Rock n Roll Bride - The ultimate guide for alternative brides

British Brides

A Rock n Roll London Wedding with Rockaoke!: Chris & Natalie

Kat

November 2, 2011

When photographer Annamarie Stepney slipped Chris & Natalie's wedding my way, I just about squealed with joy. Not only was Natalie an avid Rock n Roll Bride reader throughout her wedding planning, but I could see a few little ideas that she'd gotten from my blog snuck in there - hello purple wedding dress and Butler & Wilson skull crown! "I fell absolutely head over heels for the Butler & Wilson skull crowns after seeing photos of Kat in one so I checked them out. It was great as no one realised it was made up of skulls until they got close. I also wore it for my 30th birthday a month later."
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A DIY London Wedding & A Barefoot Bride: Hannah & Olly

Kat

November 1, 2011

Hannah & Olly were engaged at Bestival in the inflatable church, "Olly proposed to me at Bestival in the inflatable church following our annual Bestival wedding in front of all our friends dressed as unicorns, Mario, Luigi, Alien babies… " Hannah wrote to me. "It was chucking it down as we strolled back to the main stage (engaged!) and The Wailers were playing. All of a sudden the sun came out and like from nowhere Olly handed me a Pina Colada in a pineapple! We spent the afternoon dancing to Chic and chinking our pineapples." From this unconventional proposal, it was clear that this couple were to have anything but a traditional wedding. As the groom explains, "We’re both very creative people and from the start of organising our wedding we wanted it to be different. Throughout it we used blogs, including Rock n Roll Bride, and we did it together. Myself and Hannah contributed equally and both did a lot of homework on details. The motto from the beginning was that it was to be a party, not a ceremony. With that in mind we kept thinking of the things that we loved from parties we have been to."
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A Fun-Filled London Wedding: Sarah & Rueben

Kat

October 25, 2011

Quite apart from the fact that Sarah & Rueben are utterly gorgeous and achingly cool, their wedding is definitely one of those that I wish I was at. The day was simple and perfectly reflected them - they even had Sarah's lips and Rueben's mustache as a recurring theme throughout the details. From the stationary to the jam jars, and from the photo booth props to their wedsite....the mustache 'trend' is always ultimately cooler when the groom rocks a real one too isn't it?!
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A Quirky Afternoon Tea & Library Themed Wedding: Ney & Phil

Kat

October 20, 2011

Ney & Phil's DIY wedding was loosely based around the theme of a books and libraries. "We wanted a literary theme and thought using vintage books as invites would be a lovely idea," Ney told me. "We met at University studying English Literature and just love books, in particular old Penguin classics. We found some companies that can make them for you, but they’re expensive so we decided to do them ourselves."
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A Patriotic Red, White & Blue Wedding: Julia & James

Kat

October 20, 2011

Julia & James had a handmade and patriotic Great British theme for their September wedding - red, white & blue. "I knew from the moment we started to plan the wedding that I wanted it to be DIY," the bride told me, "and to be able to keep all the aspects to decorate our home. We had so many great comments on the day from the registrar and venue that they had never seen a wedding like ours before. I am a avid follower of Rock n Roll Bride, Ruffled blog & Green Wedding Shoes so I scrapbooked a lot of ideas from them all over the past 2 years!"
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“It’s not all About the Typewriters” A Stress-Free and Intimate Wedding: Dawn & John

Kat

October 18, 2011

It was really important to Dawn & John to have a stress-free and personal wedding. John proposed on a bridge in Paris after the couple had been together for sixteen years (erm, excuse me guys but you don't look old enough!) John is in a band, and although he's used to being on stage, he was super nervous about having all eyes on him at his wedding, so his understanding bride-to-be promised a low key and intimate wedding.
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A Woodland Creatures Fancy Dress Wedding: Toby & Isa

Kat

October 13, 2011

"The theme for our wedding began as a circus/carnival inspiration and grew to encompass woodland creatures, feathers and various fancy dressed individuals from badgers to unicorns, not forgetting the now infamous family of bears!" newlyweds Toby & Isa told me. "We did things differently, just simply because that's how we are and to have had any other style of wedding or traditional ceremony would have not been true to us as we are not religious. However we did have a beautiful blessing with Sally our Interfaith minister and we wrote our own wedding vows."
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‘Caravan Of Love’ Engagement Shoot at The Photography Farm: Heather & Rob

