Rock n Roll Bride - The ultimate guide for alternative brides

LGBTQ

A Burlesque Inspired Shoot with Flashes of Red, White & Blue: Naomi & Nicky

Kat

August 2, 2012

I'm sure you won't have failed to notice that there's a little sporting event going on in London at the moment. Now while I've genuinely surprised myself with how much I've been enjoying it (the opening ceremony was amazing and I'm now well versed in the art of synchronized diving) I can't help but shudder when yet another red, white and blue or Olympic themed bridal shoot (really, come on really, is that the most unique idea flying about at the moment?!) lands in my inbox.
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Acceptable in the 80s…

Kat

July 21, 2012

The 80s isn't a wedding theme we see a lot of. I guess because many of us have scars from the highly flammable, putrid peach bridesmaids dresses we were forced to wear throughout our childhoods... however a modern update is in order IMHO! Which is why I loved this shoot, submitted by wedding photographer Michelle McGreevy-Squier. Not only did the team take iconic 80s motifs and run with it, but they uses same-sex couples as the stars. Stylist & florist David Garcia of Statue of Design was the driving force behind the shoot and the one who came up with the initial concept, "The idea is based on the concept of equality. So much of the wedding industry is focused and targeted to straight couples. But I want my current clients, and my potential ones, to know that I am a floral designer for everyone. There is a huge market for GLBTQI couples, but we aren’t reaching them. I want to change that."
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A Humanist Lewes Castle Wedding: Sara & Lucy

Kat

June 25, 2012

Sara & Lucy were married in a humanist ceremony at Lewes Castle, just outside of Brighton (they did the 'legal bit' a few days before in Brighton register office). Both girls wore coloured dresses. Sara found her 50s floral number at Fur Coat No Knickers and Lucy wore a a grey dress from Pretty Eccentric. The low key reception was held at Bill's Cafe, an organic restaurant in Brighton, which didn't need much decorating. However they added a few personal touches with the table names, the bunting and the flowers. "Bill's organised all decor", the girls told me. "They were amazing."
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A 3-day Wedding at a Rockstar’s Retreat: Holly & Karen

Kat

June 6, 2012

Ridge Farm, a working farm and ex-recording studio in Surrey, proved to be the perfect location for Holly & Karen's May wedding. "What made our wedding Rock n Roll? Definitely the venue!" Holly told me. "Aside from being a beautiful farm that we fell in love with instantly, Ridge Farm is also a recording studio where so many of our musical heroes have recorded albums and stayed - so our wedding guests were partying in the very same place that Queen, Whitesnake, Muse, Roxy, Rush and many more have partied! We hired the farm for the entire long weekend - Karen is Irish and it's Irish tradition to hold 3 day long weddings so we had a big meal on the Friday for family and friends then the wedding on the Saturday, followed by a pool party with live music and a hog roast for everyone on the Sunday. The farm sleeps 24 plus there is a camping field so all our hungover guests could just crawl out of bed on Sunday morning and stumble over to rejoin the party. By Sunday evening everyone was in the jacuzzi swigging prosecco from the bottle, even Karen's mum!"
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A Vintage Tea Party Wedding: Chloe & Emma

Kat

May 18, 2012

After a New Year's Eve proposal ("not at midnight, we're not that cheesy!") Chloe & Emma set to planning their tea party wedding for the end of March. Being two girls, they knew their wedding would stand out and they wanted that as well as to put their own stamp on their day. As Chloe explained "Obviously as two girls getting married our wedding was always going to be a bit different. People kept on asking which one of us was going to wear the suit but we were both determined to be complete princesses on the day. We knew we wanted a vintage tea party wedding and we looked at lots of different ways to achieve it as we had a tight budget. In the end my mum who found Jam and Tea, who provided the tea & cake catering, online (she is an expert Googler) and the rest of the wedding fell into place from there."
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Screw Prop 8! A Safari Inn Engagement: Frances & Arianne

Kat

March 6, 2012

Frances & Arianne engagement shoot was captured in and around The Safari Inn in Burbank, California - the motel where Clarence and Alabama Worley stay in the movie True Romance. "Fran and I met at a club," Arianne told me. "I gave her my number and, as she puts it, 'it didn't save in her phone'. Three months passed and a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to go out after work. I didn't but decided to go anyway and Fran happened to be there. We talked and, after a little 'hard-to-get', I gave her my number again. After that we were inseperable! After a few years, and some hard times, we decided to end the relationship and I moved back to California. Three years later, I got in touch with her during a visit to Washington. Once I saw her again, I knew she was still the one."
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Edgar Allen Poe & A Day Filled with Love: Joann & Jacqueline

