Rock n Roll Bride - The ultimate guide for alternative brides

UK

A Autumnal Vintage Cinema Wedding: Holly & Robert

Kat

December 20, 2011

Holly & Robert were married at The Electric Cinema in Birmingham. After walking down the aisle to Billie Holiday 'It had to be you', the bride with her groom, headed to Kitchen Garden Cafe Kings Heath for a casual and DIY reception. "Rob asked me to marry him in NYC in October last year he got down on one knee in Central Park and gave me a beautiful 1920's pearl engagement ring," Holly wrote to me. "It was the happiest day of my life everywhere was just bursting with Autumn colour, strolling through the park was so romantic I wanted to capture the feeling of that day at our wedding."
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An Intimate Wedding of Just 16 Guests: Jasmine & Piers

Kat

December 14, 2011

Jasmine & Piers had only 16 guests for their intimate wedding which meant they were able to have a really relaxed and personal celebration. "We wanted it to be simple and pretty, and most of all...relaxed," the bride told me. "We didn't really have a theme, but if I had to pick a work to describe it, I say Love. Everything involved in the day are things (or people) we love. Piers had his Father as his best man, which was very sweet. One of my very dear friends, and her boyfriend, from NYC spent the morning with me, helping me get prepared. During the ceremony, our friends and family sat in a circle around us in the "Lady Chapel" of All Saints West Dulwich. It was exactly what we invisioned and felt so special. We all had so much fun. I don't think either of us have ever smiled that much in one day!! It was perfect."
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A Blue Burlesque Wedding with a £900 Budget: Sally & Mark

Kat

December 13, 2011

To say that I'm excited to be sharing Sally & Mark's wedding with you this afternoon would be an under-exaggeration of HUGE magnitude. Not only is their wedding freakin' awesome on so many levels, but they pulled the whole thing off for £900! Let me repeat myself to make sure you got that, because I didn't quite believe it when I read it on Sally's submission either - the whole wedding cost just £900!! "We had approx 6 weeks and a budget of around £900 for our wedding," Sally wrote. "Where we could we handmade items or got friends to help us out. We were lucky that our photographers, performers, DJ and cake makers were all friends so did us special deals. We were also able to get both our venues (the afternoon reception was held at William Steads Pub and the evening afterparty at the Tap and Spile Pub, Darlington) for free as we didn't hire them exclusively."
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A Very London Wedding: Naomi & Chris

Kat

December 12, 2011

I was hanging out at Fur Coat No Knickers a few weeks ago catching up on my vintage fashion/wedding industry-based gossip, when in breezed an excited girl who had just got married in one of their beautiful wedding dresses. Naomi had popped back in to show Laura & Emma some of her wedding photos and as soon as I heard the words 'wedding photos' I immediately jumped out from behind the dresses to have a nosy myself (Poor Naomi, I must have given her a heart attack...turns out she was a regular reader of this little wedding blog throughout her planning!) Anyway I loved the photos Naomi showed us on her phone, so when I received the submission from her photographer Sarah Lauren I was thrilled that I would be able to share them with you too!
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A Rockabilly, Psychobilly Wedding: Claire & Lee

Kat

December 8, 2011

I love weddings like Claire & Lee's. Not just because the rockabilly theme is awesome, but because they put their heart and soul(s) into creating a wedding that reflects how they are in everyday life. "We’re both very much in to the whole rockabilly and psychobilly scenes and have been for quite some time, so it only seemed natural to extend this to our wedding day," Claire told me. "One thing we set out to do from the very beginning was to make our wedding day for us. It seems all too often that people try and tailor their wedding day around their family and other guests, where as for ourselves we tailored it around us and guests had to fit in; which they did wonderfully."
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An Origami Wedding: Ceri & Terry

Kat

December 7, 2011

Ceri & Terry didn't really plan to have a theme for their November wedding, however once they started with the origami they found it hard to stop! Ceri told me all about their beautiful wedding, "When we first started planning the wedding, we were determined to do our best to be relaxed about the whole thing. We decided that, if we could find the right venue then even if everything else went wrong, we'd be ok - we could turn up in jeans and order pizza, if necessary, as long as we could get all our loved ones in the right place. After a couple of months of looking, we found it: Great Wilbraham Hall Barn. It was perfect - big enough for our guests, fairly isolated, licensed for weddings (we wanted everything in the same place), ideal for the winter months with lots of warmth and character, and within 30 minutes drive of Terry's grandparents."
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Under the Spotlight: Neil Thomas Douglas Photography

Kat

December 6, 2011

Glasgow based photographer Neil Douglas of And Do You Take Photography prides himself on his composition and use of light. In fact he cites his main inspiration as Martin Parr, a social photographer, who is well known for his exaggerated style. "I love the way he uses colour and composition to really bring out the personality of his subjects," Neil writes, "Henri Cartier Bresson is also massive influence for me - his candid photography really paved the way for us who favour a reportage style."
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A Vintage Festival Wedding…in the Rain!: Natasha & Charlie

