Black & White

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A Black & White, Boutique Hotel Wedding: Abbi & Jools

January 31, 2012 in British Brides, Wedding | 9 comments

After a cliff top proposal, Abbi & Jools, who met while working at the Cadbury factory, planned their 5* boutique wedding at The Hempel Hotel, London.

“Jools and I met 8 years ago, when we both started working for Cadbury. Clearly, having a Cadbury chocolate/sweetie bar at the wedding was obligatory!” Abbi explained. “We got engaged in Australia, on a cliff top on the Great Ocean Road, while sitting on a bench and eating some delicious cake. When Jools said ‘I’ve got a question to ask you’, I replied ‘Do you want the rest of my cake?’ Usually he would have jumped at the opportunity – but instead went down on one knee… to which I responded ‘oh my God oh my God oh my God… where shall I put the cake?’ I put it on the ground. It was fine. I ate it later.”

“Our wedding day was the best day of my life. I thought I would be nervous, and I was worried I would cry (I’m a bit of a blubber at other people’s weddings), but as soon as I started walking down the aisle with my Dad, I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face. I just wanted to throw my arms around Jools – but when I reached the front and tried to kiss him, he refused because we weren’t married yet! By the end of our wedding day, my face was aching with grinning so much. When we got our beautiful wedding photos back, you can see the exact expression I was pulling all day!”

“I’m not terribly creative, but I did a little bit of DIY,” Abbi continued. “I made all the name tags we used for place settings. My favourite wedding purchse may have been the heart-shaped hole punch I used before tying on the ribbons. At dinner, I went round pointing out the heart shaped holes to everyone. No one else had noticed. I did. They made me happy.”

“Jools and I have been lucky enough to be invited to a LOT of friends’ weddings – about 19 in the past few years.” she concluded. “I’ve been bridesmaid at 5, witness at 2, a reader at one, photographer at one… basically, we’re wedding pros! We’ve been to all different types – churches, castles, country houses, barns, hotels…but mostly fairly traditional. We just wanted ours to be a bit different – so we decided on a city chic, boutique hotel, slightly quirky feel. Basically, we just wanted it to be a really fun party with great food, great booze and great music!”

“Colour-scheme wise, I guess it was black and white with flashes of colour. The guests were all in black tie, the venue was fairly monochrome, the bridesmaids dresses were all different versions of the little black dress… and then there was my dress. The most fun dress in the world. God I love that dress. Clearly I couldn’t tell Jools about the dress beforehand, but I just knew it was perfect for the feel we were going for. The 50s style, the black and white…. Wearing it blew me away – and everyone else fell over themselves to say how much they loved it. I felt like a movie star. And it was great to dance and spin around in, unlike the more traditional, restrictive long dresses I tried on. Plus it gave me a genuine excuse (as if I needed one) to buy some Christian Louboutins… you could see my feet! I was nervous that my outfit would look too OTT, that Jools would fall about laughing when he saw me – but it was the best decision I ever made.”

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“Less is More & Keep it Simple”: Michelle & Kyle

January 13, 2012 in Wedding | 5 comments

Michelle & Kyle we’re married in Savannah, GA. The outdoor ceremony was held in a public park, Oglethorpe Square, and their reception was at the amazingly named (and coloured!) The Olde Pink House Restaurant.

“If you allow yourself to get pulled into today’s wedding etiquette, you can really drive yourself crazy,” Michelle began, when I asked her if she had any advice for the newly-engaged. “We ignored all the rules and threw caution to the wind, and just chose what we liked and what represented us well. We both love vintage things – ideas from the 1930s or 1940s or just something that is banged up and broken in, ‘well loved’ as we like to call it. We also played on our love for tattoos and nature. We both have been getting tattooed for years and wanted to incorporate our art into the day in a natural way. It’s part of who we are.”

“Getting married outside was just a given, rain or shine,” she continued. “We had Jarrod, a friend of mine since childhood officiating the wedding. This made it really special. We also had family travelling in from Maine, Illinois and Florida.  For our portraits we went with our wedding photographer Jeremy to a hotel, abandoned hospital and cemetery which are all supposedly haunted!”

“Our motto was, ‘Less is more and keep it simple’,” the bride concluded. “The largest part of our budget was the photographer (Jeremy Lawson rocks and is worth every penny!), the musicians and the food.  We had booked a horse carriage but decided the $350 could be put towards something else. It went towards the music, and we are so happy we made that choice. Having a violinist and guitarist really set the mood for our wedding. They were fantastic!”

