Tag Archives: Purple

Purple, Dinosaurs & Peacocks: Lauren & Matt

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Purple. Dinosaurs. Peacocks…

These were the things that inspired Lauren & Matt’s October wedding. Although the theme wasn’t really intentional, by incorporating the things they just really liked it totally worked!

“Our ethos for our wedding was that we were going to what we wanted and not what people expected”, wrote Lauren. “We picked and chose aspects of tradition that we liked and binned those we didn’t. We had a humanist ceremony which isn’t like a registry wedding – it’s a lot more personal. We tied a Celtic knot which we practiced loads before hand! My friend did the reading of ‘A Lovely Love Story’ by Edward Monkton, which is about dinosaurs and dinosaurs are awesome!  One of our other close friends gave us the book as an engagement present and we thought it was apt as a reading. We also had a dinosaur cake topper!”

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A Modern Art Themed Wedding & a Bride with Dreadlocks: Chris & Angela

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“Arty & creative” replied Chris & Angela when I asked them to describe their wedding theme. “Lots of people on the day used words like ‘informal’ and ‘relaxed’ as well which was nice as it was what we kind of wanted. We were glad they picked up on it.”

The June wedding was held at Underley Grange Cottage in the Lake District. The couple homemade as much as possible, including all the reception decor. “Where do I begin with explaining the DIY?” laughed Angela. “Pretty much everything in the reception room was homemade. One of our favourite things was decorating parasols in the style of modern artists and hanging them from the ceiling. We made our own invitations – including hand making the actual paper! It turned out to be quite a saga; that and folding a hundred paper cranes for the RSVPs was quite a lot of work! On the plus side, as a milliner, the wedding was a great excuse to make lots of fun hats and fascinators for everyone.”

“I loved the parasols”, took over Chris. “The string chandeliers also looked great, but they consumed our kitchen and garage for about two months! I loved getting help from friends and family at each stage. Everyone saw little bits in the run up, but so many people said that on the day they couldn’t believe how it all fit together.”

“I don’t know that we ever thought we were doing our wedding ‘differently’,” the groom continued. “We just wanted to do it… ‘us’. We always knew we wanted more control over our wedding than the standard ‘here you go, Mr. Hotel…’ so we found a venue that could accommodate us doing our own catering and decorations. Once we saw Underley Grange, we just fell in love with the place and all the ideas seemed to flow naturally from there. The modern art idea was just so fun! We needed something to bring it all together and it just seemed right. Exploring all the artists to come up with the various designs was awesome!”

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

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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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An Origami Wedding: Roxy & Tanner

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“Our theme was nature and DIY, paper and origami,” newlywed Roxy wrote. “Being a designer, it was important to me that we personalize our wedding and that we showcase our creativity. It was an opportunity to get crafty with friends and to add a more personal touch to our wedding décor.”

Roxy & Tanner went with the bride’s  favourite colour combo for their wedding theme – purple and green. They also handcrafted most of the decorations including making all the paper flowers, pomanders, origami cranes, manzanita and willow branch centre pieces, stained glass mason jars and the guestbook. “I’ve always loved origami as an art form since I was a child and it holds sentimental value as it was my Father who first taught me how to fold a paper crane,” Roxy continued. “Origami cranes are also perfect for weddings asthey symbolize love, peace, longevity and patience.”

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Charlotte & Kevin’s Atmospheric Edinburgh Wedding

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Charlotte & Kevin were married at The Caves in Edinburgh - a challenging venue for any photographer (it’s very dark!) but photographer Bryony Claire certainly rocked this one and the couple ended up with some fantastic images of their special day.

Charlotte explained, “Kev & I have been together for 8 years now. We went to The Caves for a night out and when quite by chance we heard it was a wedding venue so we booked for 8 months later before he even got a chance to propose! The Caves is a truly magical place and it felt so right to have our whole wedding there. We had a Humanist wedding ceremony that was filled with love and laughter and believe that the whole atmosphere and venue suited us and out relationship. I think quite a few people were shocked at my choice of dress, but hey, if you’re getting married, do it your own way! I’ve always been a bit of the beaten track, I’m sure a few of my friends and family would have been disappointed had I turned up in a traditional white gown!”

