Rock n Roll Bride - The ultimate guide for alternative brides

UK

A 1970’s Woodstock Inspired Shoot

Kat

November 8, 2010

This 1970's Woodstock inspired shoot took place on Hampstead Heath, London. The shoot was set up by wedding planner & stylist, Mary Herrington of Forever & Ever Events. She and photographer Caro Hutchings wanted to create a shoot to show how you can easily create a beautiful look with vintage and reclaimed items that won't break the bank. "Finding inspiration in the ‘70s doesn’t mean that you have to stick with the original dress form the ‘70s or be literal about it; rather, you can take a vintage dress or theme and modernize it," Mary told me. "For example, the most amazing part of the dress was the tiered back – we took away the billowy elbows and the high neck, which really allowed you to highlight the back of the dress as the focal point."
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Sarah & Jonathan’s Hipster London Wedding

Kat

November 6, 2010

Sarah & Jonathan found the perfect photographer to capture their modern London wedding though Rock n Roll Bride so I was over the moon when Annamarie Stepney asked if I'd like to feature their wedding! The couple chose to have their wedding in their local borough of Islington, North London as they both felt it was very important to support their local businesses and friends. "The fact the venue and all suppliers were local in Angel was very important to us and this is why we chose them. Jonathan's business and our lives in Islington are important and it was all about a sense of community. We also wanted a relaxed inclusive wedding, but not casual. We involved as many people as we could with 18 ushers and bridesmaids altogether, four readers and roles for everyone individually. We have been together for 9 years and have many great friends together who we wanted to be very involved."
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Jessica & Forbes’ Retro Rockabilly Brighton Wedding

Kat

November 3, 2010

Brighton was the location for Jessica & Forbes' rockabilly wedding this summer. They chose May 1st as their date as it was Jessica's late Grandmother's birthday and having it on this day was their way of inviting her to the wedding. All the guests were invited to dress up in their finest retro get-up," Absolutely everyone joined in," the bride told me, "We were so convincing a hotel guest asked if we were a convention!"
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Rom & Will’s DIY, Humanist, 1970’s Vintage Wedding

Kat

November 2, 2010

You might recognise the gorgeous Rom & Will as I featured their engagement session back in August. I knew their wedding would be awesome as soon as I saw those shots so you can imagine my excitement when I got an email from photographer Steve Gerrard asking if I'd like to feature their wedding that took place a few weeks ago in Somerset. The couple had two ceremonies - a legal ceremony at Hestercombe Gardens, followed the next day by a humanist ceremony and reception at Huntstile Organic Farm (a humanist ceremony isn't legal in England at present.) Rom wore a different dress for each part of their day. For the civil service she wore an original 70s Ossie Clark dress which she had hunted high and low for. She finally found in a treasure trove of a shop called Hope & Harlequin in Brighton. "The owner Lou has original vintage dresses and she also makes bespoke vintage replicas," Rom explained. "With this is also wore Gold cork platforms by Miu Miu and a vintage garland headband from The Vintage Wedding Dress Company."
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Mia & Matt’s Super Kitsch, Super Gorgeous 1960’s Wedding

Kat

November 1, 2010

I think I possibly have one of the cutest weddings ever to round of today's posts. When I first laid eyes on Mia & Matthew's 60's inspired wedding, I kid you not, I literally squealed with delight. How happy do these photos make you feel?! I KNOW! Adore... The wedding took place in Devon at St Gregory's RC Church in Kingskerswell. The reception then followed at Colehayes Park in Bovey Tracey, a Georgian House in beautiful grounds. As soon as the couple got engaged they knew their wedding would have a 60's theme. Mia is obsessed with everything from this era and even had her dress made by a friend to an authentic 1960's dress pattern. Mia explained, "I'm obsessed with vintage so it had to be that way! I also wore a floral headband of golden coloured alstroemeria which was made by our florist, gold t-bar sandals which I found in the Miss KG by Kurt Geiger. I wore yellow plastic daisy earrings from Spitalfields Market, a silver engraved locket which Matt gave me on the morning of our wedding and an amazing wedding cartoon bracelet which I bought from Da Da Dreams on Etsy. My sister also gave me a lovely bluebird bracelet and matching garter on the morning of the wedding, which she'd had handmade for me. They're amazing! In the evening I changed into a 1960s lace mini dress with cape which I found on Ebay and borrowed a vintage faux fur cape from my sister."
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Alice in Weddingland ~ The Hunt for the Perfect Photographer

