Rock n Roll Bride - The ultimate guide for alternative brides

Vintage

The Julia Boggio Studios Grand Opening

Kat

May 7, 2010

Last Thursday I was lucky enough to be invited to the fancy pants grand opening of the Julia Boggio Studios in Wimbledon, London. Not only was it the very studio that Julia and I did my vintage boudoir shoot but I was able to meet a load of new people from the UK wedding industry as well as catch up with some old friends. I headed up to London with the lovely Lisa of Magpie Vintage. Before the party we paid a visit to our friends at Luella's Boudoir in Wimbledon who kitted us out with sparkles and shoes (Lisa nabbed some gorgeous Emmy shoes and I borrowed a beeeautiful Magpie Vintage headband - and yes I wanted to keep it!) We then all piled back in Lisa's car and made our way to Merton Abbey Mills where Julia's studio is located.
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Something Blue

Kat

May 6, 2010

Jessica & Karl got married in the city of Stockholm, Sweden, in the Södermalm region to be precise, which is apparently one of the coolest urban areas of the country. The wedding had a distinctly blue theme which perfectly reflected the countries nature. "Blue is as Swedish as it gets with it being the dominant colour in the flag" photographers Cole & Jakob told me "and a lot of that has to do with the importance of the ocean to the countries culture. Even the archipelago that Stockholm is built amongst is surrounded by the blue of the sea, and that colour was an underlying theme through the planing of this wedding." Jessica wore a dress by Design by Marja Collection with a beautiful handmade hairpiece by Percy Handmade and a flawless hair net made by Tied and Feathered. Karl wore a Western North Carolina tie from Me & Matilda which again matched their 'something blue' theme.
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Retro Sweethearts

Kat

May 5, 2010

"Christina has a love for all things vintage." photographer Krys told me when she sent over Christina & CW's engagement session. "She says, "if it looks old, I love it", so we were on the same page with the idea of old buildings, rust, chipped bricks, and whatever else we could find in DeLand, FL where we had their engagement shoot. Christina and CW are definitely an amazing couple to work with. Not only were they down for anything I threw at them, they were amazing models as well (they also didn't mind at all when I dropped an F-bomb or two). Christina wore a cute red swing dress with a sweet heart top and electric blue wedges (later some vintage white wedges with an ankle strap). Too cute. CW, or C-Dub as I have nicknamed him, wore a western shirt and cowboy boots. This shoot was inspired by The Notebook, the south, and turning an ugly setting into prettiness."
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A Sunday Kind of Love ~ Julia Boggio

Kat

May 2, 2010

Behold - a new feature! From the various emails, tweets comments I've received over the last few months I've come to the conclusion that you love regular posts - in particular Thursday Treats and I love writing them so I thought I'd try to do a few more... I was lucky enough to be invited to Julia Boggio's grand studio opening (full report and exclusive piccies coming soon!) on Thursday and after much schmoozing with the glitterati of the British wedding industry I came to realise that I know so many amazing, talented and generally fabulous people here and all over the world. My plan is that every Sunday I'm going to share with you someone who's been particularly fabulous to me that week or someone who's work has blown me away. It's my way of saying 'I heart you' as well as hopefully letting you know about some people you might not have heard of before. I hope you can put them all to good use in your own weddings. I also hope this feature will be a popular one as I know a lot of awesome people and I'd like to be able to share them all with you!
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Balance & Contrast

Kat

May 1, 2010

Allie & Patrick's engagement was designed around the idea of balance and contrast. They decided to go for two different looks "One, a very warm, vintage-y, backlit and natural look with texture and colors like yellows, browns and whites, and the second, very cool, city street, look with lots of blues, turquoise and blacks! photographer Rhys explained. "The idea and challenge was to shoot both looks similarly in terms of composition, but come out with two very different looking sessions, so that they could be displayed side by side allowing the contrasts to really play off of each other. Allie and Patrick loved it because it allowed them to show off all aspects of their personalities; both are incredibly stylish, but also love to just be ridiculous and have fun."
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Under the Spotlight – Lucy Ledger Designs

Kat

April 30, 2010

One of the many pretty damn awesome things about running my blog is the amazing wedding vendors I’ve met along the way. People I wish I’d known about when planning my own wedding back in 2007/08. Luckily for you though I’m here – still as wedding obsessed as ever to share my finds with you and I think you’re going to go nuts for Lucy Ledger and her wonderful retro and kitsch stationary designs. I was lucky enough to be able to interview Lucy this week. It went a little something like this…
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French Vintage Glam

Kat

April 25, 2010

Rebecca & Michael wanted a French/Hollywood vintage glam style shoot to signify their engagement. They loved the idea of having a whimsical, vintage feel and Rebecca’s inspiration was that she wanted a shoot that really meant a lot to them as a couple. The fascinator she wore belonged to her grandma when she was young for example. "We were able to create some old Hollywood romance in a local cafe" Australian photographer Tenielle told me. "It looksed as if it belonged in the French countryside. The Cafe we shot at was called ‘Cafe Bouquiniste’, and the owner Meredith has a love for Paris, Books and all things French as you can tell."
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A Punk Rock Kinda Day

Kat

April 23, 2010

The majority of the weddings and photo shoots I feature are sent to be by photographers or recently married couples, however occasionally I'll come across a session so damn cool that I have to email the photographer right away and demand to feature it! This was one of those sessions. I'd followed William Massey's work through a group on flickr for a while now yet it was only now that I really stood up and took notice. Philip & Anela were one of those couples that I instantly knew would suit Rock n Roll Bride to a tee - punky, retro, vintage, quirky, cool...they suited all these words that I overuse everyday on my blog.
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Holga, Music & Diy A-Plenty

