselves. The wedding was not for anyone else but them, pure love. However they knew family wouldn't be able to attend easily as they are from Eau Claire, WI, so photography was a very important part of the wedding to them."
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Rock n Roll Bride Prize Winners – Ashley & Ray’s Old School Glamour Wedding

Kat

February 25, 2011

The eagle-eyed amongst you might remember Ashley & Ray. Ashley was the lucky Rock n Roll Bride reader that won all that lovely booty for filling out my reader's survey over the Summer. Needless to say I was pretty excited to then see how it was all used in their wedding! The couple were married in January and had their photographs taken by friend of the blog Kim Hawkins. The venue they chose was The Mayfair Hotel in London and their theme was old school glamour. Ashley was keen to tell me all about their big day and I'm thilled to share it with you here - espcially as a lot of the suppliers they used are my friends!
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Amy & Manny’s Morocc’ n Roll Backyard Wedding

Kat

February 24, 2011

Amy & Manny were married in the bride's parent's back garden which they decorated themselves in an eclectic and fabulously 'them' style. " I actually didn't really intend for my wedding to be all Rock n Roll, and it turned out that way anyway," explained the bride. "It was kind of Moroccan/Rock n Roll... a Morocc' n Roll style! I think the fact that it was a Rock n Roll wedding without trying... that makes it ROCK N ROLL! Plus the awesome leopard party booth couch, the fact that my Dad plus the groom & all the groomsmen wore chucks..."
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“The Pirate & The Stripper got Married” – Ed & Torie’s Quirky London Wedding

Kat

February 24, 2011

When Ed & Torie's beautiful wedding landed in my inbox last week, I was immediately drawn to the bride's beautiful ensemble - in particular her stunning vintage dress from my favourite girls, Fur Coat No Knickers. The couple were married in November at The Trafalgar Tavern, Greenwich, London and Torie was keen to tell me all about their quirky and fabulous wedding day, "On November 20th 2010 I got to marry my best friend, my pirate, Ed. Ed and I met 4 and a half years ago through his workmate / my flatmate at a pirate fancy dress party at our house – hence the nickname. Ed turned up, breathed fire (seriously) and then mysteriously left. As it turned out his appendix had burst and he went home and then to A&E. After recovering we got in touch and the rest, as they say is history."
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Kelly & John’s Simple & Home-Grown Wedding

Kat

February 23, 2011

"Basically our tastes tend towards simplicity and we’re blessed to be surrounded by loving, creative people who helped the wedding feel very ‘us.’ ...very down-home, cornfields & college towns... us" explained newlywed's Kelly & John when I asked them about their wedding inspiration. The couple were married at St. Patrick Church, Urbana, IL. "We grew up in neighboring suburbs, went to undergrad together, and then Kelly moved to the city for a grant while John continued studying at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign," they continued. "As our future home, at least for a few years, Urbana was perfect for the wedding. Central Illinois was far enough from home to be out of the often over-commercialized urban wedding market, yet close enough for our family to make a day trip. Plus, we really liked the Irish influence at St. Patrick, a small, beautiful church in our neighbourhood." Following the service, the wedding party headed to their reception at Silvercreek Restaurant, the couple's favourite restaurant. The chef prepared three richly paired dinners from some of their favourite seasonal food
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