Kat

October 12, 2011

Before my shoot at The Photography Farm, the 'farmers' (as they've become affectionately known) were treated to a beautifully styled engagement shoot with Heather & Rob. The couple have booked Lisa to shoot their wedding in April and very bravely agreed to have their engagement shoot at Photography Farm. They told Lisa of their love of camping so the styling team ran with that theme! Hazy Days lent them 'Sandie' the caravan, Paper Pom Poms made some well..paper pom poms and Hannah of The Tea Set brought everything together!
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An Elegant & Contemporary Yacht Club Wedding: Hannah & Steve

Kat

October 6, 2011

"We have always been passionate about music which was a key inspiration for us," newlywed Hannah told me. "We also wanted it to be a relaxed party atmosphere to reflect our laid back personalities. We started this off by designing and making contemporary informal invitations which used some photos from a photo booth to tell a mini story, we also designed a modern logo which we then used on all of our stationery."
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A British Wartime Wedding: Lisa & Ric

Kat

October 5, 2011

After a church ceremony at St Peter's & St Paul's Church in Hampshire, Lisa & Ric had a very British wartime themed wedding at Broad Half Penny Down Cricket Club, Hampshire - the world's oldest cricket club. "Life never goes the way you plan it," the bride wrote. "I always dreamt of finishing uni, finding love, getting married and starting a family. The conventional family - we are not! I am 12 years younger than Ric, and also about 12 inches taller! Ric is frequently away with work and moved me to the south of the country, away from all my friends and family. Oh and how could I forget our 2 year old son - Bear. This was definitely not what I had planned. When Ric finally proposed, I was on cloud 9 and I knew that our wedding day wasn't going to be a 'normal' one. For example - I couldn't decide what engagement ring I liked, so I have three! We also had a best woman instead of a best man, we 'high fived' at the altar instead of the kiss, and our son screamed through most of the ceremony then was racing his toy cars down the aisle with chocolate down his nice white shirt."
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A Simple Brighton Wedding: Holly & Patrick

Kat

October 4, 2011

Holly & Patrick were married in Brighton. They didn't really stick to a particular theme for their wedding, they simply included things they love. They wanted to keep the day simple and stress-free, as the bride explains, "We didn't have a theme, and we didn't say anything had to be a certain way. My dress was handmade on me, through chatting, drawings and ideas, by my friend Aimee who trained at London College of Fashion. Patrick chose his suit because he was definite that he wanted a 'mod' suit. It was all done very organically, and it was perfect. Somebody suggested I wear a long sleeve, high necked dress to cover my tattoo but I declined the suggestion and went for as low a back as possible."
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A DIY Village Fete Wedding: Charlie & Jo

Kat

October 3, 2011

"Our inspiration came from our wish to have a wedding that was different to any we had been to and our main focus for the day was to try and make it as fun as possible for all the guests," newlywed Jo wrote. "We wanted to have an informal day that just felt like a party. We both like antique decorations and I have always wanted a vintage dress because I wanted something different and not something that you might see someone else wearing at another wedding. I also loved the idea of my dress having a history and making someone else day special before mine. In the same way as I love the fact that the diamond in my engagement ring belonged to Charlie’s Great-Grandmother."
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48 Couples Marry at Bestival in the Big Love Inflatable Church

Kat

September 28, 2011

Taking place on the Isle of Wight for the past 7 years, Bestival music festival has fast become sinimomous with crazy antics, fancy dress...oh and a big dollop of awesome music thrown in for good measure! Each year it also plays host to the Big Love Inflatable Church, where couples can go to tie the knot. This year wedding photographer Chris Cowley was there to catch all the action! He explains, "A grand total of 48 weddings took place over the 3 day festival, Reverend’s ‘Nickerless’ and ‘Randy Johnson’ preformed ceremonies with the help of dishevelled bridesmaids, a mother in-law and a maid of dishonour."
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A Quintessentially English Country Garden Wedding: Liz & Blake

Kat

September 26, 2011

Liz moved to America from the UK where she met Blake while he was singing in a bar. After dating for a while he proposed while on holiday in Rome. Although well-traveled, Liz wanted to have her wedding in her hometown of Brize Norton, in her parent's back garden. She had to rely on her parents, sister and bridesmaids a lot for help during the planning, "I arrived in the UK 3 days before the wedding and immediately had to go and meet our vicar, after that we had to fight the jet lag to start decorating the marquee," Liz told me. "I didn’t realise how much stuff I had collected over the year and when I saw it all piled up in my parent's dining room I felt really overwhelmed by it all. Luckily my sister and bridesmaid were on hand to keep everything on track we knuckled down and started hanging and arranging."
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