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A Bohemian Hoedown Wedding: Reenie & Edwin

January 23, 2012 in Wedding | 15 comments

As soon as I saw bride Reenie in that incredible floppy hat I knew I had to feature her wedding. I love seeing brides that make really unique styling choices and I don’t know about you but I can remember ever seeing a bride in a hat like this before. With her fabulous head wear she wore a 1970s style dress, which was the very first thing she bought, from Nataya for just $199!

The October wedding was held at Hampton Hall Farm, Jefferson City, TN and their laid back hippy vibe makes me wish I was there. I love how homely and cosy it all looks and that the whole family got involved. The photos of them all having a pre-ceremony sing-along on the porch are just the best!

“I couldn’t come up with ‘wedding colors’ or a particular ‘theme’,” Reenie told me. “I didn’t want to be one of those brides that stuck my girls in my favorite colors knowing that not all of them can pull of chartreusse. One day I noticed these really cute retro aprons in the window of Bliss, and it all kind of fell into place. My wedding colors were ‘quilt.’ I picked out about 20 fabric patterns and had them pick the three they wanted incorporated into their dresses.”

“I wanted everything to be comfortable, inviting, and informal. When folks arrived, there was wine on the tables and little plates of goodies to tide them over. The party started when you arrived. In fact we were all so laid back I forgot to carry by bouquet to our ceremony! I only noticed it was missing on the way back up the aisle!”

“The ‘quilt’ idea continued into our ceremony. Edwin and I stood one that my sister had made for my Father after our Mom passed away. It was made from all of Mom’s pajamas. Since both my Mom and Dad have passed, it was a way of having them there, under our feet.”

The couple wanted an ‘outdoor/indoor’ feel and so set up little outdoor rooms for people to congregate comfortably and naturally. They had hay bales covered in fabric and a makeshift bar and lounge area in the barn.

“I like kids at weddings”, the bride concluded. “When I was a kid, we always went to our huge clan’s Cathloic weddings. The receptions always tended to be informal garden parties. Us kids ran around and had a ball. My friends, Chris and Candice, who own Hampton Hall Farm, have a 5-year-old by named Will (he was my ring bearer). So there was lots of play-stuff around for the kids. Lots of trees to climb, places to hide. I have fun watching kids having fun.”

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Under the Spotlight – Kjrsten Madsen Photography

September 12, 2011 in Under The Spotlight | 7 comments

Today I’d like to introduce you to the photography of Kjrsten Madsen who shoots entirely on film and with her Holga. Over the past few months I’ve been rediscovering my love of film photography and so it really is an honour to share these images with you all. Our wedding photos were shot on film, and although this wasn’t really a concious decision at the time, looking back there really is a huge amount of joy that I get from knowing that these images were imprinted on a physical roll of film and developed by hand in a darkroom.

There is just something so raw and emotional about film photography, as Kjrsten agrees. “At the ripe old age of 11 my mother enrolled me into a darkroom course. I was ‘by the rules’ too young to be in the class, but they made an exception with some sweet talking on my Mom’s part- which I will forever be grateful for her determination. I remember being so amazed watching my images appear like magic in the tray of developer. From that summer on, I was hooked on photography. It is no surprise that I strictly shoot film and still work in the darkroom. Film is so naturally beautiful I rarely have to retouch or edit my images. This allows me more time with my children (3 little girls) and less time behind a computer screen.”

Shot on a Holga camera

“The darkroom is my inner sanctum. It is a peaceful respite from a crazy world and a busy life. I go there to slow down and create, I can spend 6 hours in the dark and not know where the time has gone, and come out feeling completely revitalized. While I document all manner of events, places, and faces, my real cup of tea is shooting weddings. The love, emotion and joy of a wedding day is unparalleled. It is wonderful to be a witness of, and marvelous to participate as a documenter. Nothing compares to it!”

Originally from Portland, Oregon Kjrsten has just relocated to London and would love to shoot some creative Rock n Roll weddings here in the UK. Prices start from just £1000 for wedding coverage. For more information on Kjrsten, her work, her passions and her prices be sure to check out her website, her blog and drop her an email through her contact page.

