Groom Style

You are currently browsing articles tagged Groom Style.

A Darkly Dramatic Gothic Wedding: Alix & Zach

September 22, 2011 in British Brides, Wedding | 21 comments

Some of you may remember Alix & Zach from their gothic tea party engagement shoot. Well I’m thrilled to be able to share their wedding with you today – and guess what, the smoke came with them!

After getting ready at The Rookery Hotel (somewhere which I’ve actually stayed – its a beautiful hotel!) the couple were married at Lauderdale House in Highgate. The reception was held at somewhere that’s fast becoming one of my favourite London venues, The Metal Works in Islington.

Newlywed Alix told me all about it. “We wanted everything to have a very lush, maturely decadent, and darkly dramatic feel. Our theme was more romantic from a by-gone age than modern Goth. We were inspired by all that is dark and whimsical…a fusion of Victorian vamp, fanciful garden beauty and Old-World luxe tweaked with flavours of Rock n Roll and Carnival/Circus…elements included mismatched French style furniture, vintage silver ware abound with roses and ostrich feathers and candelabras all in a rich palette of blood red, deep plums, black and white.”

“There were many elements that made our wedding a little bit different and very Rock n Roll,” she continued. “I walked down the aisle to Sweet Child O Mine by Guns N Roses – and when guests arrived at the ceremony we had string quartet versions of Black Sabbath, Nirvana, Aerosmith and Metallica playing. We wanted to incorporate an ancient Celtic handfasting ceremony as a nod to my Irish heritage which our celebrant was happy to do. We added a paragraph to the program to explain what it was about so it wasn’t lost on the guests!”

As part of their day, the couple went away with their photographer Lisa Devlin for a photo shoot in a nearby cemetery. They brought along smoke pellets and the photos are quite frankly stunning! Certainly worth some time away from their guests I reckon. “We loved doing the photo shoot in a beautiful ivy covered Victorian cemetery – it started to rain and I had to clamber over brambles in 4” heels but it was totally worth it and I cannot believe Lisa managed to get such an amazing smoke effect from the smoke pellets – ever since we did our engagement shoot I feel nothing looks right without a little bit of smoke wafting into view!”

“We weren’t too fussed about doing a first dance as we totally ran out of time to do any choreography/come up with an original idea/figure out something funny to do. Speaking to The Metal Works venue a few weeks before the wedding they described the time the circus came to the venue. My jaw dropped with excitement as this worked perfectly with the carnival twist that was creeping into the wedding. So for the first dance to “Without You” by Motley Crue Zach and I twirled around on the dancefloor for about 20 seconds and then the aerial silk performers took over to finish the dance! It looked great and was the last thing anyone expected.”

“As I am Vegan and Zach is vegetarian it was important to us that the food we had at the wedding reflected that. We worked with the very Rock n Roll and super talented Jake from Octopus Food on creating a menu that everyone couldn’t help but love because it was just so damn tasty – even if it was completely meat free! It was a bit of a gamble especially for the evening BBQ – but everyone said they loved the food so that was awesome!”

“One of many funny bits of our wedding was when one of the evening guests arrived, dressed in drag as Nancy Spungen, along with his friend dressed up as Sid Vicious! The dress code for the evening was Rock n Roll Royalty so this was hysterical. But even better was the look on my Dad’s face!”

The couple DIYed a lot of their wedding with some extra help at the last minute with on-the-day-styling from Josie from Savoir Weddings. “We DIYed a huge amount for the wedding mainly because I couldn’t find in shops or on the internet the things I envisaged for our wedding. My Mum and Dad made jam using fruit from their strawberry farm in the Cotswolds for the favours along with a ‘love potion tea’ complete with love spell. My Dad also made the wooden A and Z letters which he painted white, covered in black lace and then attached to black and white striped ribbon to hang – they worked out to cost about £20 for the 2 which was much so cheaper than buying something similar and turned out way more on-theme. I designed the pin badges, programs and flags, with a huge amount of help from my friend & graphic design guru, Colin.”

