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A Rock n Roll London Wedding with Rockaoke!: Chris & Natalie

November 2, 2011 in British Brides, Wedding | 14 comments

When photographer Annamarie Stepney slipped Chris & Natalie’s wedding my way, I just about squealed with joy. Not only was Natalie an avid Rock n Roll Bride reader throughout her wedding planning, but I could see a few little ideas that she’d gotten from my blog snuck in there – hello purple wedding dress and Butler & Wilson skull crown! “I fell absolutely head over heels for the Butler & Wilson skull crowns after seeing photos of Kat in one so I checked them out,” wrote the bride. “It was great as no one realised it was made up of skulls until they got close. I also wore it for my 30th birthday a month later.”

The wedding was held at Shoreditch House, London – a private members club which comes complete with a bowling alley. “Shoreditch House was the only venue we went to visit,” Natalie told me. “We knew it was the right place straight away. We loved the urban/warehouse feel to it and reminded us of New York where we had met. The bowling alley was an awesome addition too!”

Natalie found her incredible dress in a charity shop in Newbury – OMG talk about an amazing find! “I LOVE MY DRESS!” she squealed. “I had been on two wedding dress shopping trips and tried on a number 1950s style dresses. We were planning a party and I wanted a dress I wouldn’t have to worry about dancing in, bowling in and general stomping about in!”

“I then went and spent the weekend with my Mum in Newbury. The shop assistants were a wee bit bemused when I took my pewter, studded galore shoes out of the box. It kind of went something like this a few times – ‘Yes the dress has to match my shoes… yes these shoes… no, these shoes… no I am not going to buy other shoes…. sorry I seem to have got your dress stuck on the stud of my shoe!’ I tried on dress after dress in white, ivory, off white, antique gold, magnolia (that may be just a paint colour!?) and so on whilst my Mum cooed and ahhed I totally felt like a kid playing dress up! I have never dreamt of wearing a traditional white dress.”

“On the off-chance we popped into some local charity shops in my Mum’s town and as soon as we walked in I was in love with a dark purple dress. It was beautiful and I couldn’t believe it when I tried it on that it was perfect fit, never been worn and I knew my shoes would match perfectly (and rumoured to have been originally bought for a potential dress for Katie Price…although this may be rubbish). I was sold!”

The groom looked just as dapper in his Boland & Banks bespoke grey glen plaid suit, “I have to give Mark Banks a massive plug!” Chris wrote. “He was an absolute star and a true gent. He asks that you trust his judgement I’m really glad I did. He convinced me to go for the grey glen plaid patter over a more straight laced navy blue. He also give me the nod for the Oliver Sweeney shoes.”

Having a great big party for all their guests was really important to the couple, so instead of hiring a traditional band or DJ, they had Rockaoke! “Chris would make an excellent front man or guitarist!” Natalie laughed. “We used to go to rock karaoke at Arelene’s Grocery when we lived in New York. We had seen Rockaoke perform at festivals and in London and although we looked around for other bands we both really wanted to book them. The guests loved the band and so many people got up and sung. And we ended the night singing Motorhead together.”

“Music is a big part of our lives so it became a big feature,” the couple concluded. “From the table names, the place names – written on the discs from mini discs, with a band badge to suit each guest and a mini guitar. Rockaoke for our band and all the music throughout the day was chosen by Chris.”

“I guess we did things differently by doing exactly how we wanted and planned the day as if we were planning a party for our friends and family and not so much planning a wedding. This worked out perfectly as the wedding was all about us, the things we love and things that make our relationship special to us. Chris’ Dad wrote the reading that his Mum read during the ceremony – it was all about us and had people in hysterics! In fact we all spent the whole day in hysterics.”

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Glamour, Sophistication & The Beatles: Lauren & Ben

October 3, 2011 in Wedding | 9 comments

The Beatles brought Lauren & Ben together, so it was fitting that they wanted their favourite band to influence their big day. Ben is from Liverpool and plays in a Beatles cover band as George Harrison and while working on reception at the Soho Grand Hotel in New York in March 2010 Lauren met the band when they played a gig there.

