Rock n Roll Bride - The ultimate guide for alternative brides

British Brides

A Casual London Wedding with a Bride in Yellow Tights: Annick & Robert

Kat

March 28, 2012

Any bride that rocks yellow tights and teal shoes on her wedding day is instantly awesome. Are we in agreement? When Annick & Robert's London wedding landed in my inbox from wedding photographer Marshal Gray, I literally couldn't wait to share it with you! The whole wedding was planning in just 6 weeks. The ceremony took place at Sutton House, and after an emotional service the couple walked to London Fields for a hotdog lunch and some portraits. "On the way we met a friend who was coming to the evening event," Annick told me. "It was a wonderful walk to really reflect on the day and our personal journey. We use to live near London Fields so the walk had real emotional significance to us."
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An Emotional East Meets West Wedding: Aneesha & Ed

Kat

March 26, 2012

Back in February 2011 I was at exhibiting at the first Designer Vintage Bridal Show, Birmingham. Luckily for me the organisers plonked my stand right next to one of my ultimate besties, wedding photographer Emma Case. On the second day of the show in walked bride-to-be Aneesha, who had decided she wanted Emma to capture her 2012 wedding. After chatting about wedding planning, blogging and photography Annesha went upstairs to try on wedding dresses. Always one to get excited about this part of wedding planning Emma & I followed to see what the bride-to-be would pick. Aneesha & Ed were having a traditional Indian ceremony in the morning, but for the evening reception they wanted to change into western wedding attire. As soon as Aneesha tried on the slinky Yevonde by Jenny Packham the tears started to fall and we all knew it was the dress for her! I'm honoured that I was allowed to witness this experience and I'm even more thrilled that today I get to share their full wedding story with you.
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Stripes, Pumpkins & Mean Looking Cars: Emma & Ross

Kat

March 9, 2012

Emma & Ross' black & white, vintage themed wedding was, above all, a day to celebrate their love with their friends and family. The couple wanted a relaxed atmosphere and one where their guests would really enjoy themselves. "We wanted our wedding to be personal to us, we didn't want guests to walk in and think they could be at just anybody's wedding," Emma told me. "We have been to a lot of weddings, which were lovely but we knew that traditional just wasn't for us. We just had our day, our way and it was brilliant! It was the best day of our lives so far, I just wish I could do it all again as it went so quickly!"
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An Indie Rock, Winter Wedding: Vicky & Martin

Kat

February 29, 2012

On December 10th, Vicky & Martin were married in a gallery space, which they made their own, in Hull. They didn't have the easiest wedding planning journey, with not one but two venue's cancelling their bookings, but at the end of the day the wedding was perfect. "We were not the luckiest of couples when it came to our wedding planning as we had two different venues cancel our booking!" Vicky told me. "We booked a local hotel's wedding package a year in advance and believed that everything from the food to the centerpieces was taken care of. With six months to go they called and cancelled our booking, leaving us panicked and miserable. After considerable research we booked our local youth hostel for a weekend festival in their beautiful medieval building - they cancelled our booking with less than four months to go!
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A Christmas Meets Halloween Wedding: Holly & Gareth

Kat

February 15, 2012

Holly & Gareth were married in late November and so had a kind of Christmas meets Halloween themed wedding. "Originally I quite liked the idea of a festival-y vibe wedding but Gareth's not very outdoorsy and I'm not keen on hot weather so a winter wedding it was!" Holly explained. "We were also on a budget so an out of season wedding also worked in our favour! My sister described our theme as, 'What do you get if you cross Christmas and Halloween?!'"
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A Colourful DIY Wedding: Rhian & Toan

