Tag Archives: joanna brown

A Backyard Beach Wedding Planned in Three Weeks: Nellie & Matt

in British Brides, Wedding | Written by

Nellie & Matt planned their Whistable wedding in just three short weeks. They wanted something small, something personal and something relaxed. They found the amazing Beacon House, right on the beach, for their ceremony and were able to use the back garden of the bride’s brother’s holiday cottage for the reception.

“Serendipity and our amazingly supportive family and friends brought our wedding together in just 3 weeks,” the bride began. “Matt and I had been engaged for 3 years, neither of us are planners but we had a clear idea of the kind of wedding we wanted, a relaxed, seaside celebration centred around our close friends, family, good food and drink. But every option we explored in Cambridge and Brighton, our two home cities, in one way or another tied us into expensive packages, so we put off the wedding and skipped to the baby.”

“A year after our son Ted was born Matt was offered his dream job in the USA, the prospect of leaving our life in the UK brought into focus the importance of celebrating our love and commitment to our new little family. With a little over a month before we were due to leave we thought lets just see if we can do this, finding our dream venue on our very first internet search and them having an available date seemed like fate. Indeed fate struck again on the day when the predicated storms were replaced by sunshine. We decided on Whitstable because my brother lives there with his family and we were planning on visiting them that week anyway. When we saw Beacon House we fell love with it immediately. It is small and personal and is in the most idyllic location, overlooking the sea. It feels secluded and private. Getting married outside to the soundtrack of the sea was a dream and my most special memory of the day. Having the freedom to spill out from the garden to the beach afterwards was perfect for our wedding party’s large brood of children; Beacon House is everything we’d tried and failed to find in Brighton.”

Continue reading

An Elegant & Eclectic North London Wedding: Tommy & Emma

in British Brides, Wedding | Written by

Tommy & Emma were married at Stoke Newington Town Hall, with a reception at the amazing The Roost in Dalston, London. Far from a traditional wedding venue, it often plays host to TV or film crews and provided a really unique and quirky setting for their celebration. “Our wedding was homemade & eclectic”, Emma explained “elegant with rough edges… a bit like us!”

“It was really important to us that our guests felt part of the day and felt included,” she continued. “Instead of place names we found photographs of everyone from our personal collection of people over the years. We hoped that this would also spark conversation between guests that might not know each other very well. We also wrote everyone letters to thank you for coming on the day and with a special memory of our time together. Before the ceremony we gave each guest a outline of the day, so that everyone knew what was happening and when people were going to eat/drink and dance!”

“It was also so important that everyone knew how much we appreciated them being there. We wanted our wedding to reflect us, but also how other people have shaped our lives along the way. We pretty much did everything ourselves (with the help of our family!) We had homemade jams, chutneys and lemon curd on the tables as favours. This was a real triumph as everyone loves a bit of homemade jam! We also spent the whole year collecting cups and saucers, plates, side plates for our wedding breakfast. We handmade the table plan to look like bunting. Also, as emotions often run high at weddings we decided to screen print our invitations directly onto lots of different beautifully embroidered cotton handkerchiefs that we had collected.”

Continue reading

Desperate Housewife: A Personal Project by Joanna Brown

in My Shoots | Written by

I love wedding photographer Joanna Brown. LOVE. I’m always blown away by the weddings she submits to me, and I’m thrilled to feature her work on these pages whenever I can. So imagine my unadulterated joy when she asked me if I’d be willing to model for a personal project she was working on.

“You may just know me as a wedding photographer,” Joanna Brown writes, “and while this is true, this is just one element of my photography work. I have been taking photographs for 18 years, since my A-Levels. I have 1000s of photographs in my archive featuring numerous projects. When I am not shooting weddings I love to shooting personal work. I do not rest; the desire to create imagery is too strong. I shut my eyes and see photographs. I have a sketch pad on me at all times including by my bed for the moments of clarity I have as I nod off to sleep.  Photography is my passion and everything about it motivates my work and my fascination with storytelling and the everyday.”

“I love visiting my boyfriend’s Mother’s house,” she continues, “and not for the reason you would think (even though her cooking is ace!) I love it because it is such a nostalgic place. It reminds me of an age gone by. As a child visiting relatives houses like hers, I became fascinated with the objects in them - acres of net curtains, mantelpieces, pot plants, carpets that would make me dizzy, picket fences and shrubs.”

