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Michelle & Deborah’s Romantic Parisian Themed Wedding

April 1, 2011 in Wedding | 19 comments

Michelle & Deborah’s touching ceremony was one of the main reasons I wanted to share their wedding with you all today. Quite apart from all the beautiful and individual  details the couple put into their day, the readings and poems that they selected for their ceremony made this wedding really special and signified their relationship perfectly.

They chose Shakespears Sonnet 116, a section from the children’s book  “I Like You” by Sandol Stoddard and “I carry your heart with me” by E.E Cummings for their vows. Finally in order to include the fight for equality they read the Massachusetts ruling on marriage. They thought it was so simple and basic and spelled out what marriage meant to them in a perfect way.

“FROM GOODRIDGE V DEPT OF HEALTH (Mass. 2003): Marriage is a vital social institution. The exclusive commitment of two individuals to each other nurtures love and mutual support; it brings stability to our society. Without question, civil marriage enhances the “welfare of the community.” It is a “social institution of the highest importance.” Civil marriage is at once a deeply personal commitment to another human being and a highly public celebration of the ideals of mutuality, companionship, intimacy, fidelity, and family… Because it fulfils yearnings for security, safe haven, and connection that express our common humanity, civil marriage is an esteemed institution, and the decision whether and whom to marry is among life’s momentous acts of self-definition….It is undoubtedly for these concrete reasons, as well as for its intimately personal significance, that civil marriage has long been termed a ‘civil right’.”

“We just really liked the definitions of marriage,” Michelle explained. “Again, we chose our readings because they all held a significance in what marriage should be regardless of legal status (strong and steadfast, childlike at times, a basic human right, always honest, the beauty of partnership).”

The couple had been lucky enough to spend some time in Paris so chose a Romantic Parisian theme for their wedding. The croquembouche (cake) was a nod to their love of French culture and flamboyant presentation. They even cut it with the traditional sword.

“They choose the perfect location – the elegant Astin Mansion – they have did the table flowers and catering,” photographer Katherine O’Brien continued. “Michelle said that Deborah thought that spending money on bouquets was silly when they just die a few days after so she told her she could make her a bouquet that would never wilt and thus her fabric/book flower project began. She got the newspaper flowers Etsy and mixed with her own. They also used Etsy for their bridal party gifts – each attendant got a cool vintage pinup flask and the cute cloth love brides were from The Girl in Yellow. The main wedding cake looked like a stack of books from Shakespeare to the Merry Wives of Windsor.

“Instead of favors for their guests the couple made a donation to the Pride Community Center. It  is their area’s first LGBT community gathering place and is providing a much needed resource to youth and adults in our area. At first they thought they we were going to donate to the Human Rights Campaign, but realized it was more important to give locally, and see their donation help within their own community.”

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Tim & Jodie’s Natural Science and History Museum Wedding

February 4, 2011 in Wedding | 13 comments

Tim & Jodie were hitched at The Natural Science and History Museum in Denver and I am more that a little bit in love with them and their wedding. Not only becuase Jodie looks fabulous and the venue is a beaut, but becuase the idea behind their wedding was to celebrate more than just their love for one another…they celebrated their love for everyone!

The couple explained, “We both agreed that the wedding was just as much about our friends and family as it was about us, so almost every detail was considered with our guests in mind. We looked at the wedding as our chance to throw an unforgettable party, and we definitely succeeded. It’s hard to put my finger on one particular detail that made it so great, but we heard, “Best. Wedding. Ever.” over and over again from guests, staff, and even the off-duty police officers who were working security. We tried to stick to a few basic tenets (emphasis on the “tried”) and they included: Don’t overthink it. Don’t worry about “the rules”. Don’t do anything just to impress someone else.  Do have fun.”

“Regarding the rules, we did little “by the book.”  Even our ceremony was far from traditional.  Our officiant was Tim’s former boss from Twist and Shout, a long-haired hippy named Paul.  Paul is, as he says, ordained through the powers of the internet, and our ceremony was not religious in the slightest bit.  Rather than having a reading from the book of [insert bible book here] we chose to have a reading from “the book of Starship.” Before exchanging vows, Tim’s brother and Jodie’s college best friend took turns reciting the lyrics to Starship’s Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now.  Besides being one of Jodie’s karaoke standards, the song had the right amount of familiarity to make people smile and feel “in” on the joke, and yet the lyrics to the pop tune took on a new meaning in the context of a wedding ceremony.”

“We have a lot of gay friends and are both keenly aware that they are denied the right to engage in a legally-binding ceremony such as ours, and we wanted to be mindful of that and have our wedding be as inclusive as possible.  To achieve that goal, we registered with the Human Rights Campaign’s marriage equality advocacy division as part of our bridal registry, and it was great to see so many people donating money to their cause on our behalf.  And, in another break from tradition, we asked our officiant to read an excerpt from the court decision early marriage equality case – Goodridge v. Dept. of Health. The judge’s decision considered marriage as fulfilling yearnings for security, safe haven, and a connection that expresses our common humanity.  Tim’s a recent law school graduate, and focused much of his studies on the rights of sexual minorities.”

