Rockabilly

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A Rainbow Rockabilly Wedding: Jennifer & Jon

January 25, 2012 in Wedding | 8 comments

If you’re a long-time reader of this ‘lil wedding blog of mine, you’ll be well aware that I’m a huge fan of the rainbow wedding trend. I even modeled in an ‘Over the Rainbow’ themed shoot last October. So you can imagine my glee when Jennifer & Jon’s wedding landed on my desk.

The couple wanted a huge party, and with 200 guests and only a $10,000 budget they were determined to not spent a fortune to do so. “We honestly would never have been able to pull of any wedding without our friends and family,” Jennifer told me. “It was truly a DIY wedding with everyone helping out days beforehand by shoveling, raking and baking in the hot sun to make my friend’s ranch into a kick ass outdoor wedding venue. Caitlin & Michael Burns, owners of Rebar Ranch were gracious enough to make our vision come true (or turn our lack of vision into something amazing!)”

Everything from the ceremony to the after-party was personal to the couple. “Our inspiration was simply to have a wedding that represented ourselves completely in every aspect,” the bride continued. “I had to throw out the wedding books in order to stay sane. We just told each other no matter what it would be what we wanted and to not make things to serious. I walked down the aisle with my brothers –  two of the most important people in my life. One of the highlights of our wedding was we wrote our own vows as all the vows we found online didn’t really feel very ‘us’.  It took us awhile but after a few margaritas we incorporated some of our favorite song lyrics into every part of our vows”

“Our theme was simply ‘Party!’ All we wanted to do was celebrate with those closest and have as much fun as possible. Our guests said it was the best wedding they had ever been to. We danced all night! The band was able to play some Johnny Cash songs as well as their original songs.”

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A Rockabilly, Psychobilly Wedding: Claire & Lee

December 8, 2011 in British Brides, Wedding | 13 comments

I love weddings like Claire & Lee’s. Not just because the rockabilly theme is awesome, but because they put their heart and soul(s) into creating a wedding that reflects how they are in everyday life.

“We’re both very much in to the whole rockabilly and psychobilly scenes and have been for quite some time, so it only seemed natural to extend this to our wedding day,” Claire told me. “One thing we set out to do from the very beginning was to make our wedding day for us. It seems all too often that people try and tailor their wedding day around their family and other guests, where as for ourselves we tailored it around us and guests had to fit in; which they did wonderfully.”

“We sourced everything ourselves to fit our style perfectly; the clothes, cars, venues, music and decorations had to be just right; and although at times it was a nightmare of a challenge to get every thing perfect (antique teapots are notoriously hard to find) we managed it and wouldn’t have changed anything for the world.”

The wedding ceremony was held at Manor by the Lake, Cheltenham. After a moving service the couple were greeted by Morris Dancers as they departed. “As Lee is a Morris dancer he had his side (The Gloucester Morris Men) waiting outside of the venue ready for when we walked out as husband and wife, their sticks raised in an arch for us to walk through. They then preformed a few dances for us, including Ladies Pleasure, a one man jig, for Claire. Lee also joined the side for one dance.” The couple were then whisked off to their DIY styled reception at The Lower Lode Inn, Tewkesbury in a 1959 Black Cadillac.

“All of the decorations for the reception I made myself, including 80 meters of bunting and the green and purple polka dot table cloth centres,” Claire continued. “The bunting ran diagonally across the room and was coupled up with strings of fairy lights, which came together to form a heart on the wall directly behind Lee and I. The table decorations were antique tea sets, with flower arrangements in the teapots and the tea cup and saucers had floating tea lights in them. There were also cut glass candle stick holders and candles which we collected ourselves.

Both the bride and groom wore two outfits, one for the ceremony and one for the reception. Claire changed from her Fairy Goth Mother corset and a skirt (made by a local seamstress to which Claire added – by hand – 500 pearls!) to her Forever Unique reception dress. Lee switched from a black 1950′s sharkskin suit (made in Las Vegas and bought on eBay) to a silver sharkskin suit which he found at Moss Bros of all places!

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A Vintage Rockabilly Wedding: Molly & Sam

November 1, 2011 in Wedding | 12 comments

Molly & Sam’s beautiful vintage rockabilly wedding was held at The Promethean in Adelaide.

Before the ceremony, the couple met at Cafe Salsa – a 50′s themed beach cafe – for photographs. They also has some shots taken at the skateboard park as Sam and his friends can often by found hanging out there.

“Sam and his mates did some brief skate manoeuvres and everybody prayed nobody took a spill and injured themselves,” photographer Helen told me. “Then it was on to The Promethean for the ceremony and a cool party with groovy music. They walked down the aisle to ‘Rose of my Heart’ by Jonny Cash. The party went on until 5am!”

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A DIY Fashion Shoot Using The Rock n Roll Bride Planning Notebook!