“I guess this is what has driven this project -the combination of a house, my memories and a fascination with the idea of a housewife and the desire to discover the truth and scratch beneath the surface of the everyday life. I have always felt a tension between the banal of the everyday, the comfort of the home yet also the claustrophobia that this also brings with it. It all kind of came together in my mind and I knew that I wanted to do a shoot in this house. I just needed to find the right model.”

“It was only a matter of time until all the pieces slotted into place. The ‘housewife’ had to be authentic and the lightbulb moment came when Kat tweeted something about trying to cook Gareth dinner and then just dialing for a takeaway because it went wrong.” (Kat: sounds like me alright!)

So early one March morning, Elbie & I headed out to her Mother-in-law’s house which would become my character’s for the day. With me I brought a number of vintage dresses as well a huge bag of swag from the amazing Vivien of Holloway. Their 1950s inspired clothes were the perfect accompaniment to the theme of the shoot. I also brought with me the pink wig that I’d picked up in Vegas… just in case. I’m so glad I did though because I think it ended up becoming the star of the show. It certainly helped me get into character!

When these landed in my inbox on Friday afternoon I actually felt a bit emotional! I literally can’t believe that’s me right there. “Holy effing sh***ing crap you are amazing Jo” was my actual reply. No joke. If this makes me sound big headed then whatever…sorry and all that…but I look HOT. I’m not an especially pretty girl, but Jo managed to bring it out of me. In spades.

Jo told me that she really wanted to show a different side to me with her images. Apparently I can do ‘fierce’ and ‘strong’ very well (!) but she said she’d never seen me looking demure and soft. I think she achieved that don’t you?

Continue reading

A Quirky East London Pub Wedding with a Nod to the 1940s: Becca & Dan

in British Brides, Wedding | Written by

For Becca & Dan, a formal wedding was never on the cards. “We wanted the day to be about our guests not all the attention on us,” the bride wrote. “There were no formalities, just tea & cakes followed by pie & mash then a good all knees up in an east London pub with Billie Holiday playing & a free bar all night!”

Becca got ready at Zetter Townhouse, a really stylish house with quirky vintage decor & stuffed animals. It proved to be the perfect place for some pre-ceremony snaps with her bridesmaid and really set the tone for the rest of the wedding day.

The bride wore an unusual and beautiful Delphine Manivet wedding dress with nude Kurt Geiger shoes and a vintage headpiece. For the couple’s portraits in a local park (with their dog – I love this!) Becca added a fur trimmed coat.

After a ceremony in Hackney town hall, the lucky wedding guests were treated to a good old fashioned party with a nod to the 1940s at The Crown Pub in Victoria Park, East London.

The couple booked Joanna Brown to capture the fun. “Jo was truly brilliant,” Becca continued. “She understood what we wanted and put us at ease straight away. We knew we’d picked the best girl for the job and she captured our day just perfectly.  We really feel that if you weren’t there on the day, our photos really tell the story of our wedding.”

Continue reading

A Vintage Nautical Wedding: Liz & Tom

in British Brides, Wedding | Written by

Liz & Tom injected a subtle nautical theme into their October wedding. “In our first few years as a couple I used to call Tom the one-armed fish man,” Liz laughed. “Our venue was The Bull Hotel in Bridport, a harbour market town, and we both want a scrimshaw anchor tattoo (haven’t done it yet but the plan is to have one for Christmas). So we flooded our wedding with vintage nautical touches and plenty of rum. Rock n Roll Bride was the only wedding blog that I read as I planned my wedding. It was from reading what other Rock n Roll Brides had done for their big day that we had the confidence to go our own way.”

Liz wore her Aunt’s 1950′s Nottingham lace wedding dress which she had customised by Laura & Emma at the fabulous Fur Coat No Knickers. “A year before we got engaged my Auntie Hannah gave me her 1950′s Nottingham lace wedding dress that she’d worn at her wedding in 1959 and my Mum also wore to her and Dad’s wedding in 1964,” Liz wrote. “She said she’d never need it again and ‘you never know, you might wear it one day if you ever get married.’ A year later, on holiday in Vancouver and the day after my birthday we did get engaged. So I took the dress to Emma and Laura a to work their magic on it. It is Nottingham lace over a very pale pink netting so even though I’m not particularly a ‘pink’ kinda girl I decided to embrace the colour and Laura and Emma added the pink silk sash.”

As the couple have attended many weddings in the past, they knew that the ones they enjoyed most were those that were relaxed, informal and more about the couple than the ‘need’ to do a wedding in a certain way. Liz continued, “As soon as it came to planning ours we were adamant we wanted a day that felt like a big party – relaxed, informal, fun…with great food! The Bull was our hotel bolt-hole. A boutique shabby vintage vibe of a place with great food, lovely staff and the type of attitude we loved – relaxed, informal but excellent in everything. From booking The Bull, the rest of our wedding fell into place.”

