Marriage Mantras: Letters From my Mother

Kat

Devlin Photos

October 25, 2013

When Gareth and I got married, there was one couple we really looked up to an amazing example, a benchmark if you will, of a successful marriage - my parents. They not only got married around the same age as I did (at 24) but they have now been married for over 30 years. Although their backgrounds were quite different (my Mum grew up in Dublin and my Dad in the UK) we admired how they always seemed so happy and in love, even after all those years.

Marriage Mantras: Making Time

Kat

Devlin Photos

October 18, 2013

It's inevitable at this time of year. Up and down the wedding industry comes those oh too familiar rumblings through blog posts and tweets about work/life balance, wanting to spend more time with loved ones and needing some time off. As we near the end of the busy summer season, everyone is desperate for a break, a marathon of their favourite TV show and a bloody long a lie in.

Marriage Mantras: Comparison is the Thief of Joy

Kat

Made U Look

October 11, 2013

A few years ago, before Gareth and I were married, I became good friends with Hannah*. She was one of those effortlessly beautiful girls, someone who you'd do a double take at if you saw her walking down the street. She was tall, stylish, funny, confident and, quite frankly, everything I wasn't. We had mutual friends and we hit it off immediately, quickly spending a lot of our time together. She was single and the two of us would go out most weekends, making a little mischief but most of all just having a damn good time.

Marriage Mantras: It’s Not Always Sunshine & Rainbows

Kat

Devlin Photos

October 4, 2013

Unless your some kinds of freaks of nature, it's unlikely that you and your spouse will agree on everything. Arguments are a fact of life but how you handle them is vital to your continued happiness. One of the things we learnt very quickly was that throwing phrases like "You ALWAYS do this..." or "You NEVER do that..." when having a disagreement not only never resolved anything, but only ended up hurting the other person much more.

Marriage Mantras: Deal Breakers

Kat

Marianne Taylor

September 27, 2013

Marriage throws up some big life questions and often a wedding is just the starting block for making a lot of major decisions in very quick succession. Wedding planning discussions also invariably lead into deeper, more long-term topics. Things like if you want kids, where you want to live and what career paths are you're each going to take. It's no coincidence that lots of couples seem to move house or one spouse has a career change pretty quickly after saying "I do". Making this kind of commitment often encourages us to start thinking seriously about these other things too.

Marriage Mantras: On Selfishness

Kat

Devlin Photos

September 20, 2013

Although we share all kinds of details about our day to day lives, from what we’re planning for dinner to holiday snaps, Gareth and I make a conscious effort to keep the really personal stuff offline. At a glance, it can seem as though our whole lives are documented for all to see, but it’s really only the trivial stuff that gets put out there. A few pictures of our cats walking on their leads doesn’t actually reveal a great deal about us as a couple. The real story is in the detail like how we agreed, together, to get two maine coons, for example.

5 Things You Must Do To Ensure Your Wedding Goes Off Without a Hitch

Kat

Assassynation

July 24, 2013

It's not something we ever want to think about, but the likelihood is that everything won't go perfectly to plan on your wedding day. A couple of weeks ago I actually asked via my Facebook page if anyone had anything go wrong and I was blown away by the response. I even had people emailing me separately to tell me their stories of woe! While I was at first a little nervous that all those comments would be scaring the bejebus out of you brides-to-be, I think it is important to realise that while things may not always go to plan, it will all be OK in the end. Whatever happens your wedding will still be awesome. Pinky swear.

Want Great Wedding Photographs? Follow These Ten Simple Tips…

Kat

Camera Hannah

June 18, 2013

When I talk to brides and grooms-to-be, one of their biggest pre-wedding jitters is how they're going to look in their wedding photographs. For most of us, our wedding day is the first time we've worked with a professional photographer and what with it being a pretty important day and all we want to get it right. Not being shy to a camera or two (!) here are ten simple tips from me to you which will ensure you get the very best results possible.

Blogworthy

Kat

Eliza Claire

April 22, 2013

It’s a funny old world we live in. One where nothing is private, where photos are uploaded to Facebook and Instagram with frightening ease, and where the inner musing of our minds are shared, 140 characters at a time, without a second thought. The likelihood is that you’ll still be at your own wedding while photos are uploaded and the comments from Facebook well-wishers have started to come in.

The Name Game: Should you Take your Husband’s Surname When you Marry?

Kat

Jamie Hopper

June 25, 2012

Kathryn Underwood was always last to be called in the school register. I'm not sure why it bothered me so much that I was stuck on the end every time, but it did. I felt like an outsider and I longed to be all snuggy in the middle with the Matthews' and the Smiths' and the Jones'. "It's OK though", I justified to myself, "when I get married I'll never have to be at the end of a register ever again..." And then I married a Williams.

Are Babies the Next Logical Step?

Kat

June 20, 2012

choose to be in a room with a load of them. In fact at my parent's Jubilee party which was frequented by rather a lot of screeching neighbourhood rugrats, I spent then entire time cowered in the corner staring at my lap/my glass of champagne/the dry sausage rolls and hoping none of them would try to talk to me. It's ironic really, I'm pretty outgoing with adults, but anyone under 12 and I don't know what to do. I guess I'm scared I'll make them cry... or I'll accidentally drop the f-bomb and scar them for life or something.