Kat

December 5, 2011

Natasha & Charlie are the kind of couple that wedding photographers dream of - creative, unique in their inspiration and totally in love. The bride told me all about their vintage festival wedding. It may have rained for their outdoor ceremony, but it certainly didn't damper their spirits! "Even though I had prayed for months for sun on our wedding day, it still rained! I thought that this would ruin the day as everything we had planned involved being outside – including the ceremony. Just before we were due to go down, the wedding organiser at Maunsel House said that it was raining and tried to convince me to move everything inside. But I couldn’t bare the thought of not getting married under the beautiful bandstand as this had been my dream from the start – so I made everyone stand outside with umbrellas! It actually turned out really well and everybody loved it – the pictures of everyone with umbrellas looked great as well!"
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A Pretty Vintage Islington Wedding: Cecilia & Robert

Kat

December 1, 2011

Cecilia & Robert's pretty London wedding took place at Union Chapel and Union Hall, Islington. "At first we had to decide where to have our wedding as I'm from Italy and Robert London," Cecilia wrote to me. "We soon realised that London was the perfect place, as it’s where we've chosen to live and where we definitely wanted to start our life as a family. We started looking at a few venues, but they all looked a bit impersonal and soulless to us, we definitely wanted somewhere that would have a meaning for us and our relationship. And so that’s how we “stumbled” upon the Union Chapel. Rob had been there several times to see gigs, and we had been together to see a very special acoustic performance by Editors. Many people think it’s not an actual church, but it actually is – and it made perfect sense to us to get married there!" "We were also delighted to find out that – apart from the main auditorium - they have several spaces for hire that can be used for all sorts of events. The Upper Hall fitted the bill perfectly, as it’s a completely blank canvas that we would be able to personalize according to our own taste."
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A Food Fight Engagement Shoot: Kim & Phil

Kat

November 30, 2011

Kim & Phil were the lucky couple who won an engagement and video shoot with Assassynation, Sassy n Frank and Elbie Van Eeden. Their idea for a crazy shoot was a food fight as Kim explained in her entry, "We got engaged on 1st April 2011, yes you heard right, April Fool's Day, and with this in mind we would like to continue our personalities and character traits in an engagement shoot. The theme I see is a food fight, with bright and colourful food such as cupcakes, hotdogs, condiments (almost American food style) between myself and my fiancé."
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‘Lola the Bird’: An Art Deco Photo Shoot

Kat

November 23, 2011

This beautiful shoot was set up by headpiece designer Natasha Jane to promote her amazing 'Lola the Bird' headpiece (I've seen it in real life and it is an amazing piece, I'd love to see a real Rock n Roll Bride wearing it!) The shoot took place at the UK's oldest cinema, Birmingham's Electric Cinema, which has been open for over 100 years. The art deco cinema is even available to hire for weddings so it really was the perfect venue to show off this new wedding collection.
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A Black Wedding Dress, A Traditional Church Wedding & A Burlesque Themed Reception: Scarlet & Craig

Kat

November 21, 2011

Scarlet & Craig's wedding wowed me as soon as I spied that dress. I was so excited to be able to share this incredible Goth extravaganza and luckily for you lot, so were the newlyweds. In fact Craig's reply when I emailed him back saying 'Yes yes, hell yes (ps your wife is hot)' was something along the lines of 'OMG so excited that you're going to feature us!!! Squeeee'. "I'd never really thought about my wedding day growing up, so when Craig proposed on a trip to Amsterdam (with a tattoo that simply said 'Marry Me' on his wrists!) I was thrown into a bit of a panic!" Scarlet explained. "But as soon as we started planning we knew we wanted to do things our own way. Luckily we found Rock n Roll Bride, which made us realise there really are no 'rules' for a wedding, and then we just went all out! We didn't start out with one, but as we went along we developed a kind of pink and black gothic fairytale theme, pink being my favourite colour, and black being Craig's!
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Messing About on the River: Emma & Tony

Kat

November 17, 2011

Emma & Tony had an intimate wedding of just 40 guests in Henley on Thames. Coincidentally this is where I went to college and I have a lot of fond memories of chilling out by the river, most probably while I was supposed to be in lectures - which maybe one of the reasons I love this wedding so much! Anyway, I digress... The wedding was held at The River & Rowing Museum, a modern wedding venue situated right on the river Thames. A friend of Emma's is a registrar and it was really special to have her marry them. "The museum was exactly what we were looking for," Emma told me. "The staff at the museum were fabulous, nothing was too much trouble. Laura, the events planner for the museum, coordinated the wedding and it was great having her their on the day to make sure everything ran to plan so I didn’t have to think about a thing and just enjoy the day. Jeff from Digby Trout Catering with his team delivered the most delicious food that wowed even the London foodies. The seating plan was titled ‘Eat, drink & Be Merry’ and we all certainly were thanks to Jeff and his team – what a gem."
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