Rock n Roll Bride - The ultimate guide for alternative brides

Wedding

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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Colour, Confetti, Candy, Cakes & Kilts: Amanda & Colin

Kat

July 14, 2011

"Colin and I have been together for almost 7 years and thought it was about time that we tied the knot," read the email I received from newlywed Amanda last week. "Unlike most women, I don't think I ever really dreamed of what my wedding would be like so I didn't really know where to start when it came to the planning. I'm a complete control freak and knew that I wanted to make and take part in creating as much for the wedding that I could so I started looking for inspiration on various websites and in books." "We knew that we wanted a few things for certain: a great photographer (or 2) to capture every grin, tear and laugh; a sweetie buffet; lots of handmade touches; fairy lights (and lots of them!); cupcakes; photo booth; a black and white wedding with splashes of colour; a hand fastening ceremony; confetti and sparklers." From these simple ideas they created the stunning wedding you see on these pages! "Colin was really eager to have a hand fastening ceremony and we both wanted to involve our family in the ceremony as much as possible," continued the bride. "It was so important to us that we showed our love and appreciation for our family and this was the perfect way to not only add a splash of colour but it was also to show them exactly how much they mean to us."
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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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Tess & Ray’s Dream-Like Backyard Wedding

Kat

July 12, 2011

Tess & Ray's backyard wedding is pretty much what my dreams look like. Tess told me all about it and I swooned over every detail, "From the very beginning Ray and I knew that we wanted our wedding to be relaxed and FUN, but most importantly something we could be proud of. We wanted to stay true to ourselves and not worry about any kind of fuss or frill. We wanted to make our dream a reality without breaking our backs trying to pay for it."
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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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Jill & Justin’s Nature-Inspired Music Lovers Wedding

Kat

July 11, 2011

Jill & Justin are both huge music lovers and so they wanted this to be a big part of their day. "We love anything from jazz to punk to french new wave, and we knew we wanted music to be the theme in our wedding," Jill explained. "This was reflected in our wedding invitations, our table numbers, our choice in the amazing jazz band we got, our favorite DJs and the favors for our guests, which featured lyrics by the Beach Boys."
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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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April & Christian’s Colourful Dance-Party Rooftop Wedding

Kat

July 8, 2011

April & Christian's rooftop wedding was held at Aerial in Nashville and from the sounds of things it was a fun-packed wedding from start to finish. "The ceremony was on the rooftop in downtown Nashville right beside all the honkey tonks," photographer Alex Bee told me. "The bridal party DANCED down the aisle to live music played by the bride & groom's brothers. They really got into it! The bride's entrance had the most tension/energy/anticipation that I have ever experienced at a wedding. The bride entered the ceremony to rising beginning guitar solo of "She's the One" by Bruce Springsteen. Did I mention that they passed out tambourines & eggshakers & encouraged the guests to play along? It was really amazing! The reception was an epic rooftop dance party + karaoke."
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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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Stephanie & Aaron’s Budget ‘Peacock Vintage’ Wedding

Kat

July 7, 2011

"The whole wedding was sort of 'peacock vintage' themed," newlywed Stephanie told me. "We really managed to keep the wedding cost pretty low and spent less than $12,000! We was able to do this by making our own centerpieces, boutineers, corsages, invitations, and headpieces. We also used an older, less popular florist because I knew exactly what kind of flowers I wanted, and I provided the ribbon and feathers to her, leaving no room for error."
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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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Pyucin & Dylan’s Sustainable, Eco-Vintage Wedding

Kat

July 6, 2011

Pyucin & Dylan were married at Shelldance Orchid Gardens, Pacifica, CA. It was important to them to pick a venue that they didn't have to decorate themselves too much, as Pyucin explained, "When picking a venue, our goal was to keep it sustainable. We didn't want to purchase a bunch of decor that would be thrown away the next day, and we wanted to make sure that the site represented who we are. Thus, we went in search of a unique site that was within our budget, and we were so happy when we discovered this little green house. The Shelldance Gardens is a non-profit organization so we were happy to contribute to a good cause, and, on top of that, the site is so beautiful that it barely required any extra decoration. It is so green and earthy - it really reflected our love for nature and the outdoors."
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Stacey & John’s 1950’s Cocktail Party Wedding

Kat

July 6, 2011

Stacey & John's 1950's inspired Melbourne wedding was held at The Gables Mansion. Their photographer Kim of Red Telegram told us all about it, "In discussion with Stacey & John they revealed that they wanted their wedding to feel as much like a wedding as a 1940′s/ 50′s style cocktail party, with guests arriving to the beautiful Gables in East Malvern on dusk for a night filled with love, laughter, tears (of joy), gypsy jazz and romance."
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Jachen & Monica’s Travel Themed, Whimsical Woodland-Inspired Wedding

Kat

July 5, 2011

Oh where oh where do I begin with telling you about Jachen & Monica's woodland-inspired wedding? The images and video of their wedding are such a visual feast that I almost don't know where to start. The day had a sort of travel/woodland theme which reflected the fact that the couple met in Switzerland. Monica explains, "A year ago I was living in Switzerland as an Au pair when I met my now husband. I was only there for 3 months, but just long enough to have met him the last month I was there. We were both in the right place at the right time, the only time I would have been able to meet him. It is amazing how you can look back on all the events that led up to that moment and how evident it was that I was supposed to be in Switzerland to find him. After I met him we had one more month until I had to return to my home in Seattle. We continued skyping, emailing and a few times he came to me and I went back to beautiful Switzerland to be with him where we became engaged. Sometimes everything just falls into place and we were lucky enough to have that happen to us."
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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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