The Bridal Shop Experience & How to Come Out Alive…

Kat

June 18, 2012

I was blown away by the response to the article I published on Weight Loss and Weddings a few weeks ago. Thank you to every single one of you who was brave enough to leave a comment sharing your own experiences. Even though the post has been up for a little while the tweets, emails and blog comments are still pouring in for it. I never really know how topics like that will go down so it means a lot that you guys put yourselves out there like that. You are all so amazing. There was one resounding message that came from the comments, and one I didn't anticipate. It was your concerns or bad experiences with bridal shops and your worries with finding a wedding dress you loved (and that fitted/complimented your figure/make you look beautiful). The crazy thing was that these concerns were not even limited to those of you who identified yourselves as overweight. It seemed that nearly all of you, no matter what your shape or size, had concerns or stories to tell about the dreaded bridal shop experience.

Weight Loss and Weddings

Kat

June 4, 2012

"Fat, fat fat fat fat!" read Martha's Facebook status. I'd seen updates about her diet plan and weight goals over the past few months and it urked me. In fact anyone talking about weight loss and dieting makes me feel uncomfortable... it's just one of those things I don't like being thrust in my face. Diets can be dangerous things. I've had personal experience. But Martha's statuses upset me particularly because I knew for a fact that only reason she was dieting was to fit into that size 10 Ian Stuart number. Yes, Martha is trying to lose weight for her wedding.

Wedding Traditions & Deciding What’s Important

Kat

February 3, 2012

I put a shout out on my Facebook page to ask if any of you we're struggling with anything wedding planning-wise and if I could help. A couple of you mentioned wedding traditions, namely how to decide which to include and which to scrap altogether. I have a few ideas on the subject... Remember, it's your wedding There is a recurring theme throughout nearly all of the weddings I feature - that the couples wanted to have a wedding that was a true reflection of themselves...their likes and dislikes, their relationship, their personal style, their life influences. I believe that deciding which wedding traditions to include or ignore should also be totally dependent on you and what you value as being important to your wedding day.

Do You Have to Invite Plus Ones to Your Wedding?

Kat

January 27, 2012

I'm going start out by being 100% honest with you. I don't really know the answer to this question. However after a discussion with Roo last week, I feel it might be a topic some of you are struggling with. Therefore I thought I'd use today's wedding planning advice post as a forum for us to get in a discussion on the matter - I want to know your ideas and opinions on the subject please! Although I'm sure you could Google this question and come up with the 'proper etiquette' answer, I think it's much more relevant these days to figure out what's right for you and your wedding. However I do think you should consider a few things before you make your decision...

What Makes a Good Wife…and Am I a Bad One?

Kat

January 6, 2012

This week I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be a wife...or more specially a 'good' wife. I guess with the new year kicking in and all, I started a-pondering about where I am in my life and what I'm supposed to be doing next... Anyway, Gareth & I often joke that I'm a bad wife (at least I hope he's joking). The roles are anything but traditional in our house. As many of you will already know, Rock n Roll Bride is the sole source of income in our household and most of the work that goes into it is on my end - that's not to say that the things Gareth does aren't extremely valuable and important - just that he doesn't spend 12 hours a day glued to a computer screen is all!

Post It Notes – 16th December 2011: Staying Inspired, Coming Up with New Ideas & Blogging Regularly

Kat

December 16, 2011

One of the questions I'm most often asked when I meet people is how on earth I'm able to blog so often. Well firstly and most obviously, I'm in a very lucky position that the majoroty of my content (i.e. the weddings I feature) is submitted to me. Every morning my inbox greets me with a plethora of potential blog content. Brilliant! However, as much as I adore featuring the weddings that I do, if the only content I wrote was other people's work, I think I'd quickly get bored. After all I'm not really stretching myself as a writer by penning 'Sally & Stan were married at the manor house wedding venue in June...' Although coming up with new ways to write very similar content is a task in itself sometimes! Anyway, my point being that I love sharing the amazing weddings and looking at all the glorious wedding photos I get to, but writing the blog posts doesn't massively challenge me as a professional writer. I currently publish approximately 16 blog posts a week, 11 of those being real weddings or photo shoots. However I'm always challenging myself to come up with new new ideas for the other 5 posts. So, today I thought I'd share some of the techniques I use for saying motivated & inspired, for coming up with new content ideas and for making sure you blog regularly.

Post It Notes: 16th December 2011: Let’s Hear it for the Boys!

Kat

December 16, 2011

This week's wedding Post It Note was submitted by Carina of the fabulous Love Me Do Photography. I loved reading the ideas she presented in her article, some of which I'd never even thought of. We'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas for getting those boys involved in the comments section too so get those thinking caps on! ...and as a side note, if you'd like to submit an idea for a Post It Note article, feel free to drop me an email, I'm always looking for new ideas for this series. Let’s face it, weddings are very 'bride heavy'. We gush about the bride’s dress, hair, shoes, and everything else feminine that goes into a wedding. But really, the wedding (and marriage) is about two people coming together; most often being a bride and a groom ( I’ve haven’t noticed this problem in same sex weddings so kudos to you!)

Post It Notes: 9th December 2011: Positive Influence

Kat

December 9, 2011

In many working environments there is a undulating undercurrent of moans and groans from disgruntled employees. For example, when I worked at the shopping channel we bitched about the length of our shifts, the amount of product we were expected to flog sell, the quality of said product, the air conditioning (or lack thereof), the mess in the green room... you get the picture! In fact I got so used to the daily moans and groans that I'd think nothing of it. I'd never stop to think how it affected my overall mood or attitude to the job. It just felt normal.

Post It Notes: 9th December 2011: How to Save Money on Your Wedding Food

Kat

December 9, 2011

Today I thought I'd run few a few ideas on how you can save money on the catering/food at your wedding. It's often one of the biggest expenses but it doesn't have to be. As always I'd love to read any of your own tips in the comments so hit us up with them!