“The theme for our wedding began as a circus/carnival inspiration and grew to encompass woodland creatures, feathers and various fancy dressed individuals from badgers to unicorns, not forgetting the now infamous family of bears!” newlyweds Toby & Isa told me.
”We did things differently, just simply because that’s how we are and to have had any other style of wedding or traditional ceremony would have not been true to us as we are not religious. However we did have a beautiful blessing with Sally our Interfaith minister and we wrote our own wedding vows.”
Toby & Isa were married in September at Silver Rill House, Overbury with a reception at Overbury Village Hall. The bride wore a custom made dress by Annie Mochnacz and shoes by All Saints.
“I think our day was so great because we were surrounded by people who truly love us,” the bride concluded. “I think you could feel this energy and the laid back flow of it all throughout the day. Also the honesty of Toby’s and my love. I was so happy that my friends from Switzerland all made it and my cousin from Canada.”
OK so it isn’t much surprise that I pretty much died when I first saw Ian & Jo’s wedding. The woods! The campfire! The bride wearing freakin’ antlers! Oh my lord I’m so thrilled to be blogging this baby.
“Our wedding was had a subtle vintage 1920′s summer fete theme,” Jo wrote, “We love art, creativity and community. The things that make us human. The wedding was never about me & Ian exclusively, marriage to us means the joining of many, a coming together. It was our opportunity to share our love for each other, and extend it to our loved ones. That day was for all of us. I think that vibe came across.”
The wedding took place at Lord Hyde wood in Watford. “Tony the Farmer next door lent us his field for camping which we shared with his beautiful, pregnant old breed cattle” the bride continued. “We made as much of the decorations, clothing and games that we could with help from friends and family. I would definitely recommend that. Don’t follow tradition, do it the way you want. What exactly is a ‘favour’ anyway?”
“What made the day work was the wonderful family and friends that we have. All of whom threw themselves into the community spirit of the day, getting involved with the set up, the mucking in, clearing up. It was a real team effort and the vibe was one of togetherness and love. Life is good when we are in relationship with each other in an open, honest and loving way. Nothing was too much trouble for anyone and the day shone with magic.”
Jo wore a dress from Jane Bourvis on Portabello Road which she customised with vintage lace and pearls purchased from markets and from Annie’s Vintage. Her incredible headpiece (seriously, I’ve never seen anything like it!) was hand made by bride with help from her chief Bridesmaid, Nicole. “We think there are 4,000 beads all hand stitched and it took about 90 hours to complete. The design was inspired from 1920′s headdresses.”
Aaaah-mazing. Oh and Pete (photographer Emma Case‘s partner in crime) made a video on his iPhone too. Whoooa. Love it.
Faith & Chris were married at Camp Brockway in Pratt’s Falls, NY. The theme of the day revolved around birds, but more than that it revolved around the love and the fact that the two of them were committing their lives to each other. After a touching outdoor ceremony, the couple enjoyed some time having their photos taken by Love Me Do Photography.
“My favorite part of the day was probably when we were taking pictures with Love Me Do,” wrote Faith. “It was such a nice way to spend those last betrothed moments away from all the matrimonial madness just posing for portraits in the woods with each other. It felt so natural and I think the photos really show that.”
“I guess I’d just like to add that I’ve always wished for Prince Charming to come sweep me off my feet and give me the wedding of my dreams. Some things really are worth the wait and after our incredibly long courtship and year and a half engagement, the pay off couldn’t be sweeter. Chris and I both feel like the luckiest people on earth and are so excited to be starting our family with the love and support of all of our friends and family. August 20th was the most special day we’ve ever shared and are so grateful to everyone who helped us make it so memorable, especially Momma and Poppa Tyler.”