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A Simple DIY Wedding: Tara & Oleg

November 30, 2011 in Wedding | 5 comments

Tara & Oleg were married at Wentworth Falls School of Arts, NSW, Australia. The bride wore a beautiful 1950′s debutante gown made of white taffeta with black flocked trim which she found on eBay!

“They met at Acting College in Sydney and have been together for the last 6 years,” their wedding photographer Jemima Richards told me. “The easiest way to describe these two as madly in love. Their wedding was a really beautiful reflection of that. The entire wedding had a distinct DIY theme, but with all of their personality in every single element. Oleg is from Croatia, so his family members made the special journey over, with his two sisters travelling from opposite ends of the planet just to be there. As a wedding gift, Tara also flew in Oleg’s very best friend from London as a surprise!”

“The ceremony was simple and in the small and intimate events hall at the School of Arts,” she continued. “Tara had handmade 150 large paper pom-poms to decorate both the reception and ceremony with as opposed to flowers. She even disclosed that she spent a back breaking 5 hours the night before the wedding ‘poofing’ and hanging every single one.”

“Each guest was presented with a personalised program for the wedding which included a personal and individual message from the bride and groom in the back. The couple read their own vows (or in the case of Oleg, spoke straight from the heart) and their celebrant even recited the Dr Seuss poem ‘Oh! the places you’ll go’ (which was super relevant and very sweet). The ceremony was brief, but very sincere and heartfelt.”

“The couple opted not to have any formal portraits taken of themselves with their best man and maid of honour, and instead went straight into the reception which was held in the adjoining theatre of the School of Arts. The lack of formal photos was made up for by the addition of a photobooth, which the couple described as ‘a way to give a gift to each guest’.Tara and Oleg wanted their reception to be all about their guests, while still having the same amount of personality as the ceremony.”

“Guests were treated to a self serve lolly bar with suggestions written on playing cards by the wedding party, lots of dancing, and their gorgeous Cowboys and Indians themed wedding cupcakes. The entire night was a party to celebrate their getting hitched and there was not a single moment where there was a lack of love in the air or someone being bored.”

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A Vintage Themed South African Wedding ‘With a Twist’: Zigi & Warren

September 19, 2011 in Wedding | 10 comments

Oh South Africa you do have some beautiful light…and how lucky are Zigi & Warren to have had Shanna Jones Photography to capture it so magically?

“We wanted a different wedding that represented our style,” Zigi told me. “Something that was unique to us as a couple. Warren is into Cars/Bikes & Fashion. I am into Food/Art/design…and unfortunately cars too. We decided to do a Road trip to our destination (this is something we do often & is actually part of our lives). The plan was to do it over 4 days & 3 nights to ensure we really don’t miss anything, but also get the time to spend with the various groups of people. The plan was that the entire group would get to know each other by being in the same town for 3 nights. This would mean on the wedding night we can just hang!! Quite a few of our friends are muscle car collectors – so about 10 cars drove up (where others brought their off-road bikes to go into the mountains).”

Zigi looked stunning in her black and ivory dress, made of a collection of items that she put together herself. She explained, “I have always been a lover of vintage clothing & knew it should be a combination of old & new with a hint of black. I never imagined myself getting married in an all white dress; so decided to add a lot of black. My skirt was a 1930’s wedding dress (cut up to only be a heavy satin skirt) from the Cats Meow; my black velvet corset was made by my friend Cathy and my neck piece was an incredible find and really made my outfit. Barbara from the Cats Meow showed it to me on her camera & I was immediately sold. It was her private piece that she sent to London to be evaluated. It is a black 1880’s Victorian neck piece. My headpiece was made of net from dress makers collection, a diamante cameo and a blue hair piece for my ‘something blue’. Finally I wore gloves which were a gift from my friend, Maria.”

The inspiration for Warren’s outfit was “old English industrial era meets Clock Work Orange meets Oliver Twist meets Sherlock Holmes.” He wore an English tuxedo with single button long tail, a shirt from a second hand thrift store in Amsterdam and a Bailey Bowler Hat from the USA. His cane was made from R1 Rifle bullet shells and was borrowed from a friend.