“We weren’t allowed to throw confetti at the ceremony venue so instead we got the guests to wave flags and streamers. The streamers were made again by my Dad and me by screwing small metal hooks into wooden cake dowels and then threading black and white ribbon and lace through the hook. I got everyone to collect jam jars which I covered with black lace, these then became candle holders and vases. I wanted to have a guestbook that also doubled up as a decoration so it would catch the guests’ eyes so they wouldn’t leave without signing it! I cut out some red and white hearts some I covered with some of our favourite bands’ album covers in corresponding colours like Guns N Roses, T Rex, New York Dolls, Black Sabbath etc. The hearts were attached to bakers twine with pegs so guests could write their message and peg it back on – by the end of the night we had touching messages graffiti-ed all over the hearts and an interactive wedding decoration to boot!”

“The place cards were made from black bracket gift tags which I bought from etsy I then printed the guest’s name and added 2 metal studs for a bit of punk attitude. Finally, I made the wedding cake, and wedding cupcakes –which of course I HAD to baring in mind I own a bakery. We also hired quite a lot too, obviously not many venues provide black tablecloths and black studded plate chargers as the norm! This bumped the décor cost up a bit but was totally worth it. We hired the French lounge furniture from Prop Solutions – who were really helpful and eager to work within our budget unlike some other hire companies I approached. The furniture looked great against the cobbled street in the group shots. I bought some battery operated fairy lights which we cellotaped into the shade so it could be switched on when it got dark.”

Ahh there’s just so much to take it but I love it. Alix & Zach really certainly have released my inner goth. I love everything.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Black, DIY, Gothic, Groom Style, lisa devlin, London, smoke, UK, Victorian

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.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Black & White, Cars, DIY, Groom Style, Music, non floral bouquet, paper flowers, South Africa, Vintage

A Wedding Inspired by the Ocean

September 8, 2011 in Wedding | 5 comments

The inspiration behind this beautiful Californian wedding, sent over to me by Jerry Yoon Photography, was the ocean. The couple, who met through a mutual friend in Philadelphia and them moved to California, had visited The Monterey Bay Aquarium during their first year living together. “I loved it,” the bride told me ” the intense blues and greens when you looked down in the water, to the contrasting sand and beaten rocks. I love the ocean and anything relating to it. During that visit, I took a bunch of Polaroid photos at the museum and our walks around Monterey and Pacific Grove. Years later, when we were looking for a location for our wedding, I came across those original Polaroids of Lovers Point Park, and I instantly knew this is where we were getting married.”

The couple decided on a small intimate wedding with a guest list of just 50 people. “Although it sounds very small, it was a lot of work to hand make custom Save the Dates and invitations,” the bride continued. “It was definitely fun and keeping it intimate, we were able to give a lot of attention to each guest. We really didn’t have a conventional beach-y theme with shells, but more so a play of the colors. We held our ceremony under the large cypress tree at Lovers Point Park, and that too played into the theme of our wedding.”

The colours of the sand and ocean played a major role in the influence of the bride’s wedding dress and the groom’s suit. The bride’s dress was custom made by Wai Ching and the groom’s seersucker suit came from Black Fleece. “Inititally, I didn’t think the dress mattered all that much and ended up buying a cheap-o dress without much thought. Afterwards, I found a blog post featuring a dress by Wai Ching (Chrissy Leung). I immediately fell in love with the dress (and the hastily-purchased dress was promptly returned). I emailed her immediately and collaborated with her to create the true dress of my dreams. Everything was done via email: measurements, tons of photos for inspiration and descriptions. I finally flew up to Seattle for one final fitting, made some adjustments and it was a done deal. I love the dress. I still break it out every now and then and wear it around the house! It’s such a fun dress.”

