Rock n Roll Bride - The ultimate guide for alternative brides

British Brides

A Mad Men Inspired Vintage Wedding: Rowan & Neil

Kat

July 18, 2011

Rowan & Neil were married at St. Margaret's Episcopal Church, Renfrew followed by a Mad Men inspired reception at 29 Private Members Club in Glasgow. "The wedding ceremony was particularly special to us," Rowan explained. "My Dad is an Episcopal minister and it was a great honour to have him conduct the service in his own church. My Mum walked me up the aisle - it was lovely to have them both involved in the duties of 'giving the bride away'."
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Film Wedding Photography – Sophie & Robert’s Quirky Vintage Countryside Wedding

Kat

July 13, 2011

There's something about film photography. Something magical. Our wedding was shot on film in fact, and while at the time this wasn't even a conscious decision (digital wedding photography wasn't as popular then - wow I sound like we got married in the dark ages!) it's a choice I'm pretty happy we made. There's just a certain quality with this format, that no matter how hard it tries, digital images simply can't compete with. So when photographer Ashton Jean-Pierre sent me Sophie & Robert's wedding last week, shot 100% with film, I jumped at the chance to share it with you.
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Jo & Oli’s East End Knees Up!

Kat

July 11, 2011

When I asked Jo & Oli to descrive their wedding, they simply called it an "East End knees up!" I love that and think the description cetainly matches the party vibe of their wedding photographs from Rosie Parsons. "We knew that we didn't want a hotel reception (we couldn't have afforded one anyway!) because we wanted to put our stamp on our day: we wanted it to be really about what we like: tea and cake; Rock n Roll; dancing and cocktails!" Jo explained. "I dragged my Mum around every hall in the East End of London before deciding on St Peters in Bethnal Green. It had so much character whilst being a blank canvas at the same time. It was really important to me to get married in the East End as I grew up in Stepney and we now live in Bow. The hall was within walking distance of the hall and traffic was quite bad along Valance Road that day so Oli and I got to ride to the hall in our Morris Minor and chat to our guests as they walked along!"
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Steve & Shelley’s Post-War Britain, DIY Wedding

Kat

July 11, 2011

Steve & Shelley's Isle of Wight wedding had a post-war vintage and DIY theme. The couple were keen not to spend a fortune on their day and the theme really evolved quite naturally and organically from this idea. "We were conscious we did not want to spend a fortune on our wedding and the theme of 'Post-War Britain' fitted in nicely with our DIY wedding," the bride told me. "Everything was done on a budget, a lot sourced from eBay, friends and family helped to make bunting and paper chain hearts for decorating the reception venue. Our favours were Thorntons chocolates wrapped in brown wrapping paper with blue butchers twine (eBay again) and a parcel tag attached with the guests name as a place card. I handmade the invitations which were a shimmery Union Jack postcard style with the invitation wording as a telegram, on the invitation we requested that guests attend in their interpretation of post-war Britain dress, and gladly the majority of guests did so!"
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Marcus & Simone’s Laid Back, Country Vintage Wedding

Kat

July 7, 2011

Marcus & Simone used some of my favourite wedding suppliers for their barn wedding in Gloucestershire, including Joanna Brown for photography, Fur Coat No Knickers for the dress and Severin of The Hepburn Collection for the bride's hair. I love this! "I got a little frustrated at how little choice there is when it comes to creating an individual wedding, especially as I didn't have that long to plan it (5 months)," the bride told me. "I found it easier to not refer to magazines and traditional wedding websites and preferred to take inspiration from Etsy.com, blogs such as Rock n Roll Bride and to go with my own ideas. I think it's easy to get sucked into the wedding machine and things can become too fussy. My ethos was to try and keep it classic, stylish and simple."
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Lou & Chris’ Simple & Family-Central Vintage Wedding

Kat

July 6, 2011

What's this? Another awesome wedding from my photographer buddy Assassynation? Yep that's right people, Sassy (aka Assassynation) really does get some of the very best wedding around...and the most awesome thing is many of them are Rock n Roll Bride readers so I get to then share them with you all afterwards. Yeey. Lou & Chris had a simple wedding in London...and by simple I mean no fuss, no drama - just an awesome and super stylist day! They were married at Stoke Newington Town Hall, London which they followed up with a reception at The Londesborough pub, also in Stoke Newington.
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Regula & Bruno’s Creative, Spooky & Wonderful Wedding (Part One)

Kat

July 4, 2011

"Regula & Bruno rock my world"...that's how photographer Assassynation introduced me to this bad ass couple when she sent me their wedding. The pair are from Belgium but wanted to be married in England. Their ceremony day was followed by a tea party reception and spooky photo shoot in an abandoned fairground (!) in their home country a few weeks later. Luckily for us all, this second part took place just last weekend and believe me, I'm going to be featuring it just as soon as the photos are ready! But for now, it's all about the ceremony...
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Melissa & Jon’s Alice in Wonderland, Camden Wedding

Kat

June 30, 2011

"The theme of our wedding ended up as a sort of mish-mash of Mad Hatters tea party, 1940's/50's and Camden weirdness (Camden is an area of London known for it's alternative culture - great for people watching!), which fitted our personalities perfectly" newlywed Melissa told me. She married Jonathan at Islington Town Hall and afterwards had their reception in a hotel in Camden, where they first met. "My inspiration firstly came from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland," Melissa continued. "Jon and I went to see the film when we were dating and I fell in love with it, I'd always been a fan of the book as a child but the film had me hooked. As soon as Jon proposed I knew I would want a touch of Alice involved somewhere within the wedding, the only difficulty was going to be fitting the theme around our tiny budget."
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Anthony & Collette’s Laid Back & Timeless Wedding