Jodie wore two dresses. The first, a sexy body-con number by The Row and the second a sheath dress by Dolce & Gabbana – she bought both on sale at an outlet mall! “I consider myself a pro bargain hunter – both dresses combined cost me less than $500,” she continued. “I never imagined that I would wear anything remotely resembling a wedding dress in color or design, but both of these dresses jumped off the rack at me. Plus, I liked the touch of slut factor in the tight short dress by The Row. Neither of us wanted to break the bank on items we would never wear again, and so we both went for pieces that didn’t scream “bride and groom”. I will wear all items again and again. The second pair of shoes were the ubiquitous Vivienne Westwood jelly heels. The pearl necklace was Tim’s mom’s necklace that she made herself by adding pearls to throughout the years as her budget allowed. She passed away in 1998, so there was no doubt that it would be worn at our wedding in her honor. I made the red and turquoise beaded necklace, again, because I am a cheap date.”

The unusual wedding cake was also a talking point at the wedding. I’ve personally never seen anything like this but I think it’s a great (and funny!) idea for those on a budget, “The cake was another expense that we thought could easily get out of hand. We thought about all the weddings we had been to where guests don’t even touch (sometimes don’t even see) the cake, yet the couples had probably spent a fortune on them.  In order to avoid this happening at our wedding, Tim came up with the idea to screenprint an image of one of those fancy cakes on top of a sheet cake from Safeway. We ordered three sheet cakes, each with a variety of fillings and frosting, and called it a day. My sister picked the cakes up at her local grocery store, and happened to know the woman working behind the counter…she gave my sister a discount. We were charged $10 each for three cakes.”

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In Motion…

January 27, 2011 in Personal Rambles | 13 comments

I’ve got something a little random for you this morning…and why not? Random is good! The fabulous Anna and the Ring shared this gif making webite on her blog yesertday and I spent about an hour on there last night experimenting. It’s surprisingly addictive!

Original photographs all by Shell de Mar Photography – taken behind the scenes on the Rock n Revolution shoot in Paris!

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Sarah & Jason’s Perfect-for-Them Wedding

January 26, 2011 in Wedding | 16 comments

One of the (many) things I love about Rock n Roll Brides is how different you all are. You are diverse and fabulous in you own unique ways and that makes me so happy! I love the way I see you all bring who you are to the table, to create the perfect wedding for YOU. It’s great to get inspiration from wedding blogs like this one, but at the end of the day it’s you + your fiancé who should create YOUR perfect wedding.

Sarah & Jason did just that.

“What made us Rock n Roll, was that from the beginning, we just couldn’t picture us having a traditional wedding. We felt like it would have been fake for us,” began the bride. “That’s fine for some people, and we don’t begrudge anyone the right to the kind of wedding they want, but we wanted something that was all about us. There are very few things I love more than being the center of attention, so it was really important to me that our personalities were on display from beginning to end. From the black envelopes our invitations went out in, to the amount of glitter on the tables, everything was picked and placed specifically by us. We had a vision for what we wanted and what we didn’t care about, and we met with very little resistance from anyone. We weren’t planning a “wedding” so much as planning our dream party.


“Planning our wedding wasn’t the joyous event a lot of people make wedding planning out to be. My sisters and mom had moved out of state, so I was on my own a lot,” Sarah continued. “I was planning a wedding in Bakersfield, while living in LA. It was really overwhelming, and I was lucky that my bridesmaids were helpful in any way they could be. I stressed out about it a lot, and then just decided that as long as everyone had fun, as long as our wedding was full of love, nothing else really mattered. We had a small budget, that we mostly funded ourselves. I learned that we didn’t need all the stuff the bridal “machine” pushes on brides. We spent our money on things that were most important to us, and cut corners where we could. Little touches, that speak to your personalities, make a big impact.”

Be sure to check out their beautiful wedding video after the ‘jump’ too.

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Amy & Jonathan’s Cute, Vintage, Village Hall Wedding

January 25, 2011 in British Brides, Wedding | 31 comments

Amy & Jonathan were married in May, in a cute village hall wedding. The couple clearly put a lot of love, thought and detail into their wedding as you can see from the incredible reception images! The whole thing ties together so beautifully – the bunting, the sweets, the cake, the flowers, the mismatched tea cups…I just love it all!

The ceremony was held in Kington St Michael Church, Wiltshire and the reception that followed was at Kington St Michael Village Hall. “We tried to do as much as possible ourselves so the wedding would be as personal as possible,” explained the couple. “We had our wedding in church and then walked across the road to the village hall which we had decorated the day before with our family and friends. It made the day very personal and very different. We hung bunting that a friend had lent us, fairy lights, union jack flags etc and had jam jars of flowers on the tables. We made favours of jam and chutney that doubled as place names.”

“We tried to keep things fairly traditional but with our own spin on it and we tried not to be limited by what a wedding “should” be.  So many weddings seem like the same thing over and over but we wanted ours to stand out. We made summer berries gin for the toasts by adding raspberries, strawberries and blackberries to gin with sugar and letting it sit for four months. Then we removed the fruit and we had pink gin! I also made the cake topper after a visit to Hobbycraft!”

Amy wore a stunning vintage lace dress which she found on eBay. She added her own personal touches to it by adding a silk dress underneath made by Alison Miles.

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