Kat

April 22, 2010

Oh how I love a holga-photographed wedding! I can't help but applaud a couple who take the risk with such a camera...I tried my hand at holga photography a while back and promptly gave up! Katie & Kevin had a perfectly personal diy wedding. Katie loves crafting and so made everything, and I mean everything, herself. One of my favourite bits had to be the hand-dyed coffee filters used as hanging paper 'flowers'. She also made the felt bouquet and the groomsmen's custom cuff links herself too!
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A Little Bit of Rock n Roll Magic

Kat

April 21, 2010

I've got another Luella's Boudoir-related post for you now (can to tell I'm excited about tonight?!) Becci & Mark's wedding is a pretty special one, for more reason than one. Not only did the pair find their photographer David McNeil through Rock n Roll Bride, but Becci also found and discovered the amazing vintage jewellery experts, Magpie Vintage. Who wouldn't fall in love with their amazing designs after all!? As a DIY bride (Becci's made her own dress from an original 1930's pattern as well as her flowers and all the decor and details for their wedding) unfortunately the jewellery pieces she fell in love with were slightly out of her price range. However with a little bit of Rock n Roll Bride magic I was able to pull a few strings for her and the lovely ladies at Magpie Vintage were kind enough to lend her the gorgeous headband and necklace you see her wearing! How amazing is that?!
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Elegant & Classy 1930s Inspired Boudoir Sesh

Kat

April 19, 2010

I don't feature a whole lot of boudoir on Rock n Roll Bride, not because I don't like it or approve or anything like that (hell, I did one!) But it's quite rare that I get sent boudoir submissions that have a Rock n Roll edge. A lot of what floats around the internet is all sexy, see-through underwear, airbrushed to perfection, lying on a messed up bed...page 3 inspired...you catch my drift. Anyway, when this session from Jessica Zais landed on my desk I saw none of that. Courtney showed up to her boudoir session ready to go with two vintage swimsuits (the black one belonged to her grandmother and was actually a lifeguard uniform - sexy!) The result is a classic, 1930's elegance that I just can't get enough of.
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Jen & Bijan’s Multicultural, Diy, Totally Personal, Un-traditional Wedding

Kat

April 16, 2010

Can you imagine my excitment when Jen & Bijan amazing wedding landed in my inbox? Jen, the bride began her email "I am an American living in Berlin, and recently married. My husband,Bijan, is German-Irani, and I think our wedding was as multi-cultural and untraditional as we are." I was smitten...and their story just makes it even better. "My background in event planning for President Obama (!) and Vice President Biden came in very handy for a diy wedding" Jen told me. "Bijan and I haven't been to many weddings, nor have we been married before, so we kind of made a lot of stuff up as we went along. The actual ceremony was on Friday, March 26, and the reception was the following day. My best friend, Scout Tufankjian, is a photojournalist and doesn't actually usually do weddings but as her gift to us she agreed to be our wedding photographer. Bijan is born and raised here in Berlin, and we really wanted our photos to reflect our everyday life and the things we love about Berlin. The graffiti pictures are taken along an old section of the Berlin Wall called the "East Side Gallery," and was one of the places Bijan took me on my first day here. With his Persian background, he has always been a fan of shisha (flavored tobacco smoked out of a water pipe)- I also share his love for it, and on our way to the party, we decided to take a break for ourselves and get a smoke at our favorite shisha cafe. We were also starving, so we stopped at our favorite neighborhood schawarma place, Habibi's, for a bite to eat.
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Community Spirit

Kat

April 13, 2010

British photographer Dolly Photography may be new to the scene but she sure knows her own passions and one of her dreams is to raise awareness and support her local community. "I come from Barnsley, a very small Northern mining town that is still recovering from the depression of the pit closures" She told me "I have loads of work I'd love to submit, but this one is close to my heart. I did a Rock The Dress shoot last week for Barnsley Hospice, a charity that looks after terminal cancer patients. They have 8 charity shops and wanted to promote the fact that they sold second hand wedding dresses - some for as little as £40 a dress!" So, she asked her sister to model for her in a gorgeous £40 dress from Barnsley Hospice and carrying a vintage umbrella that she found on ebay for £10. Her hair piece was also a bargain at £10 in the sale from Diva Bridal, Barnsley.
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Carnival Love

Kat

April 6, 2010

Hayley & Brett's funfair/carnival themed love shoot makes me feel all playful. Gotta love a couple who can have a blast together! Together for a little over 2 years, this pair found comfort in each other through some difficult times at the beginning of their relationship. They decided to do their pre-wedding shoot at a carnival to symbolize their fun personalities and has a celebration of their love for one another. Her dress is vintage which she found at a thrift store and their flowers were done by Mignonne Handmade.
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My Vintage Boudoir Shoot Featured in Photo Pro Magazine!

Kat

April 5, 2010

I am the worst for patience...the actual worst! I want everything now now now. So when I picked the newest issue of Photo Pro Magazine up and saw that not only was my article on one of my favourite photographers, David McNeil featured, but that my Vintage Boudoir shoot with the fabulous Julia Boggio was adoring FOUR whole pages, I literally couldn't wait to share the scans with you. I hope you likey! (click on the images to make them bigger and read-able if you want to see what Julia said about me and my posing - Yes I am a big poser) Enjoy!
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