Kat

June 29, 2011

Anthony & Collette were married at South Farm in Hertfordshire. They wanted their day to be laid back and timeless, so a matchy-matchy or strong theme really wasn't for them. "We took our inspiration from a few different sources," the bride told me. "We wanted it to be quite understated but not boring. We didn't so obviously want to have a things match or have a recognisable theme. We did, however, want everything to complement each other. Kind of like how my wedding ring and engagement ring contrasted but complemented each other - a traditional white diamond engagement ring with a black diamond 'eternity' wedding ring. One of our favourite photos of the day is of the flower girls. It shows them in their sparkly' trainers - it sums up how we wanted our day... relaxed but quirky."
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A Short Black Wedding Dress – Sarah & Adam’s My Chemical Romance

Kat

June 24, 2011

I'll be honest, I've been looking forward to seeing Sarah & Adam's wedding for an absolute age. You see, I saw Sarah's incredible black wedding dress many times before the event, when I popped into see my girls at Fur Coat No Knickers in London. Laura & Emma showed the dress to me and told me I'd love the bride that has bought it - that she was cute and tattooed and wearing a black veil to match...and oh boy we're they right! So without further ado... "I would describe our wedding theme as American vintage," Sarah
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Oysters, Beach Huts & Paddling in the Sea – Abby & Julian’s Beautiful Whitstable Beach Wedding

Kat

June 21, 2011

Ahh the great British seaside! While we can't rival (what seems like) the rest of the world in the sunshine stakes, our beach resorts certainly do have some beautiful British charm don't they? I've visited Whitstable a number of times (it's where we shot the mad hatter bride shoot!), and I have to say, photographer Joanna Brown's capture of this wonderful town is pretty much perfect. What a lucky couple Abby & Julian are to have had her as their wedding photographer! After Julian proposed on Whitstable beach in September, the seaside town seemed like the perfect place to get married too. The couple were wed at The Beacon House on the seafront. "We both really wanted to get married, but to be honest neither of us were particularly fussed about a fancy wedding, and once I'd had a look at a couple of wedding magazines I started having mini-palpitations at the horror and the cost of it all," Abby told me. " I do love a wedding, but I hate being centre of attention myself and the whole coordinated, packaged nightmare of it was enough to bring me out in a sweat. We did visit a few beautiful venues, but knew they were just not us, and the final straw was visiting a perfectly manicured courtyard garden venue which had installed a permanent marquee 'facility' complete with carpet tiles AND bow back seat covers (my two pet hates), glowing colour change pillars 'to fit your colour scheme' and multi-function twinkling 'star canopy'. They were so proud of it and it just epitomised everything I hate and DID NOT WANT at our wedding. Finding the world of wedding blogs was a revelation and really just gave me the confidence to do what we wanted all along."
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Elizabeth & Simon’s Homemade Vintage Tea Party Wedding

Kat

June 17, 2011

Elizabeth & Simon's crafty vintage tea party wedding was a DIY effort and the beautiful touches and attention to detail really shows. The couple put a lot of themselves into their day and the bride especially homemade a lot of their wedding details. "Over several months I purchased vintage china and glass wear from various charity shops and Pannier Markets," she told me. "This was used as the crockery for the tea party and because we've managed to collect some really nice pieces and a substantial amount, we’re keen to start a small vintage crockery hire service after our wedding."
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Claire & Joe’s Beautiful & Funky New Forest Wedding

Kat

June 15, 2011

A Temperley dress, a skull handbag and a groom in Vivienne Westwood? Oh yeah, this is my kind of wedding! Claire & Joe's wedding was held at Rhinefield House Hotel in the New Forest and was beautifully captured by photographer Lisa Devlin. Quite frankly this wedding is made for these pages, and so I'm more than a little bit thrilled to share it with you today. "We knew we didn’t want to look like every other bride and groom and wanted to be ourselves," the bride told me. "We took our inspiration from the 1930’s and although it wasn’t a theme it had a definite feel. One of the most important things for me as a make up artist was how to wear my make up which I did myself on the day. I love a strong rock n roll lip so I went for a dark 30s look using MAC Current lip liner all over with MAC Ruby Woo lipstick on top."
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Darren & Naomi’s Vintage Circus Wedding

Kat

June 15, 2011

The theme for Darren & Naomi's romantic wedding was Vintage Circus. "We wanted a day packed full of fun, totally relaxed and whenever anyone thought back on it they would smile," the groom told me. "The theme was a total surprise for all 200+ that were invited, with the first clue being as we walked down the aisle together as man and wife, and Entry of the Gladiators (the traditional circus theme tune!) was played by the organist."
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Katie & Michael’s Glamorous 1920’s Wedding

Kat

June 14, 2011

Katie & Michael glamorous 1920's wedding was held at East Close in the New Forest. The couple knew it was the venue for them as soon as they saw it - they didn't even look elsewhere! Katie's beautiful vintage dress came from Fur Coat No Knickers and she wore it with a marabou feather shrug from Queens and Bowl. The groom looked just as dapper with his bespoke King and Allen suit. Michael even sourced his own vintage buttons for his outfit from Button Queen and a haberdashers in Brighton. His vintage pocket watch was a gift from Katie.
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