Rock n Roll Bride - The ultimate guide for alternative brides

British Brides

Candy Anthony, Cupcake Tattoos & Pink Converse Trainers

Kat

September 27, 2010

Some eagle-eyed and long-term readers may recognise Nicola, who's 'Do It Yourself' wedding I featured way back in May 2009. Nicola decided that she wanted to rock her gorgeous Candy Anthony wedding dress just one more time, so got in touch with photographer Caroline to see what she thought. Luckily, when Caroline heard 'Candy Anthony, cupcake tattoos and pink Converse trainers' she was totally up for it and they planned this fun and fashionable shoot. Caroline also persuaded Nicola to bring a few more outfit changes (does this girl just live in gorgeous 1950's style dresses or what!?) and they were good to Rock n Roll!
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Jill & Neil’s Vintage “Englishness” Wedding

Kat

September 22, 2010

Jill & Neil's wedding is vintage "Englishness" in every sense of the word. The whole day - from Jill's floral Fur Coat No Knickers vintage gown, to the London bus that transported them and the personalised vintage postcards used as invitations and then re-used as the table-plan - was an authentic representation of the theme they loved so much. "We took vintage inspiration from our own families, finding old frames in charity shops for lots of photographs of our parents, grandparents and great-grandparent's weddings," they told me. "These filled the fireplaces of the Lodge and meant we were surrounded by reminders of our ancestors as well as being beautiful pictures. Also, to entertain our guests on our bus trip we had a picture quiz to guess who the couples in the old photos were - with the answers on the back of the original at the venue. These were in bags made by a charity from recycled newspapers from The India Shop and we also included bus related gifts to keep the children amused - mostly from the London Transport Museum, and old fashioned sweets and goodies. On the tables we used luggage labels from the Post Office for place names, which my nieces helped stamp with butterflies and tied to mini jars filled with old fashioned sweets from Hope and Greenwood."
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A Kitschy, Quirky, Vintage Wedding

Kat

September 15, 2010

Warning: this post has a hell load of photographs and I ain't going to apologise for that. I literally couldn't cut them down! I am so excited about Lindsey & Adriano's wedding I can hardly contain myself. The gorgeous bride and her musician husband had a beautiful and quirky vintage-themed wedding at Farbridge, West Sussex. "Our inspiration was easy we just collected things we love and are interested in," the bride told me. "I love all things vintage because I love that it has history and seems to have so much more personality than many modern things. I find that vintage things were made to last and made with care and skill unlike most things today are made to be disposable and are not designed to last. I wanted our day also to have lots of elements of fun so I came up with the idea of an ice cream sundae bar so guests could be kids again, make a mess and choose whatever topping they wanted! We also bought a kiss-o-meter for a bit of fun, it was from an American site and was from the 60's. In the reception barn at Farbridge they also had a projector. One of my favourite films is Cinema Paradiso, there is a scene at the end of the film which is called the kissing scene which features lots of kisses from famous old black and white films. We played this scene on repeat on the the projector to add another dimension to the room. We had a wedding cocktail which we served in jam jars and bought some quirky straws too.All these things were good talking points for the guests and added elements of fun and interaction."
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Second Time Lucky – David & Ingrid’s Redo Portraits

Kat

September 15, 2010

"David, an Aussie living in London, met Norwegian Ingrid on a trip to Norway through friends" photographer Ed began. "They hit it off straight away and had a long distance relationship for a while until Ingrid decided to move over to London. They both share a passion for music. Dave is a guitarist and music director and Ingrid is still studying, but sings. One thing led to another and they got married in July 2008 in Ingrid's home town Stavanger, in Norway. It was a fantastic wedding with people from London, Norway and Australia. However, one thing went badly wrong... their photographer lost their entire set of photos (their photographer was not me by the way!) due to a hard disk issue. Ingrid was naturally devastated!"
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Rachael & Rafe’s Pagan Handfasting Festival Wedding

Kat

September 14, 2010

Rachael & Rafe were uninterested in a traditional religious or civil ceremony so decided to get married on their own terms. They were wed by one of their closest friends, Tara, in a pagan hand-fasting service which took place outside, in a small copsed wood locally known as "The Spinney". They knew very early on in their planning that this was where they wanted to get married as the couple had spent some time living on a narrow-boat on the river, and for that period The Spinney was their garden, "It was where we hung out, relaxed, partied and where our children played. It is full of trees and love and so naturally the first place we both thought of for our ceremony" the couple told me.
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Messing About on the River with Joanne Fleming Designs

Kat

September 13, 2010

I wanted to start this sunny and bright Monday morning with a bit of dress 'porn' for you all. Who doesn't adore looking at pastel colours, short hems and gorgeous attention to detail - all perfectly modelled by a stunning rockabilly-esque model? Exactly. The dresses are all designed and made by Brighton based, Rock n Roll Bride favourite Joanne Fleming. They are (in order of appearance) Clothilde, Audrey and Pieretta. Joanne also made the pretty damn stunning headpiece to go with the Pieretta dress. I am a particular fan of this dress in fact - made from metallic silk organza, it has the wonderful quality of tarnishing slightly over time, so the dress starts to look properly vintage very quickly.
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Emma & Matt’s Incredible Fancy Dress Wedding