August 8, 2011 in Bridal Shoot/Trash The Dress | 10 comments

A photo shoot featuring the Rock n Roll Bride planning notebooks!? Oh yes that’s one sure-fired way to get my attention!

“We styled the whole shoot ourselves using items from eBay (and of course the Rock n Roll Bride notebook,” photographer Jaye of  Tux & Tales Photography told me. “We decided we would do a few styled shoots ourselves on a shoestring budget. I think it is a great way to show brides that they can have a fun and fab style with a little pocket change and a lot of elbow grease. I hope you enjoy my ultra-rad millinery. Picture me sitting on the living room floor, feathers flying everywhere whilst my cat tries to run off with the hat in his mouth every time I turn around to get another feather. The bouquet I made myself out of crepe paper. Boo (our model) is a burlesque performer so she did her own hair & make up!”

“As for inspiration – we were really dedicated to a shoot which was going to demonstrate the beauty of the North,” Jaye continued. “Although we  had a brief stint in Essex, we are really Northerners at heart and I wanted to do something fun and sassy that shows Yorkshire at its best. The photos taken in front of Drax (the coal fire plant) are particularly special to me. People often complain about the North of England being ‘too industrial’ but that is exactly what we love about it. There is something so optimistic about industry. The big factories are where hard working people go to create the fabulous things we use and eat every day.”

“We stopped and took the pictures with your amazing little planner when we were on our way to the power plant shoot. We were at a park near our house and there are a few really rad, grotty little buildings which we thought made a pretty Rock n Roll backdrop. Ever the northern lass, Boo only needed to be told ‘act like a rockstar’ and I just had to be around to press the button!”

The Rock n Roll Bride planning notebooks and wallplanners are available to purchase exclusively through notonthehighstreet.com. For prices and further info, clicky here.

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A “Totally Neat, Totally Sweet” Music-Themed Wedding: April & Rich

August 8, 2011 in Wedding | 3 comments

“Some people described our wedding theme as Rockabilly, but the only rockabilly music was played at the ceremony,” newlywed April told me. “We are punk rockers at heart, but listen to a wide variety of music in the rock genre.  We thought it would be very difficult to do a punk rock wedding and still keep it somewhat formal.  (Rich’s family is Catholic and I am not religious in any way.  We didn’t want to horrify his grandmother!)”

“We chose Johnny Cash, Gene Vincent and Wanda Jackson for ceremony music.  I walked down the aisle to “Rose of my heart” by Johnny Cash.   I had “rose of my heart” engraved in Rich’s wedding ring.  It was a surprise and when Rich saw it after the ceremony, he got tears in his eyes.  It was one of my favorite moments of the day.  My grandfather died exactly 3 weeks before the wedding.  He was a Johnny Cash fan, so this made it even harder to keep my emotions in check while walking down the aisle.”

As you can see, music played a big part in April & Rich’s wedding. In fact a lot of the significant times in their relationship were down to music too! “Rich and I met on April 7, 1997 at a high school dance,” April continued. ” I was about to turn 16, and he was just a baby at age 14! I was a sophomore and he was in eighth grade.  I was seeing someone else at the time.  It was a very on and off relationship, and I was always miserable.  And full of angst! Rich was always trying to cheer me up.  We talked on the phone for hours every night.  I still remember the day that he told me that if I ditched Brian and started to date him and listen to Reel Big Fish, I would be much happier!  I took his advice, and the next two years were some of the best of my life”

“We both love music and started going to shows when we could.  The first punk rock show we ever went to together was the Casualties.  We went with Amy (maid of honor) and had the best time.  (Of course, we snuck out of the fire hall to make out in the dug out for a while.)  The first big concert we went to was the Cherry Poppin Daddies, Green Day and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones in 1998. We met and had our picture taken with Dicky Barrett from the Bosstones.  We displayed this picture at the wedding. Rich was really into ska in high school.  I went on a trip to NY and bought him a hat at Moon Ska Records.  He still has it.”

Obviously the wedding playlist was a vitally important part of the wedding to this couple and they spent a lot of time getting it perfect. “When coming up with the wedding playlist, we originally wanted to choose 1 song from each band we have seen live together.  But, we couldn’t find any appropriate Casualties songs!  We played 1 song by The Donna’s, my all time favorite band.  We went backstage with the Donna’s last year.  I was so excited and told my friend, ‘All I wanted to do in high school was meet the Donna’s and marry Rich Thompson! Dreams do come true.’  When we were in high school, Rich used to sing the song Totally by Screeching Weasel to me.  We used lyrics from this song on our save the date cards.  ’Totally neat, totally sweet, totally knocked me off my feet.’  Rich’s Mom had our cake knife engrave with ‘totally neat, totally sweet.’  Rich and I both love Rancid.  We played ‘Radio’ (‘I never fell in love, til I fell in love with you.  Never knew what a good time was, til I had a good time with you!’)  We also played ‘Who would’ve thought’.”

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