Kat

November 1, 2010

It's time for post number two (well three if you count our impromptu trip to the Designer Wedding Show last month) in the series that is proving to be quite a hit with you lot! This month Alice went on the hunt for the perfect photographer to document her wedding... When I sat down and wrote my wedding wish-list, getting a top-notch wedding photographer was right up there. Think what you will, a good photographer was even higher up on my list of priorities then a wedding dress! I figure a dress lasts a day, but the photographs are the memories that will be shared with friends and family alike, and will last forever. In my eyes a securing the photographer of your dreams is the best wedding investment a bride can make…but where to begin? If you google ‘wedding photographer Brighton’ you are given hundreds of results, but I found this list to be pretty useless as I really didn’t know what I was looking for. What are the merits of negotiating a copy-write-free deal on your images? Reportage or traditional style? Ten minutes in and I was freaking out; finding the photographer for me seemed like an impossible task. Then I came across rocknrollbride.com!
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Sophie & Barney’s Silly & Fun, Vintage & Rock n Roll North London Wedding

Kat

October 29, 2010

I sneak peeked Sophie & Barney's wedding on Twitter and Facebook as soon as their photographer Lisa Devlin emailed me to ask if I wanted to blog them - hello!? Look at these two...Like she even had to ask!! The best bit though? Sophie & Barney found Lisa via Rock n Roll Bride - I love love love featuring the weddings of bona fide Rock n Roll Bride readers! Oh I can hardly contain my excitement over this one... "We did everything we wanted do and didn't care if anyone else thought it was right," the couple explained. "We put together all of our loves and didn't worry about a colour scheme or any thing particularly weddingy, we love autumn and Halloween and London and glamour and silliness and fur and penguinbooks and skulls so we chucked them all in. Is that Rock n Roll??!" Simple answer - yes! Sophie looked every bit the Rock n Roll princess in a genuine vintage dress which she bought from My Sugarland in North London. "It was the first and only dress I tried on," said Sophie "and its beyond special having been a museum piece and nearly 100 years old! It was covered in mould and little rips, I owe Zoe at My Sugarland a massive thank you because she helped my Dad see beyond the grubbiness of it and talked him into buying it for me! She also passed me on to the wonderfully stern but kind Jacqueline Byrne who used to be a seamstress for the Queen no less (!) who tidied the dress up perfectly, even recovering all the buttons on the sleeves." With her perfect dress, Sophie wore a custom made headdress from Lilly Lewis which she customized with a brooch belonging to her Mother. She also also wore her Mother's silver fox fur jacket which was a gift from her Dad on the day she was born!
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Sarah & Chris’ Handcrafted Tipi Wedding

Kat

October 28, 2010

Sarah & Chris got married at Croft Castle, Herefordshire followed by a Tipi reception in Sarah's Father's field. I have a serious wedding crush on this 'venue'! The whole wedding was a locally-sourced and handcrafted affair as this was very important to the couple. The tipi was decorated top to toe by Sarah and her Mother (her Mum is the lady wearing the fabulous handmade patchwork coat!) "We wanted our wedding to have a handcrafted feel and it was important that our friends and families were as involved as they could be" Sarah explained. "My inspiration for the feel of the day came from that, from getting those peoples input and spending time with them. My mother made the amazing patchwork coat that you can see her wearing, from thousands of small squares of lovely fabric, and she announced just after we got engaged that she was going to turn it into a quilt for our first baby after the wedding - this pretty much encapsulates the feel I wanted of the wedding. I wanted to make as much as I could myself and took immense pleasure in spending hours stitching and crafting, using old family photos or random things picked up over the years to make everything as unique as it could be - it was so important to me that it all came, well, from the heart. Is that too cheesy? I don't care, it was my wedding day and I loved every second of it."
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Jim & Katy’s DIY-Fabulous Whimsical Beach Themed Wedding

Kat

October 25, 2010

I hosted a very special offer from Willow Tree Photography a while ago for free wedding photography to any lucky 2010 couples who maybe hadn't planned to, or couldn't afford a professional photographer. While I got a bit of stick on certain photography forums (apparently I was encouraging newbie photographers to undercut the market...well, anyone who read the post I published on Saturday will know this is certainly not the case!) I am over the moon that through running this very special offer I, and photographer Kathryn, were able to offer some awesome couples without the budget to spend on photography, the chance to have professional wedding photographs.
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A Sunday Kind of Love – Working Together, Rocking Out & Making Love Not War