Kat

February 8, 2012

My favourite wedding photographs are those with happy smiling faces in them. The ones that when I look at them, I hazard a guess that people's faces were aching at the end of the day from grinning so much. Now obviously most weddings are full of joy and smiles, but I think Rhian & Toan might win the 'most smiley' prize. Big cheesy grins all round! "We absolutely love our wedding photos, and genuinely couldn’t be happier with them," begin Rhian. "We had a very tight budget for everything, but photography was the one thing I wouldn't skimp on the quality. I love it so much in my day to day life I knew the value of getting good ones done for the big day. When I saw Shell de Mar’s portfolio I could see straight away that she has a beautiful eye for detail and lots of talent. We like to think that we found an excellent photographer who happened to do weddings, rather than a ‘wedding photographer’."
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A Help Yourself, Village Fete Wedding in Cornwall: Rosalie & Fergus

Kat

February 8, 2012

Rosalie & Fergus had a sweet homespun wedding in Cornwall. "The whole ethos was to get all our creative friends and family together for a two week holiday in Cornwall," the bride explained. "The deal was, that they spent the first week, sewing, making, cooking, baking and generally doing anything and everything - then we had a massive great wedding/party which continued for the rest of the week. I don't think they feel used, it was a great vibe and a really chilled way to organise a wedding."
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A ‘Make Do & Mend’ Wedding: Rosie & James

Kat

February 7, 2012

I actually saw Rosie & James' wedding in the archives of Adam, of Viva Wedding Photography's, own blog. I dropped him a line to say I was sure another wedding blogger must have featured it when he first published the photos, but just on the off-chance...and to my utter surprise he said they hadn't! I have to say, I was thrilled. This wedding has a serious amount of cuteness. The wedding may have taken place in 2009, but it's still hella inspirational!
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A Colourful Barn Wedding: Paul & Hayley

Kat

February 6, 2012

Paul & Hayley planned their wedding in just four months! They were engaged in July and wanted a winter wedding but the didn't want to have to wait a whole year...so a speedy engagement it was! They were married in November at Vauxhall Farm in Suffolk. "We decided that we wanted to decorate the reception ourselves and bring in caterers so Vauxhall Farm was perfect, " Hayley told me. "It was essentially a big empty barn in the middle of some fields! Our thoughts for the venue styling was lots of colour and lots and lots of fairy lights!! We found lots of vases and lanterns and filled them with fairy lights and strung more lights across the ceiling as well. Our table names were pubs that we love. So we painted the inside of photo frames with chalkboard paint and wrote the names on there, we then gave our guests chalk so that they could wipe off the table name and have some fun!! Someone said that our tables looked like children's party!"
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A Laid Back, New Age, Irish Wedding: Britta & Oscar

Kat

February 2, 2012

When I grow up I want to be as cool as Britta & Oscar please. They not only got married at their own home in Dunmanway, Ireland but they put the whole wedding together themselves including building their own marquee! "We built the structure with ash poles and tied tarpaulin to the poles with zip ties and lots of rope," Britta explained." It would not have been possible without the help of our friends especially Will Dukes who pretty much did most of the hard work as Oscar had broken his leg a few weeks before the wedding.... convenient you might say!"
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A Relaxed Wedding Under Canvas: Gwen & Ali

Kat

February 2, 2012

Without wanting to start off this blog post by sounding inappropriate...How smokin' hot does Gwen look her her Fairy Goth Mother corset and skirt combo? VERY is the answer to that. Have you seen her teeny tiny little waist!? Anyway, enough perving...let's get along with the formalities shall we? Gwen & Ali wanted a unique and personal wedding, and to achieve this they chose to hire tents from Beautiful World Tents which they erected on the grounds of Knepp Castle in West Grinstead. "After looking online at lots of venues and land hire this place looked perfect," Gwen told me. "This was actually the only venue we went to see and the decision was made! Woodland, a lake, less than an hour from Brighton where we live, full kitchen facilities and more importantly stunning! The other added benefit was free roaming animal, pigs, deer and much more besides. It was incredibly beautiful and also very reasonable on costs. We found the location through the tent company and added bonus this being their headquarters which meant no delivery costs to get the tents to the venue. On the land we had 2 giant hat tents joined together facing down to the lake. You hire the land and facilities for the whole weekend, really handy for set-up and take down."
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A Two-Day Hindu & Catholic Wedding: Lucy & Vish {Part Two}