“From the start of our relationship as teenagers we’ve filled our lives with antiques and vintage finds so it was to all things old we turned to ensure we had the touches that friends and family would recognise as being very ‘us’. As a lot of our guests were staying at the hotel with us we booked it for the whole weekend and invited everyone to The Stable at The Bull for pizza, pie and cider on the Friday night. The Friday shindig had everyone relaxed and talking to each other so that when Saturday afternoon came they all felt like old friends.”

“Without bridesmaids, a best man, a cake to cut and lots of formal photos we concentrated on giving our guests plenty to drink, delicious food to eat, and personal touches to ensure they felt relaxed and at ease. Whilst we weren’t originally planning speeches my oldest friend Katie said a few words about me, Tom (a man of very few words) gave a beautiful speech thanking our friends and family who had come together to make our day possible, and finally Tom’s mum unexpectedly stood up and raised a toast to my dear departed Dad and Uncle. Everyone then hit the bar and the dancefloor to drink and boogie till the early hours. In our guest book that we read on honeymoon so many people commented on how it had been the most relaxed, fun and personal wedding they’d ever been to.”

“To us Rock n Roll is about going your own way. Not being tied to convention or rule. We did have touches of wedding tradition – a white dress, wedding favours, speeches – but overall we concentrated on making a day that was true to us.”

Continue reading

A Relaxed, Boho Wedding: Laura & Graeme

in British Brides, Wedding | Written by

Laura & Graeme were married at Marle Place, Brenchley which perfectly suited their laid-back boho wedding. “It is a peaceful, privately owned Wealden garden, ten acres of formal planting and many more acres of woodland and orchard,” Laura explained. “None of our guests had ever heard of or been to Marle Place, before and neither had we. I didn’t find it on my original wedding venue searches, eventually I found it by searching for something like ‘secret garden’. It has been described as a hidden gem and I totally agree.”

Their photographer Joanna Brown agrees, “As I drove to Laura’s parents house I totally got it that Kent is described as the garden of England… Field upon field of fruit, rolling hills, and acres of sky I decided there and then that I loved Kent and I looked at the blue sky and just knew that this wedding was going to be gorgeous it had all the ingredients for a belter and boy it did not disappoint.”

“A wedding is full of beautiful things, dresses, flowers, tea cups (which this wedding had in bucket loads) but what really makes a wedding is the people and the story of the day unfolding with real emotion and meaning and I saw this every minute of the day.  I loved it when Laura got ready and it was just her and her mum savoring that moment like a rite of passage it felt really symbolic and then to witness her Dad coming in to see her for the first time and his reaction {and Laura’s} was so precious it actually made me cry it was so tender and honest.  I loved also the bridesmaids when they saw Laura for the first time and they could not contain their excitement of seeing her in her dress.  Equally I loved Graeme and the boys eagerly awaiting the wedding party to arrive and the pacing around to calm his nerves at one point he even went to the corner shop.”

The couple hired three Giant Hat Katas instead of a traditional marquee, because they wanted a less formal or traditional wedding. “We wanted a boho, relaxed feel to the day and they were amazing! My brother and his wife  made us various signs for the reception including Parking, Rest Rooms, Graeme hearts Laura 23.07.11 etc. I loved them! I filled a basket up with flip-flops and they made a sign saying ‘Help Yourself’; these were placed in front of the decks for our guests to take if they wanted to take their heels off to dance. They had all gone by half way through the night!”

“We also hired various vintage accessories from Vintage Flair; tea cups and saucers, milk jugs, napkins, candlesticks, bunting, cake knife, cake tablecloth etc. I bought lots of different tea light holders (from Velvet Wedding and Live, Laugh, Love ) to decorate the exterior/gardens and also floor lanterns. I also bought heart table name holders and large manilla luggage labels as table names (to match our manilla invites).”

Laura wore ’Zachary’ by Delphine Manivet. She wanted something boho in style and this fitted the bill wonderfully. She also wore a vintage headpiece and jewellery from Vintage Bridal Jewellery. Her bridesmaids wore nude coloured dresses of their own choosing (from various high street stores) and nude peep toe shoes from ASOS.

So beautiful! (and ps how cool is that final shot of the boys by the pool!?) Oh Joanna Brown you are so clever!

Continue reading