However the couple did not want their wedding to be too obviously Beatles themed, so instead they simply added a few subtle touches to the day. Lauren explains, “Our inspiration for the wedding was glamour and sophistication, with a whimsical, retro, playful twist. We had a live string trio play during our ceremony -with a solo of “Come What May” – the love theme from Moulin Rouge {which also tied in the glamour/whimsy/love theme of the day}. The strings {violin and viola} added a sophisticated, lovely, untraditional, more dreamy atmosphere to the ceremony {especially walking down the aisle to them!}”

“Because my husband plays George Harrison in a Beatles cover bands, and our shared love for the Beatles – we walked our wedding ceremony recessional to “All You Need is Love” {played by the string trio}, but also had our wedding party sing the “love, love, love – all you need is love” chorus, as we walked – and invited the guests to then join in the singing {to make it feel lighter, and more of an interactive, jovial experience}. Later, during the reception, my husband, and his two groomsmen {his best friends and former band members} got up on stage to serenade me, and rock out for our guests, which was one of the highlights of the night! Everyone was dying for them to keep playing!”

“We had our wedding at an old theater/duckpin bowling alley from the 1920′s, and connected to this rad retro diner, so the building just had this austere, yet quirky, cool look and vibe that completely fit mine and my husband’s personalities and tastes,” Lauren continued. “We had our names {“Lauren and Ben. Sold Out.”} and a silly message placed on the marquee, in lights, at the theater – {“La and Ben’s Super Fun Time!” thought up by my younger brother} – which definitely personalized things in a whimsical, unique way. My husband is a musician, so we thought tying together having “Sold Out” be on the marquee at the theater was a perfect touch.”

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A Hardcore Wedding at a Private Residence: Jacob & Janelle

September 27, 2011 in Wedding | 13 comments

Jacob & Janelle were married at a private residence in Provincetown, MA. The groom being a singer in the punk/hardcore/metal band Converge, this was always going to be a bad ass wedding and they certainly didn’t disappoint.

The couple were keen to create a wedding that had ‘them’ stamped all over it and so provides all the visual direction for the decor themselves. this included The vintage test tube rack idea to hold flowers. “This was something we knew we wanted to use from our own home,” they explained. “The glass bottle used as center pieces on the tables were all found objects from our own backyard. We have been renovating our home for a number of years, and it’s been a huge part of our lives during that time.”

“Since they were all found during that process, it meant a lot to us to include them. The beakers were provided by the people at Mad Props, Boston. Everything was artfully assembled by Andrea Black for Ramblin’Rose. We executed everything ourselves with the help of friends and family”

Of course the music and entertainment was really important to this couple so instead of entrusting it to a “potential horriblesitcom-esque DJ disaster” (their words haha!) they compiled the playlist themselves. “We spent a few days and assembled a variety of playlists for certain times during the evening,” they continued. “It was an eclectic mix, but not too obscure.”

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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 Backyard Handfasting & Rock Festival Wedding: Becca & Gary

September 19, 2011 in British Brides, Wedding | 9 comments

Becca & Gary’s wedding looks like it was a lot of fun, dispite the rain! The first part of the day was a handfasting ceremony and morning reception in the bride’s Gran’s back garden. Afterwards the couple went to the registry office for the ‘legal bit’ and the day was rounded off by them going to Nozstock Festival and staying in their very own honeymoon suite – a tipi!

“We knew straight away that we didn’t want a traditional wedding and we both loved the idea of running away together to get married in secret but at the same time we wanted all our friends there too,” the bride told me.”We’d both been to weddings that felt impersonal and where we’d both felt nervous and out of place so our mission was to try and make the day as chilled out and as comfortable for everyone as possible. Gary came up with idea of going to a festival instead of a wedding reception and it all sort of fell into place.”

“My Gran’s garden was 5 minutes away from Nozstock and as soon as Noz confirmed the festival dates we started to organise a wedding. Everything we did we did because we wanted to. We didn’t have a hen or a stag do because we didn’t want one, we didn’t have speeches at the wedding because neither of us wanted to make one and we fed everyone muesli and prunes because we like muesli and prunes!”

“Some ladies want to feel like a princess on their wedding day but I’ve got an obsession with 80′s hair metal and all I wanted really was to feel like a rock star for the day! I didn’t plan to wear aviators at all, I grabbed them at the last minute with the vague idea that by wearing them I might encourage the sun to come out… Looking at the photos I’m soooo glad I did though as they looked incredibly cool. Turning up at the registry office with muddy boots, slightly trashed wedding dress and tattoos with our two witnesses felt pretty Rock n Roll and then arriving at the festival with Sassy our photographer definitely fulfilled some of my rock star dreams.”

Becca wore an Ian Stuart dress which she bought second hand on eBay. “I was gutted when I woke up and it was raining but in the end we were glad that it did as the mist added to the magical atmosphere and meant there was no option of being precious about my dress,” she told me. “I think we well and truely rocked the outdoor rainy wedding with no plan B.”

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