“I assumed my husband wouldn’t care much about what he would wear for the wedding but he proved every every bit involved and wanted to look special. He had no idea what my dress looked like aside from some decidedly vague color descriptions by yours truly. After many stores, we finally found this suit at Black Fleece. After he tried it on, I turned to him and said, ‘We are going to look great!’ He had to take my word of course, as he wouldn’t see my dress until the day of our wedding.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Beach, Blue, Bow Tie, Groom Style, ocean, Outdoors, wai-ching, Water

Vivienne Westwood, DIY Décor & Pink Plastic Flamingos: Mads & Nick

September 2, 2011 in British Brides, Wedding | 33 comments

Mads & Nick are one seriously cool couple and I’m so thrilled to share their wedding with you today. I just know you’re going to love it!

“Our wedding was a hot mess of all-things-wedding and us,” Mads explained. “I don’t think we did anything revolutionary, all the traditional parts of the wedding were there; we just made sure we took the time to think everything through and make sure it was right – for us.”

“From the pre-ceremony music being a collection of our favourite film scores (How to Tame your Dragon anybody? Ahh just me and Nick then), to the inadvertently weepiest of readings; eight dreamy looking bridesmaids and nine hot groomsmen and our tables being named after ‘Our favourite things’ (inc Midsomer Murders and Arnold ‘The best activities for your health are humping and pumping’ Schwarzenegger – we had no shame!). We had our friend on guitar after dinner, photos in front of an abandoned concrete barn instead of the lake, pink flamingos, a Lulu Guiness corsage bridal ‘bouquet (instead of a traditional bouquet)’, funk and films on in the evening – who doesn’t want to watch Predator in a deckchair under a blanket with a Pimms on the go? Then at the end of the night we stole a taxi, ate cake and I got to take my spanx off. Rock n Roll!”

The ceremony took place at Hungerford Town Hall and the reception was held in a friend’s barn. Mads looked incredible in her Vivienne Westwood ensemble -both her dress and her shoes were by my favourite designer – and Nick wore a bespoke suit from Saville Row.

“We made our own gin favours by making blackberry and pear gin – (mix equal parts fruit, sugar and gin then leave in a cupboard rotating occasionally, for three months) then had loads of fun gotgineverywhereandgotprettydrunk – pipette-ing gin into mini bottles we got from Hobbycraft and making them look cute with wish labels,” Mads continued when I asked about any DIY elements in their wedding. “I also made my own runners using Cath Kidston fabric so our tables were colourful. They weren’t perfect, the edges were cut using pinking scissors and weren’t ‘finished’ which meant they did they fray, but I honestly don’t think anyone noticed/cared!”

“Finally, rather than just have a wedding cake, as I have such a sweet tooth, we decided to enlist our friends to help us create a cake stall – which turned into a childhood cake-dream come true and surpassed our wildest dreams, bought everyone together over tea and coffee and looked/tasted amazing!”

Amazing indeed!

“I was given the advice,” the bride concluded, “‘Don’t worry if something isn’t perfect; no-one but you will know’ which proved invaluable in the final months of planning. Also, when planning your wedding pick what’s most important to you and work around it. Our money went on our food (there was never any doubt we’d have anyone but the Pot Kiln catering our wedding) so rather than have a hotel/wedding venue we chose a barn which balanced our budget out and was a compromise we were happy with.”

“At times it meant working harder as we had to think of everything – sourcing festival loo’s (when did I ever envisage myself doing that as bride?), putting seat pads on chairs, organising lighting – Big Top Mania made that barn bad ass – but we’d do it all again tomorrow as it meant we could have our venue exactly as we wanted it.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: barn, bunting, DIY, Flamingos, Groom Style, Music, shell de mar, Vintage, Vivienne Westwood

Colourful & Modern with a Heavy Dose of Whimsy: Brandie & Ede

August 24, 2011 in Wedding | 13 comments

You’re going to love Brandie & Ede’s wedding…and not just because the bride has pink hair (although it helps – I’m totally biased towards my pink haired brides) But because it’s well…awesome!