“The inspiration for the day really just came from what we are about, fun, sense of humour, great music, good food and a party atmosphere. We wanted people to just kick back relax and share our special day with us, and I think we achieved that! And the Photobooth is beyond genius! What a laugh!  The images from the day really capture the spirit of The Caves and the spirit of our relationship. So many images of us smiling, laughing and enjoying each other.”

Charlotte’s dress was from Enchanted Dreams on eBay and was the first dress she fell in love with. She saw it on another wedding blog and knew she had to have it! The dress was handmade for her within 4 weeks and so Charlotte didn’t even bother venturing into traditional bridal shops. To her outfit she added Iron Fist Zombie Stompers (note: did you know you can get 15% off your purchases at Iron Fist by simply quoting ’RocknRoll’ at the checkout?!)

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Sarah & James’ Deep Purple, One Mayfair Wedding

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I was actually really excited about Sarah & James’ wedding before it even happened. My friend Alicia Barron, events manager of One Mayfair, told me about this fabulous wedding she had coming up at her venue – a bride in a purple dress, loads of dramatic lighting…ie right up my street! I told her to try and find out who the photographer was so I could beg them to let me feature it afterwards. But low and behold, would you believe that the lucky photographer was actually my friend Annamarie Stepney! I saw these images pop up on her blog last week, but before I could even email her with my request, she’d already sent them over…and told me that the bride had read Rock n Roll Bride throughout her planning too. Woo! Happy faces all round.

The ceremony was held in the vaults of Vinopolis World of Wine by London Bridge (One Mayfair is currently in the process of getting it’s licence so you will be able to actually get married there soon.) After cocktails in the great halls the couple headed out with Annamarie for some portraits around London. The second part of the reception was held at One Mayfair. The venue is a deconsacrated Roman Catholic Church right in the centre of London with all of the original features still intact (you can see more of this awesome venue on my blog here) “We were dancing in the alter and the speaches took place in the pulpit,” Sarah told me. ” It was massively gothic and we had really dramatic lighting which picked up alot of the features in the building.”

Sarah wore a purple dress by Britta Kjerkegaard from The Couture Gallery, YSL shoes and a black diamond necklace. Her bridal look was anything but traditional! Her bridesmaids wore 1950′s style swing dresses from swing dresses and birdcage veils from Honeypie Boutique and the boys were in gold, black and purple outfits to also matched the dramatic theme. “The theme was black, gold and purple and all guests were asked to dress in accordance with the colour theme.  All the lighting was done in these colours too, and even the cocktails followed the theme: Black Russians, Raspberry mohitos and passionfruit bellinis,” the bride explained.

“The thought of being a bride in white made my stomach turn and the notion of a traditional ceremony or party in a country house practically bought me out in hives for starters,” Sarah continued. “My favourite colour is purple and I love the ‘Rock n Roll-ness’ of black and gold so I just had to have those three as the colour theme which is where a lot of the details evolved from.  I really wanted to get married underground orginally but couldnt find anywhere that held 120 guests, and so found the vaults under London Bridge in Vinopolis served as a striking alternative. We looked at loads of venues for the party and the only one that really captured our imagination and could deliver on the key components of drama and individuality and was also completely untraditional was One Mayfair.  We also couldn’t resist the Rock and Roll irony of getting married in a wine museum and having the party in a church! The day basically was all about informality, hi-jinx, drama and indulgence.”

“The wedding invites were an extremely tongue in cheek take on the Royal wedding which was happening the week after our wedding.  Each guest received a ‘commerative royal wedding mug’ in the post which had a very cheesy soft focus pose of James and I, with our cats posing as lions on the side and the venue details printed on the other side!! I am cat mad so the cats featured quite heavily in the details. We had a massive ice vodka luge in the shape of the cat too.  This helped administer the the punishment for those who got questions wrong in the very risque  ’how well do you know Sarah and James Quiz’ that we had in between courses.”

“At the cocktail party we had table centrepieces that were massive wine glasses that had black and gold goldfish swimming in them. The table names all represented various ‘firsts’ of ours; some were fairly standard such as first gig, first pets, first holiday, whereas others represented our slightly more saucy firsts (ie venues of).  As part of the quiz they had to match up which was which, which proved both surprising and taxing for the guests!”

Wow. Just wow…

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