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An Organic Farm Wedding: Elisha & Russell

August 11, 2011 in British Brides, Wedding | 8 comments

When I saw Elisha & Russell’s wedding I knew they’d made the perfect choice in their photographer Joanna Brown. If you follow Joanna on twitter you’ll know that she loves her garden and grows her own veg, so the fact that this wedding was held on Magdalen Farm on the Dorset/Somerset border…well she must have been in her element! “The staff of The Magdalen Project at Magdalen Farm are amazing and even joined us on the dance floor and around the campfire at the end of the evening,” the newlyweds told me. “We loved that our wedding was helping to support the Wessex Foundation who encourage active learning in and about the outdoors.”

“I have a background in informal education with young people,” continued Elisha, “and Russ set up www.rocknrolladventures.com to encourage people to spend time in the outdoors which has evolved to organise activity and educational travel for schools and colleges as well as training camps and other holidays. We hope to provide a quality of service and a similar conviction shown by the staff at Magdalen.  We found they really did walk the talk as they claim to do which meant excellent, tasty fresh local food and a friendly and happy staff team. And a deliciously relaxed weekend wedding for us in a beautiful place!”

The bride wore a two dresses – the first which she bought from ASOS and customised by adding some crochet lace hand-sewn by Great-Grandmother. “My Auntie Margaret is a creative wizard and offered to make a dress to my design as she had done for my cousin and bridesmaid Siobhan,” explained the bride. “Looking around for ideas of shapes and materials I found this dress on ASOS that the catwalk video showed to have a great flowing skirt that I thought would be a lot of fun on the dance floor!  I showed it to my Aunt and described the changes I hoped to make.  She found some lovely cotton, crocheted lace in her textiles cupboard which her grandmother had made and said we could use it.  She used natural tea-dye to bring it to the same colour as the dress which was reshaped.”

The bride’s second dress came from Damsel in a Dress. “Closer to the wedding I was worrying that I might prefer to wear something more sophisticated (than my usual style!) for the ceremony and while looking for bridesmaid dresses on John Lewis website found the Damsel in a Dress dress – very different to anything else I’d seen and within budget! So the two dress wedding was decided.  I felt sleek walking up the aisle in the Damsel in a Dress number and had a lot of fun skanking to the ska band and cosying up round the campfire until early hours in my free flowing skirt of my ASOS dress.”

It was the little and fun touches that made this wedding brilliant. For example, after the ceremony they had the Street Heat Samba Band to entertain their guests and playing late into the night were Skar Wars. The couple asked a number of their guests to make a cake instead of having a traditional wedding cake and they were helped by their friends and family with making and displaying the reception decor.

“We didn’t really identify a theme,” concluded Elisha, “other than we knew we wanted to create an informal event with as much time outside as possible. You could say our theme was evolving! I grew up loving the Dorset countryside and felt closest to my family when there, where our time spent together was focused on getting muddy in streams or eating picnics on the beach.  Russ had enjoyed similar times with his family and it was his determination not to feel part of a ‘wedding machine’ of many, more formal venues, but focus on finding somewhere that we wanted to spend time with family and friends to celebrate our happiness and excitement for the future.  We felt very lucky to find that in the venue and staff of Magdalen Farm.”

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Tina & Scott’s Travel Themed Crafty Wedding

June 1, 2011 in Wedding | 9 comments

Tina & Scott’s travel and craft themed wedding took place at The Greenbranch, Texas. It was predominately a DIY wedding influenced by the couple’s travels. “It was  mostly a do-it-your self peacock inspired wedding with a splash of anything vintage was a blast,” the couple told me. “Our invitations were an image of a vintage suitcase with travel stickers of places we have visited. This connected with our first date; a “geocaching date”. We not only wanted to share our journey as a couple with our guests but also encourage them to have an adventure of their own. The wedding favors for the evening were uniquely trackable geocaching coins designed by us.”