“The theme of our wedding was ‘ with a twist’ and our guests all got involved in it,” continued the bride. ” The twist could be anything you like to add to your style – be it shorts with a jacket or a head piece….or red nails if that is daring to you? So each bridesmaid and groomsmen had their own outfit on…with a slight twist. The only critera the bridesmaids were given was to wear black and white and possibly vintage clothes.”

“It is also incredibly hot in Matjiesfontein in summer; which means that no flowers will last a day, especially if the table is outside. So we decided on paper flowers. We also didn’t want a cake, instead we decided on lindt chocolate shot glasses from Lindt with Amarula cream/fudge….a candy floss machine with candy floss & two ginger bread men right at the end.”

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A Heavy Metal, Karaoke Party: Julia & Steve

September 16, 2011 in British Brides, Wedding | 11 comments

Julia & Steve found their photographer Hannah Millard after seeing a feature on her on Rock n Roll Bride. It’s always so extra special to me to share weddings that my blog has ‘helped’ in some way and I’m really excited that this gorgeous couple were able to get such great wedding photographs because of Rock n Roll Bride. Happy face!

Hannah clearly agrees. “Woahhh,” she writes. “This wedding was just… wow. I mean. Just… OK, I’m having trouble putting it into words, it was just pure Rock n Roll. Julia & Steve are an awesome couple and they definitely know how to party. There was vodka and tattoo artists and rock band karaoke and Julia’s brother DOVE INTO A CAKE. It was amazing.”

The wedding was held at the University of Nottingham, where the couple had met when living in halls, almost exactly 10 years to the date of the wedding. It was also where Steve proposed in December 2010, by the frozen lake, so needless to say the location was a very special one to them. “It was awesome being able to hold the reception back in one of the halls of residence, as everyone was able to stay in the student rooms so it was just like old times for us and our friends from University,” Julia told me.

“Although our wedding followed the traditional format for the day, we just tried to make everything as personal as possible – we saw the day as the biggest chance we would ever get to celebrate with all our friends and family, and we just wanted the day to reflect all the various aspects of our personalities,” the bride continued.  ”We also wanted to make sure that our guests felt relaxed and able to wear whatever they wanted, drink and eat as much as they liked and go a little bit crazy! We were very lucky in the sense that our families are both open-minded and so we didn’t have any pressure on us to do things by the book or in a certain way.”

“We took inspiration from a variety of places – ideas from festivals and award ceremonies we’d been to, plus Day of the Dead and skull themed websites and blogs. I think what maybe made us Rock n Roll was that we didn’t have a formal feel to the day, and tried to create an ‘anything goes’ atmosphere so that people could just have a really good time.We tried to focus our budget on things that we actually wanted at the wedding and things that would contribute to a big party atmosphere rather than things like chair covers, posh cars and silver service food.”

“We did as much as we could ourselves and cheaply – from making decorations to buying things from Etsy to getting a close friend to drive me to the ceremony instead of hiring a car. And by the end of the night there was stage diving a-plenty and crowd-surfing across the dance floor (by both the bride and groom, plus guests), which turned the disco into a pretty Rock n Roll affair! We are really lucky to have such amazing friends and family (some of whom are into the rock and metal scene, many not at all) who all really got into the spirit of the day.”

Putting their personal stamp on their wedding was clearly very important to the couple, and they also wanted their friends & family involved where they could be. So, the weekend of the Royal wedding, they hired a cottage and had a big ‘wedding DIY party’ to make all the decorations and favours.

The entertainment was one of the most important things to this couple. On the day, the couple hired a temporary tattoo artist to inject something different into the day – that’s not something you’d usually see at a wedding but I bet the guests were queuing up to have a go! They also had a rock karaoke band called One Night Standeoke who played in the evening.

“As the wedding had a ‘Rockstar’ theme we thought it would be awesome to let people unleash their inner rockstar on stage (especially me, as I love rock karaoke and will use any excuse to get up and sing),” Julia remembered. “It seems we had more people with inner rockstars at our wedding than we thought, including aunts and uncles who leapt at the chance. The DJs were friends of ours who are rock/metal DJs that we met through our involvement with Download Festival (where we had out joint hen and stag do’s!) and who were fortunately happy to play our whole, long range of song requests, from thrash metal to power ballads and Lady GaGa. The band and DJs were all awesome, and really helped create the party atmosphere we wanted.”

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