“Everything was different,” Brandie told me. “We wanted stuff we loved and stuff we would want to enjoy at our own wedding. Everything down to the food was thought of. Our venue, The Parker was a perfect setting because of the fabulous design that is already there. We just brought in our personality. I never felt like we had to include anything traditional. We did the parts we wanted to do. Owls were a huge part of the invitation suite and birds in general. I think we approached it like our home design – colorful, modern, with a heavy dose of whimsy. All the centerpieces were a random collection of white items from animals to the Eiffel Tower. Wherever you looked the was something to put a smile on your face.”

And I literally did have the biggest smile on my face as I looked through these photographs taken by the amazing EP Love Photography.

Brandie wore a dress by Priscilla of Boston, shoes by RSVP and a flower halo headband by Mignonne Handmade. Her jewellery was made by Ede’s Mum and her rings were by Michelle Chang Jewelry. “She makes these super cute teeny animal face rings, earrings, and necklaces. Since, Ede says I remind him of a cat and I love felines-this was absolutely perfect.”

Ede wore a three-piece suit with an ascot tie. It was custom made by Duchess Clothiers in Portland, Oregon. “Ede was able to pick out all of the material, buttons, and even add an embroidered line inside his jacket,” Brandie explained. “I made his boutonniere with feathers that Ede had collected on our hikes together.”

As you can see, the couple DIYed a lot of their wedding. They chose not to have fresh flowers at all and instead Brandie hand made all the paper pom poms and flowers. “I tried to teach a few people how, but they had little patience for it,” Brandie laughed. “I created all of our bouquets with streamers. The cheap kind you get rolls of at the party store. I choose three different pinks to give it depth. Then I ordered floral supplies like the pearl and crystal sticks to add a little bling. There were several different big paper flowers I made to decorate different areas of the wedding, mostly made of crepe paper. We also used tons of Martha Stewart’s paper pom poms throughout the house and back yard. I loved these because they were huge. So people even used them as props in our photo booth.”

“This wedding was seriously a labor of love,” Brandie continued. “I’m so lucky to have married a graphic designer. It was so much fun and meant so much to us to collaborate and brainstorm our wedding together. The best part, he actually cared about every detail and design decision. We created things both MacGyver and Martha Stewart would be envious of. Ede designed our save the dates, invitations, guest welcome bags, all of the signage, crafted the Mr & Mrs signs for our chairs and more. And since, nothing off the shelf was good enough or was my signature hot pink color, I pretty much had to sew all the table runners for the three kings’ tables, runners for the bar and cupcake/ candy bar, and I even gave our teeny little bird toppers a custom top hat and veil. We created photo booth props with inspiration from wedding blogs. And hand made all the pinwheels for our escort cards (template/ how to from PaperCraft book–thank you!) because they were a nod to the all the windmills in the Palm Springs area. We got loads of help from Ede’s parents the week of the wedding. We were literally set up in the garage all working on different crafts into the wee hours-it was a lot but so much fun.”

The music was also hugely important to the couple and their choice of entertainment was perfect! “OMG can I say how much we LOVE our band? Music is a huge thing for Ede and I. So, we wanted someone who would reflect us. These guys are some of the most talented artists I have ever met and they are so sweet. Justin and Drew of Almost Honest were such an amazing part of our wedding. From singing Yellow by Coldplay as I walked down the aisle to Mr. E’s Beautiful Blues at the conclusion of our ceremony, it was all perfect. They even played quite a few songs they wrote during the reception. But I must say, the highlight, was hearing them do California Girls by Katy Perry!! Drew’s voice and Justin’s way with the guitar equaled awesomeness!”

“Our DJ was a friend of a good friend. Jonathan Dale was super fun, easy to work with, and played everything I asked. He even played our song for our little dance performance. Since, I’m a hip hop choreographer/ instructor I had quite a few dancers at the wedding, so I thought it would be fun to “do a little dance.” Even our officiant, who is one of my dancers joined us. The guests loved that part! And yes, I wore my wedding dress!”