“Our bouquets and centerpieces were entirely do-it-yourself too,” continued Tina. “We wanted to create the bouquets and centerpieces ahead of time meant no fresh flowers, instead the my bridesmaid’s and I gathered for a craft day to create fabric flower bouquets. We used multiple mediums ranging from an old pair of the Scott’s jeans, small wooden flowers and to French silk ribbon. The bouquets took all day to make five, with one backup, and it was a lot of fun!”

“The reception centerpieces focused on peacock-based arrangements with an eclectic assortment of vintage pieces. One that the we especially liked were several copies of “When you Marry”, a home economics book from the 1950′s and 1960′s with many “antiquated” attitudes about marriage.”

Tina’s wedding dress was from Whirling Turban (who I’ve featured on Rock n Roll Bride before). Tina was pretty much able to design her dream dress from scratch and so chose a custom peacock pattern on the front of the dress and a dramatic green colour.

You can see further info on all their DIY projects on Tina & Scott’s wedsite.

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Jess & Brian’s Backyard Holga Wedding

March 29, 2011 in Wedding | 13 comments

I spied Jess & Brian’s wedding, shot almost entirely on Holga, on one of my regular scouts around Flickr. I was not only blown away but the stunning photography by Laura Burlton (who doesn’t love a bit of Holga magic?) but the actual wedding itself, and all the love and attention to detail that the couple put into it made it super duper Rock n Roll worthy. “I didn’t want the standard cheesy wedding photographs,” Jess explained when I asked about her decision to have her wedding shot on a toy camera. “I am a photographer myself and I have a love affair with my Holga. I went searching for a photographer who shared the same love, but also did weddings. No easy task! I found Laura Burlton though and she’s won quite a few awards with her Holga work. And joy, she also does weddings! My parents and I are both happy now and I love the way the Holga shots perfectly portray the feeling of the day.”

The wedding was held in Jess’ parents back garden and the reception was in their garage and driveway! Jess wore her Mother’s wedding dress which she had altered to suit her better for the ceremony and changed into a Betsey Johnson number for the after-party. “I had always said I wanted to wear my Mom’s wedding dress as a girl,” Jess continued. “Once I hit my early twenty’s I looked at it again and was like oh God no! Then when it actually came time for me to get hitched, my Mom pulled it out and I knew I had to wear it. Plus she gave me free reign to do anything I wanted to it so I knew I could make it my own. We altered the neckline from a turtleneck and removed the full length satin sleeves.”

“I hadn’t thought about having  a second dress, but my Aunt suggested it about 2 weeks before the wedding.  I decided if I found THE dress I’d do it. One week before I found the Betsey Johnson dress and knew this was the way a bride was supposed to feel in her dress, it was the perfect dress for me. I love both of my dresses and really think they fit my personality and the look I was going for.”

As the wedding was a small one, the couple decided not to have bridesmaids or groomsmen and opted for two flowergirls instead. “Madison is 7 and Rian is 5. I found Rian’s dress on eBay; it was handmade in 1949 and the seamstress’s niece inherited it and was selling it. I thought I’d be able to find another girl’s vintage dress that obviously wouldn’t match, but wouldn’t clash either. No such luck. My Aunt again came to the rescue and offered to make Maddie’s. She found the exact same color tulle and satin under slip all these years later. Literally the only difference in the dresses was Rian’s was slightly more faded. I loved the way they turned out, and the cool story behind them.”

The wedding had a Rock n Roll edge with a nod towards music and photography – something the couple both love. “Brian is a drummer in Venomous Maximus and he pinstripes and rebuilds old cars and motorcycles. I’m a photographer and lover of all things vintage so we knew we wanted the wedding to represent us and the things we’re into. All the details were born from this foundation and then kind of evolved into the look it became.”

“We have a pretty big record collection and people are always giving us their old boxes of records that have been sitting in the garage for the last 30 years. We had lots of junky ones and thought it’d be cool to do something with them and so the record amoeba was born. We just started hanging them up on a wall at home and it turned out pretty awesome. We were at one of our local record stores and they had boxes of records for sale for $8. I had been trying to decide what to do with the fences in the backyard and thought it’d look cool to recreate the records amoeba there, especially since our Save the Dates were little 7” records. ”

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