Kat

January 11, 2012

A quote by Edgar Allen Poe was the starting point for Joann & Jacqueline's wedding plans. 'We loved with a love that was more than love' made them realise that really, their love was at that mattered. Luckily for these two beautiful women, they were surrounded by the stuff on their big day. "No matter how much planning that went into that day, we were both blown away by the amount of love we received from our family and friends," they explained. "We can’t fully explain or describe how it felt, but hopefully the love and laughter in the atmosphere of our wedding day had everyone just as thrilled and excited as we were. Our wedding was held at Penn Park, in Whittier, CA. The greenery was vivid and lovely just the way fairytales usually are, except this time there were two princesses."
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An Elegant & Funky Downtown Wedding: Shavonda & Naomi

Kat

October 5, 2011

Shavonda & Naomi both wore white for their elegant but funky wedding in Sacramento, CA. Shavonda actually wore two dresses - the first, a customised gown from WToo (loving the short front!) and for the reception a sexy short number from BCBG Max Azria. Naomi's suit was a mix of trousers from New York & Co, a vest from Bebe and a shirt from Express. The wedding was held at Beatnik Studios, an amazing studio space in downtown Sacramento.
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Bunting, Cupcakes & Fizzy Pop – A Rooftop Wedding in Copenhagen: Lara & Thilde

Kat

August 30, 2011

Lara & Thilde were married in Copenhagen City Hall, Denmark followed by a laid-back reception on their own roof terrace. "We bypassed the usual registry office and managed to get married in the council chamber, where we were married by the Mayor of Environmental and Technical Affairs, Ayfer Baykal," the couple explained. "Choosing her over the registry office meant that we could be married anywhere in the City Hall, and that we had more time for the ceremony, making it more personal and intimate. We had always wanted an different day and to avoid the usual wedding clichés. We really wanted the day to reflect us, and who we are, so we had decided to hold the reception at our home. That way, we could really relax, and our guests could feel at home. Of course, the spectacular view over Copenhagen didn’t hurt!"
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A DIY, Lesbian Wedding: Natalie & Sarah

Kat

August 3, 2011

Natalie & Sarah were married at El Rio, a bar in San Francisco. "My friend described our wedding as 'A backyard picnic with 52 pieces of flair'. I wanted it to feel like a big huge queer love fest," newlywed Sarah told me. "Our wedding was Rock n Roll because it was a queer wedding first and foremost. We had so much wiggle room to shape our event to be exactly what we wanted it to be. We were able to incorporate some traditional aspects, like the ring exchange, and do away with others that had no meaning to us like a bouquet toss or smashing a piece of cake in one another’s face. Although Nat and I can’t legally get married in the state of California we’re looking forward to taking a trip to New York to do it soon! I have a full sleeve of tattoos and wanted to feel sexy at my wedding, so I opted for a short dress that showed off my sleeve & some cleavage."
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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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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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Kelly & Dani’s Same-Sex, DIY, Fire Dancing Wedding

Kat

January 11, 2011

I am friend's with a lesbian couple who hope to get married one day (you should check out their cool video blog Niche Girls by the way!) so whenever I get sent beautiful same-sex weddings I always send them over to them to inspire them...and to make them cry! Kelly & Dani's beautiful Californian wedding certainly hit the spot on the tears stakes by the way...there were floods I'm telling ya! Anyway I digress. Kelly & Dani were married at Highland Ranch in Philo in a beautiful and intimate ceremony followed by a DIY reception at the same venue. Both brides wore Siri dresses and Fluevog shoes. The venue provided all the food but the cake was made by friends. For décor the couple chose wild flowers. "What makes Kelly & Dani Rock n Roll is that they're both very beautiful ladies who are not afraid to profess their love to each other," explained photographer Caroline. "They included their closest family and their dog, Trout in their celebration. They also had fire lanterns and Kelly's sister fire danced as well as officiated the ceremony! They had a hand fasting ceremony and I personally love their coordinating dresses!"
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“I ♥ LA” – Angel & Lilly’s Save the Date Video

Kat

August 19, 2010

I don't post that many videos on their own as I'll be honest, it takes a pretty damn good video to keep my attention for more than a few seconds. Angel & Lilly's Save the Date however is in a whole other league of radness. I love them! The couple, who made their own video are already married in their eyes (although legally they are 'domestic partners' - stupid Californian same sex marriage laws) as last October the two of them headed down to city hall to do the paperwork followed by an In-N-Out burger!
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