Kat

February 1, 2012

After the festivities of their Hindu ceremony, Lucy & Vish woke up on the Saturday morning ready to do it all again - this time in a Catholic church. The ceremony was held at St Patrick's RC Church, Manchester, with the reception that followed back at St Peter's Hall. Their Catholic wedding has very British influences - from high tea to xx. Lucy wore a vintage wedding dress from Elizabeth Avey. "I knew I wanted a vintage Betty Draper-esque dress, as the 50s is my style era! Elizabeth's was my first stop, which was ideal as it was only up the road from where I live in Kentish Town. Although I didn't find the dress straight away, Elizabeth knew exactly what I wanted and told me to return in a few weeks as she was due to get in more pieces. I'm so glad I went back as when I returned she pulled out THE dress, which was an original 50s number, fresh from LA! Although she needed a clean she was in pristine condition for her 60 years! It was originally a drop waist dress but the lovely ladies at Designer Alterations raised the waist to make it m
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A Two-Day Hindu & Catholic Wedding: Lucy & Vish {Part One}

Kat

February 1, 2012

This afternoon's wedding is being split into two parts. I'm not usually a huge fan of the two-parter, but there's just so much going on in Lucy & Vish's weekend-long wedding I did't want anything to get overlooked! On Friday 28th October they had a Hindu wedding ceremony and reception, and then the following day, they had a catholic ceremony and another reception! First up, the Friday... The day started with a ceremony at St Peter's Hall, Manchester. "We always knew we would have a wedding of 2 parts as we wanted to honour both of our cultures and religions," Lucy told me, "so we chose to have a traditional Hindu Blessing on the Friday followed by a Church wedding on the Saturday, an epic 2-day wedding!"
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A Black & White, Boutique Hotel Wedding: Abbi & Jools

Kat

January 31, 2012

After a cliff top proposal, Abbi & Jools, who met while working at the Cadbury factory, planned their 5* boutique wedding at The Hempel Hotel, London. "Jools and I met 8 years ago, when we both started working for Cadbury. Clearly, having a Cadbury chocolate/sweetie bar at the wedding was obligatory!" Abbi explained. "We got engaged in Australia, on a cliff top on the Great Ocean Road, while sitting on a bench and eating some delicious cake. When Jools said 'I've got a question to ask you', I replied 'Do you want the rest of my cake?' Usually he would have jumped at the opportunity - but instead went down on one knee... to which I responded 'oh my God oh my God oh my God... where shall I put the cake?' I put it on the ground. It was fine. I ate it later."
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A Music & Literature Themed Wedding: Claire & Scott

Kat

January 26, 2012

Claire & Scott chose an old movie theatre in as the setting for their ceremony, The Lantern Theatre, Sheffield. Although they hadn't even thought about marrying in a theatre, after seeing one in Whitby they loved the idea. "We’d originally planned to marry in Whitby, as it’s a special to place to us both," Claire told me. "Whilst looking at venues there, we were shown a theatre hidden away at the back of the sea front community centre. We hadn’t thought about marrying in a theatre, but we both fell in love with the idea. In the end, we decided that we’d rather marry closer to home in Sheffield, but the idea of marrying in a theatre stayed with us. After an afternoon on Google, Scott emailed every theatre within a fifty-mile radius of us to ask if they did weddings. The Lantern Theatre was one of the few that replied and it turned out to be barely a mile from our house. When we arrived we fell in love with the place. It’s an old 84-seat Victorian theatre with anaglyph wallpaper and red velvet seats. The staff there were so flexible and open to all our ideas. They even bought a mirrorball so that I could walk down the aisle in spiralling light. They served cocktails in teapots, put together a lighting and music programme so that the ceremony ran without a hitch and Keith – the volunteer who ran the bar – even dressed up in a dapper waistcoat and tie."
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