February 27, 2009
Have a gander at this lovely and inspiring wedding styling, designed by Punch Design. I a particular fan of the old family photographs, dating back to the 1800’s, which adorned the walls of the venue.
Credit: Josh Nelson (Design by Punch Design)
February 17, 2021
Lovers of Halloween and spooky-yet-kid-friendly things like A Nightmare Before Christmas, The Haunted Mansion and Hocus Pocus, Amanda and Greg always wanted to get married on Halloween – 31/10/2020 to be exact. Although they had to downscale their plans because of COVID-19, they still managed to pull off their dream wedding and as an unexpected bonus of having less guests, they came in $8,000 under budget!
“Our theme was slightly rustic and slightly spooky since it was Halloween!” the bride told us. “Our colours were burnt orange, mustard yellow and burgundy to go with all the perfect colours of the fall foliage. I wish we could have had a little more scary décor but we didn’t want to scare our family members! Most thing were bought at HomeGoods, Michael’s, Target and Amazon. We really wanted to keep our spending minimal when it came to decorations since we were ballin’ on a budget.”
February 23, 2019
Selena and Simon met on a dating site almost ten years ago, and have a son together. As life has a habit of doing, they never seemed to have the time to get married – so when they did, they went all out! They had the mindset that they were only going to get married once, so they’d do it how they wanted to.
For them, this meant mashing together all the things they love, and foregoing what was expected of them. They ignored traditions that didn’t suit them, like throwing the bouquet, and kept those that did, like a father-daughter dance. They had one impetus only; ensuring all their decision sat well with both of them, and having lots of fun!
February 22, 2019
Diversity is most definitely a hot topic right now, we have our socio-political climate to thank for that. Rock n Roll Bride has always been about accepting everyone that feels marginalised – regardless of whether that’s because you identify as LGBTQ, you’re from a minority group, you’re plus sized, disabled or just a little bit goth! Basically, if you don’t see yourself being represented by the mainstream wedding media, at Rock n Roll Bride we want to say pull up a chair and join us.
But we don’t always get it right. There was a VERY heated discussion on cultural appropriation in regards to weddings in our private Facebook group recently. The reason I think it can cause such uproar is because often these things fall on a sliding scale – what offends one person may not offend another and the cultural history of something in America, for example, might not have the same significance to people that grew up in the UK.
For me personally it is a very difficult thing to discuss publicly. I will be 100% transparent with you here and admit that it actually makes me extremely uncomfortable. I don’t want to get it wrong and I don’t want to cause even more offence. However, I do think it’s something that needs to be addressed, least of all so we can all become better educated about it in a non-judgemental space. I don’t know all the answers, no-one does, but I hope that by opening up this discussion we can learn something and become a more actively inclusive group.
After a recent (very lengthy!) discussion with my friend Nova of Nu Bride, I’ve invited her to write this article. Nova is a diversity advocate and does incredible work on raising awareness around race and culture. She is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to this stuff and I’m honoured to publish this piece for her.
Over to you Nova!
I often get asked how to fuse cultures together without them looking like, ‘mish-mash’. How to respectfully celebrate cultures that might not be your own without appropriating.
Nu Bride is all about celebrating difference and encouraging you to have a wedding that acknowledges your western side and is also representative of who you both are in a way that at times honours more than one culture, something more and more couples are keen to do. So, with a growing online cancelling culture, how do you do that without culturally appropriating?
In black and white (no pun-intended): Cultural appropriation is ‘the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society.’
The key component to cultural appropriation is remembering that it only becomes problematic when a dominant group of people (for example, white people) take on the culture of a minority group of people (for example Native American Indians) who have historically been marginalised / oppressed in some way and who still face discrimination pertaining to their culture. It could be anything from clothing, food, sacred religious artefacts or hairstyles like braids or dreadlocks, for example. It is generally considered offensive when it is done in a way that stereotypes, exploits for commercial gain, or is taken without consent.
Here some examples to bite your teeth into:
Beyoncé Slammed For Cultural Appropriation After Performing At Indian Wedding
Gucci Criticised For Cultural Appropriation On A Global Scale
The jury is out for if this wedding example is appropriation or not, I will let you decide after you have digested this article in full.
February 22, 2018
It’s not everyday that you get a first look involving a unicorn mask, but for Stuart and Angelica that was one of their must-haves – and quite rightly so. Their July wedding, described as “casual unicorns” with a dash of Scottishness, was organised in three months, and mostly long distance across the Atlantic too. Despite that, it also features a secret Alice in Wonderland twist and some pretty incredible gothic architecture too.
“Our day was set in the beautiful architecture of Glasgow City Chambers Building, smack in the middle of Glasgow”, said Angelica. “it had a very unique feel to it from the start. We sat all the family down in the Kelvin Room of the ceremony building whilst I arrived with my bridesmaids and went into a private room for our first look. We’re both very happy we did the first look before walking down the aisle, as we’re pretty sure one of us would have fainted!”
And you might faint when you see the photos – Stuart and Angelica both wore masks for their first look, and giant rubber unicorn and horse masks at that. Stuart explains: “When we met in Australia we both had these stupid masks on, so we incorporated them into the first look, and this inspired the unicorn association.” Underneath that unicorn mask, Angelica has some pretty rad hair herself – with gorgeous lilacs and blue-y tones it reminds us of the Northern lights, and this smoky purple colour palette continued into her outfit. Alongside a bunch of lavender, Angelica wore a blue stoned ring borrowed from her cousin, and her grey-toned wedding dress was a lace-topped David’s Bridal design, upcycled using her sister’s prom dress and a belt and bow made from tartan scraps (leftover from Stuart’s kilt).
May 17, 2010
This ghoulish, retro horror themed wedding may not be everybody’s cup of tea but I can’t help but be a little over-excited about it. So. Much. Originality! Photographer Al, who has just been shortlisted for ‘Tattoo Photographer of the Year’ was keen to tell me all about Ash and Michelle Ghoulmore’s (oh yes!) friday the 13th wedding.
The couple run retro rebels store and the horror-themed clothing company Kreepsville 666 so their wedding was always going to be a spooky special. ‘Ghoulmore’ actually is Ash’s surname and they pretty much live Halloween everyday, so it was fitting to pick a horror / b-movie inspired Wedding theme (be sure to check out their awesome invite at the end of the gallery too!)
“This meant I had to light the formals in a slightly different way to ensure I got that punchy highly saturated contrasty feel that fits with the mood” photographer Al told me. “This was the first time I’ve seen a smoke machine used during the ceremony! The archway was decorated with skulls and light like a stage. As you can see form the photos the cake was a skull and all the attendees got to take home a set of cast-silver effect fangs to say ‘fangs for coming’ [groan]. Zombina and the Skeletones provided the live music for the reception, again fitting the horror-rockabilly theme.”
Michelle looked every bit the rock princess in her two dresses, firstly a custom made creation from Limb Clothing, and for the reception/evening a gorgeous Vivien of Holloway gown.
