Your Big Day the Rock n Roll Way · Alternative Wedding Inspiration
It may be a massive generalisation, but in my experience no-one does engagement shoots like those creative folks in The Philippines. It’s very rare that I featured these kinds of shoots any more, but when I’m presented with something like this, there is no way I’m going to turn it down!
So what do you think? Would you ever do something and over the top, awesome and creative as this for your own pre-wedding shoot?
Rochelle & Nestle were married at Transfiguration Chapel of Caleruega in The Philippines. Although their wedding started off traditionally with a church service, the couple wanted the rest of the day to reflect their own styles. So they went for a dramatic but elegant blue colour scheme with touches of yellow. The bride wore blue ballerina shoes which she customised herself, the bridesmaids and flowergirls wore various shade of sapphire and the groom and his groomsmen had blue bow ties.
Rochelle’s email to me was simple. “We would like to thank Rock n Roll Bride because you’ve been a huge inspiration to us. You made us aware of the trends and the things we can do except from the traditional wedding. You helped us push ourselves to do the extremes and make us think that the things we thought could not be done are actually possible.”
Floyd & Maricris were married in Cavite in The Philippines. They met in art school and wanted their wedding to be just as creative as they are. They spent $9000 on the wedding and the majority of the details were DIY.
“Wedding planning wasn’t easy”, began the bride. “We had a very strict budget, and planning such a big wedding with not a lot of money was hard. We didn’t have a stylist or wedding planner but we wanted to do it all ourselves. Our family and friends were fantastic with helping us with the preparations. We had to be creative with our plans but we enjoyed doing it all. We enjoyed spending time together making things.”
One of the main reasons I love Filipino wedding photographers MangoRed so much is because their wedding photography is quite odd. In fact it’s darn right bizarre. It breaks boundaries that I didn’t even know existed, and it challenges my concept of what wedding photography even is. These images aren’t going to be for everyone. In fact I’d bet my entire sparkly handbag collection that some of you will not like them at all. But I bloody love them and their unapologetic weirdness. I’m inspired, intrigued and totally and utterly confused all at the same time. It’s pretty darn wonderful. And that’s before I even say anything about the actual wedding in the images – fake cotton wool clouds lining the aisle? OH MY GOD YES!
Ryan & Garovs’ wedding took place in Manila, The Phillipines. The ceremony was held at St. Alphonsus Mary de Liguori Parish and the reception at White Space, an event space in the city. “The first thing on our mind was that MangoRed had to shoot our wedding, or else we wouldn’t get married (this is what we actually told them!)” laughed the bride. “We mailed them right after we got engaged, and immediately booked the church and reception venues just so we could seal the deal and book the boys. We just couldn’t imagine our wedding in the hands of any other photographers!”
Honestly? I’m not going to pretend that I really understand this shoot… but for some reason I just really love it. It must be the weird juxtaposition between designer handbags, shoes on a roof, giant bunnies and bondage… and hell, I’m not adverse to a bit of randomness!
Taking place at Big Ben Farm in Bulacan, The Philippines, Jay De & Clarissa wanted a shoot with some attitude. As lovers of vintage styling they wanted it to have this vibe, but with an edge. They wanted their shoot to be much more than teacups, cupcakes, lace or pearls. They wanted high fashion! With the help of stylist Feliz and photographer Jay Jay they pulled together five iconic looks which showcased various parts of their personalities. Ranging from high fashion to cute and cosy to dark, each set was a real labour of love and very ‘them’.
I love my Filipino readers. This tiny island has been full of Rock n Roll Bride fans pretty much since I began the blog which totally blows my mind. I’ve never visited, but I’m sure one day I will… I can’t wait to meet all those awesome like-minded peeps! I love getting submissions from The Philippines too – not least of all because they always sign off with ‘more power to you!’ which I love, but also because their weddings are damn cool. Obviously Ray & Yan’s submission was no exception – as soon as I saw that dress, which was hand painted by the bride’s mother, I melted into a pool of wedding lust heaven.
This couple were married in Ray’s parent’s back garden. The wedding was personal, DIY and laid back – just like the pair themselves. “Our story started way back during our college days”, the bride began. “Over a couple of beers we talked about music, arts and everything in between. That’s when we started to fall in love. It all happened one October, which is why we chose to have our wedding in this month. We usually celebrate our anniversary for the whole month actually but after 5 years together we decided to marry and we called the wedding ‘October Lovefest’. We are both music & nature lovers. We would love to travel back in time to attend a real Woodstock Festival! Music festivals as such don’t happen very often here in the Philippines, so we decided to make our own for our wedding. We even asked our friend’s bands to come and play for us.”