Kat

October 24, 2010

When you run your own business it's incredibly easy to become fiercely competitive and secular without even knowing it. I've found that especially in the wedding industry there are so many of us trying our hardest to be successful that a lot of the time, it can all get rather bit bitchy and competitive. That sucks. I'm happy to say that although I've had my fair share of niggles with others in the same field as me in the past that I've come out the other side and brought a few of my favourite other bloggers (shock horror - shouldn't they be my competitors!?) along for the Rock n Roll ride. I'm happy and thrilled to call them my friends and colleagues
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Sarah & James’ Rockin’ Rockabilly Wedding

Kat

October 22, 2010

Sarah & James 1950's rockabilly wedding was inspired by Sarah's Grandparents who got married on September 12th 1953. "We wanted to get married as close to this date as we possibly could, hence the choice of 11th September 2010," Sarah told me. "My Grandparents celebrated their 57th Wedding anniversary the day after our wedding - the rose tattoo's on my feet (by Sam Ricketts) have their names 'Alice' and 'Mervyn' in recognition of how special they are to me."
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The Rock n Roll Bride Venue Guide – London

Kat

October 16, 2010

I get loads of emails from you lot asking me advice on all manner of wedding planning related matters and while I'm easily able to reel off a long list of fantastic photographers I know or recommend some awesome dress companies, when it comes to wedding venues...well I'm as clueless as you are! We had a massive drama with our wedding venue (they cancelled three months before our wedding day - but that's a story for another time!) so needless to say finding the perfect venue for your Rock n Roll wedding is not my speciality! However luckily for me (and you!)I know someone who knows all about the very best and coolest venues in the country. I asked my good friend Mary Herrington of Forever & Ever Events if she'd be able to start up a new feature for me, showcasing some of her favourite and most Rock n Roll wedding venues all over the country, First up London...
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Joan & Tim’s Musical English Country Garden Wedding

Kat

October 14, 2010

Oh I have yet another fabulous British wedding for you to le swoon over today. Joan & Tim's English country garden theme was sure as hell given a Rock n Roll twist with the infusion of some seriously rad and personal touches. Not least of all, Joan's incredible dress (actually a corset, skirt, bustle & train) from designer Jane Bourvis. It was all Vintage Couture. Jane was actually the designer behind Carrie Bradshaw's famous 'green seafoam ballerina dress' that she wore in the final episode of Sex and the City (photo here) "Her shop is a wedding wonderland with vintage dresses and corsets dangling above you so you don't know where to look at first," Joan explained. "It was the first dress I tried on and within 5 minutes I knew that I wanted it."
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Rachel & Daniel’s Modern Vintage Wedding… With Special Guest – The Pope!

Kat

October 11, 2010

Rachel & Daniel got married at The Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, a modern building that gave their vintage styled wedding an unusual twist. The bride wore a gorgeous dress from Rock n Roll Bride favourite Fur Coat No Knickers. To keep things personal, they made their own cake ("It looked fine as long as it wasn't in a strong light!" the bride laughed. "The ribbons were held in place by satay skewers - all we could find the night before we delivered it to the venue!")
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Louisa & Rob’s Music & Car Festival Wedding

Kat

October 7, 2010

"We knew our wedding was going to be slightly different but I guess thats what you get when you try to incorporate cars, music and food, emphasising the feasting and dancing with friends and family rather than the actual ceremony" began bride Louisa. "We both have an affinity with old cars, cars that have been around a while and have a tale to tell so we had no problem finding a wedding car - I had the perfect excuse to use my hotrod, a 1928 Model A Ford. Not wanting to leave his cars out of the fun, Rob decided we should include a mini car show where he and our friends could park up their old cars and in some cases, their beds for the night."
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Elise & Nick’s Laid Back, Homespun & Festival Style Wedding…With a Piano in the Woods!

Kat

October 6, 2010

"Is that a piano...in the woods?!" I asked photographer Emma Case, a stunned look on my face. When the affirmative came back I literally let out a little squeal of exhilaration that I was going to get to share Elise & Nick's wedding with you. Unbelievably, as the couple went with Emma to have their portraits done they came across this unusual yet fabulous prop just sat there. Now I know Miss Emma Case very well and I can just imagine the expletives of excitement that would have come out of her mouth when she laid eyes on that!
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