Rock n Roll Bride - The ultimate guide for alternative brides

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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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Emily & Daniel’s Classic and Caring Wedding

Kat

September 7, 2010

I've known (as in online-known) photographer Katie Malone for about 3 years. We got married about the same time and were both members of the same forum during our planning. I love when she emails me weddings she's now shooting. It's incredible how we're both still surrounded by this wedding-world after all this time...and doing it in a bad ass way of course! I've loved her photographs ever since she first started experimenting. She usesa variety of cameras to give her photographs a totally different look to anyone else's. Infrared, Vivitar ultra wide & slim, Holga & Polaroid are all used alongside her digital SLR to get her unusual and intoxicating techniques.
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A Vintage Shoot with Lucy Ledger Designs

Kat

August 23, 2010

If you're a regular reader of Rock n Roll Bride I'm sure you'll already be aware of the amazing Emma Case (she shot the image that I'm currently using as my blog header/my 'Punk Rock n Roll Bride' shoot) and Lucy Ledger Designs. Lucy makes gorgeously creative vintage-inspired stationary (I've also been lucky enough to feature her before as well as meet her in actual real life!) After Lucy saw Emma's work on Rock n Roll Bride she got in touch asking if they could get together to do a promotional shoot for her vintage stationary company. Hello!? Match made in vintage Rock n Roll heaven or what!?
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“It’s Not Easy Being Green” – A Beautifully Sustainable British Countryside Wedding

Kat

August 18, 2010

James & Holly had a beautiful countryside wedding at the couple's home, Newhouse Farm in Cornwall which they share with James' family . The couple, who star in the TV series, It's Not Easy Being Green, wanted a homespun, eco style wedding that truly reflected them as a couple and a family. In keeping with their 'green' theme the couple arrived at the church on shire horses, which when they're not glammed up for weddings are actually used to plough fields. "Our aim was to have as 'green' a wedding as possible. We wanted to have our reception at the place that had brought us together, Newhouse Farm" they told me. "Certain steps towards a green wedding were fairly straight-forward: we wanted to use only local, seasonal produce as well as British grown, seasonal flowers. Our venue, Newhouse Farm, is powered completely by solar power, a couple of wind turbines and a waterwheel, as well as using only water from our own natural spring. We even had a compost loo and a compost urinal for our guests to use! Green transport was also easy to achieve, after all what could be more romantic than using a pair of beautiful Shire horses to transport us to the reception. (Actually this was a bit of an extravagance as the church was only 100 metres from the venue... our guests simply walked!!)"
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Megan & Kevin’s Budget Conscious, Family Friendly, DIY Heavy Day

Kat

August 17, 2010

You might remember Megan from her Historic Firehouse Bridals that I featured a few weeks ago. I loved them so when her photographer Erica of Turner Creative Photography sent me the photographs of her and Kevin's wedding, I couldn't wait to share them on these pages. Even more so in fact when I found out their day was an all-out budget diy fest - one of my favourite types of weddings! I also knew that Megan hadn't worn her actual wedding dress for her bridal shoot so I couldn't wait to see what she's chosen too.
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Archery, Tractors & Tents – A British Summertime Wedding with a Twist

Kat

August 16, 2010

Architects Sybil & Jon planned an outdoors, Robin Hood style wedding - complete with campfire, archery and tents - at the bride's parent's house, for July 30th this year. Jon explained that they wanted the ‘feel’ of the wedding to be similar to the scene in the woods from the original film of Robin Hood. They wanted everything to be relaxed and very informal and so had tractors as their transport, a folk band and a rustic, natural style of flowers. "Sibyl was very keen to use English flowers and wanted them to look like they had been picked from the garden." their wedding planner, Kate told me. " Anne Bell sourced the flowers from a walled garden in Hertfordshireand created beautiful colourful arrangements in jars on each of the tables along withbouquets for Sibyl and her bridesmaids. The church was decorated witha stunning candle stick display and pew end arrangements tied with raffia. As an added touch the couple also quickly decorated the tractor!"
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The Colour Purple

Kat

July 30, 2010

Jenni & George are another 'inspired by Rock n Roll Bride' couple who found their photographer Shan after she was featured on the blog. The couple, who got married on the Isle of Man, wanted to incorporate he things they love into their day - the colour purple and all things eclectic, antique and vintage. "I have a love of all things antique and vintage and my favourite colour is purple! So that's where it began. I bought a lot of the antique bottles from places like eBay, Jurby Junk (!!) and our friend Roger Leece, who found a whole stack of bottles and jars buried somewhere up North apparently!" the bride told me.
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Nick & Hannah’s Game Playing, Fancy Dress Celebration

Kat

July 20, 2010

Nick & Hannah had a 3 day wedding at Christian retreat and conference centre Lee Abbey. The celebrations started with a day of fun activities for all their guests including archery, mountain boarding and zip wiring through the forest. Not only that, but all their guests were invited to wear fancy dress. That sure made for lots of laughs and some awesome photographs. The couple made an extra special effort, coming as Robin Hood and Maid Marion. Hannah had even worn her Grandmother's own wedding dress in memory of her.
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“I Can Make That!” – Roni & Dave’s Awesome, Diy, Homespun Cute-Fest Wedding

Kat

July 16, 2010

OK I am EXCITED! Roni & Dave's reception is, like, totally the most awesome diy, homespun cute-fest ever and I've got the full scoop and all the juicy details for you. I featured their wedding day shoot not so long ago and as soon as I saw Roni's adorable and oh-so-awesome homemade vintage brooch bouquet I knew the rest of their wedding was going to be awe-inspiring but I'm telling you, nothing prepared me for this! The couple's reception was held in Roni's parent's house and backyard. For the flowers and centrepieces they bought all the blooms and the watering pots from Cosco and made them all themselves. "I didn't care what kind of flowers we had or where they came from. I just knew I wanted them to look like they were just hand picked out of a field" Roni told me. They ordered the yummy looking cakes from Liberty Market (Gilbert, AZ) and Roni & her Mum added the lace and brooches as well as an adorable home made cake topper.
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Ribbons, Pom Poms & Papel Picado – Roxana & John’s Amazing Fiesta Wedding

Kat

July 13, 2010

Roxana & John's incredible Mexican fiesta wedding was shot by the amazing Katherine O'Brien with a Holga, a Hasselblad and a Polaroid camera. The results are not only magical, but give a really unique and different perspective when looking back. In fact looking at these awesome images is almost like a crazy, exciting acid trip...in a good way of course! The bride, a costume designer, custom-modified her dress with dress with ribbons, rhinestones and a favorite brooch that was her Great Aunt's. Her groom wore a gold western belt buckle with the initial S for a bit of extra personality. The couple added lots of fantastic details to suit their papel-picado theme (a natural fit given their Texan roots) including tissue paper flowers lining the railings and tables, a custom card box in festive colours that looked like a wedding cake and grosgrain ribbons tied to the cedar arbor with fleur de lis topped markers. They also used Mexican loteria cards as escort cards which they clipped to a red ribbon hanging on an old wooden door. They then put matching cards on each table with a cowboy boot filled with wildflowers as the centrepieces. The wedding cake was topped with a Day of the Dead Bride and Groom.
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