Kat

September 8, 2010

Emma & Matt had an incredible fancy dress wedding at home. The bride & groom live on a farm, so they decided their own home would be the perfect venue. The theme for the fancy dress was anything from 1920's - 1980's and they invited their guests to dress as their favourite decade from the last century. Even the music they selected fitted the theme, with the DJ's 'The Beautiful and the Damned' - who they saw playing at a festival - playing an eclectic mix of music from the 1920's to the 1980's throughout the evening.
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Laura & Paul’s Vintage, Mismatched, Rock n Roll Bride-Inspired Wedding

Kat

September 7, 2010

I first laid eyes on Laura & Paul's fabulous wedding when I saw a sneak peek on their photographer's blog. Over the next few weeks I pretty much pestered their photographer Eliza Claire until she agreed to let me feature it - this is my favourite of all Eliza Claire's weddings to date! Laura, a regular Rock n Roll Bride reader throughout their planning, was keen to add personal and alternative wedding touches throughout their day...and they certainly did that. It was also a lot down to Paul too, who really got stuck into the planning and the desire to create something unique.
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Jenny Packham & The Roaring 20’s

Kat

September 3, 2010

Jenny Packham and 1920's styling was the order of the day for Emma & Adam's wedding at Chewton House just outside Bristol. In fact Emma's Jenny Packham 'Joy' dress provided the inspiration for the whole wedding! The wedding theme came about by chance as when Emma visited Wedding Days in Cheltenham bridal shop to look for a potential wedding dress. She hadn't had much luck in her search up til then but luckily for her, a promotions representative from Jenny Packham happened to be visiting the store that day and had a few "one off" dresses for Wedding Days to show case for one day only. The last dress she tried on was "Joy". It was exactly what she had been looking for. The bride then came up with the idea to theme the whole wedding about the 1920's/30's style of the dress.
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Vintage, Geek Chic, Retro & Folk – With Extra Sprinkles Please…

Kat

September 3, 2010

When David & Ruth started to think about the kind of theme they'd like for their engagement session and up coming wedding they realised that they wanted to do something that celebrated their life together and their upcoming marriage. "We soon realised that like our life together and we pretty much wanted it all to reflect us - vintage, geekchic, retro, scifi, lowfi, folk, rock, disco, soul, town and country - with extra sprinkles please."
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Have a Wedding that is Perfect for YOU – Greg & Michelle’s Low Key, Homespun & Family-Focussed Wedding

Kat

August 31, 2010

I went out with photographer Emma Case a month or so ago and as we dolled ourselves up in the hotel room before hand she was telling me all about Michelle & Greg's wedding. She told me how it was like nothing she'd ever shot before. The contrast of the awe-inspiring and dramatic Synagogue ceremony venue with the reception being held in Greg's Grandmother's house really was the ultimate depiction of what Rock n Roll weddings should be - you don't need any of the wedding "bits" and you don't need to spend a fortune - all you need is you two, in love, and a wedding that is perfect for you.
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A Vintage Shoot with Lucy Ledger Designs

Kat

August 23, 2010

If you're a regular reader of Rock n Roll Bride I'm sure you'll already be aware of the amazing Emma Case (she shot the image that I'm currently using as my blog header/my 'Punk Rock n Roll Bride' shoot) and Lucy Ledger Designs. Lucy makes gorgeously creative vintage-inspired stationary (I've also been lucky enough to feature her before as well as meet her in actual real life!) After Lucy saw Emma's work on Rock n Roll Bride she got in touch asking if they could get together to do a promotional shoot for her vintage stationary company. Hello!? Match made in vintage Rock n Roll heaven or what!?
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A Quirky, Vintage & Super Personal Wedding

Kat

August 20, 2010

You might remember Amy & Darren from their fabulous All the Fun of the Fair engagement session. I knew back then that their wedding would be a super stylish and quirky affair and they sure haven't disappointed. I am SO EXCITED to share these with you. The wedding took place at a private estate which belongs to Amy's Godfather called Ipley Manor in Marchwood, Hampshire. The couple actually got engaged at the same venue 18 months earlier when Darren popped the question at Amy's birthday party in front of all their friends & family. He snuck the proposal into a game they were playing! On the day Amy wore a beautiful one off Temperley dress while Darren wore a suit from Reiss with vintage bow tie and hankie. Amy arrived in a vintage Mustang driven by her father and they were married in Amy's godfather's new pool room where an oak floor was laid over the pool itself. Amy's aunt made the cake and their tables were named after their favourite haunts in London and they had written a potted history of why for each table to make everything really personal.
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