Oh where oh where do I begin with telling you about Jachen & Monica’s woodland-inspired wedding? The images and video of their wedding are such a visual feast that I almost don’t know where to start. The day had a sort of travel/woodland theme which reflected the fact that the couple met in Switzerland. Monica explains, “A year ago I was living in Switzerland as an Au pair when I met my now husband. I was only there for 3 months, but just long enough to have met him the last month I was there. We were both in the right place at the right time, the only time I would have been able to meet him. It is amazing how you can look back on all the events that led up to that moment and how evident it was that I was supposed to be in Switzerland to find him. After I met him we had one more month until I had to return to my home in Seattle. We continued skyping, emailing and a few times he came to me and I went back to beautiful Switzerland to be with him where we became engaged. Sometimes everything just falls into place and we were lucky enough to have that happen to us.”
“I have vintage, eclectic-ness, whimsy, creativeness, woodland creatures flowing within me. So of course I knew that my inspiration was going to be from what I already loved and was. As I met my husband while traveling in Europe (as well as him being from Switzerland) there was a small travel theme as well. Those combined was my inspiration and what made me excited for working on every aspect of the wedding.”
So how about the actual wedding? Well first off I just want to share some love for Monica’s outfit – I’m utterly loving her cute lace dress and leopard print faux fur jacket!
“I found my lace vintage style wedding dress on a whim from Kiyonna and got my fur coat from Macy’s,” the bride told me. “My shoes were from Urban Outfitters, my necklace as from For Love, my aquamarine engagement ring from Garnet Girl Designs on Etsy and my heart wedding band from Catbird. I had been searching for a fur coat for weeks but had no luck, but then I walked into Macy’s and there sitting on a hanger was THE fur coat. I love my wedding rings. My aquamarine ring is so so beautiful. I have always known I didn’t want a “traditional” wedding ring. I found the lovely aquamarine ring and knew it was for me. Aquamarine is the stone of March which is the month I met my husband, as well as one of my favorite colors. It was perfect.”
Instead of a traditional bouquet, the bride carried flowers which were made from paper. She bought the ‘flowers’ from from Dragonflies on Etsy and constructed the bouquet herself. Additional paper flowers were also used at the reception on the tables alongside some wild flowers. “At first my idea was to only have hand made flowers throughout the reception,” Monica said. “While trying to make a few I scratched that idea. Luckily, we gave up on all handmade flowers because I am so happy with the wild and real flowers that were used. We went with simple, but pretty flowers. We stuck with white mostly with some pink and green accents.”
The pageboys and flowergirls wore some of the cutest outfits I’ve ever seen too! The boys wore mini bowties to match the adult men (made by the bride and her Mum) and the girls wore pink bow skirts (made by family members), heart tee-shirts (made by the bride) and bow headbands (to match the bride) from For Love.
“There were some themes throughout the outfits,” continued Monica. “Bows mainly. Myself, my sisters, my mother and nieces all wore silk bow headbands. The men all wore chocolate brown, velvet bow ties. My sisters and mother wore matching cardigans. I had no bridesmaids nor did we have groomsmen…that just isn’t our thing. The bows and cardigans are as matchy as we got.”
But back to the overall theme of the day…”There was the most evident theme of woodland animals,” Monica writes. “Our engagement photos were taken in the woods of Switzerland and our announcement had a deer on them so from the beginning to the end the theme was present. On top of the woodland theme it was the vintage theme. Actually, you know what my very original inspiration was? It was vintage green glass. I knew my reception would be filled with all sorts of vintage glass. I love vintage glass and so much, so much was collected to use throughout the wedding. That was one of my favorite parts of preparing for the wedding…buying of all the glass.”
“On top of the woodland and vintage theme was our travel theme. There was a travel room where the guests could read about how we met, see some skype images and there was a scratch map so they could share where in the world they had been. The room was full of globes, maps, cameras and travel books. We had a lot of garlands because I am a garland lover. If it wasn’t out of control to fill my home with garlands, I would do it. All garlands were handmade by my sister and I except for the “Keep Calm and Party On” which was from Urban Outfitters and we also purchased two cute circle felt garlands from Etsy.”
“Also, there were hearts, glitter, and books used throughout the reception. My husband is a reader so I wanted that book element added so there were book page garlands, my bouquet with book page flowers, and actual books to give height in our centerpieces. We tried to stick with a certain style of vintage and used darker greens, amber, pink, gold and a lot of white as our main colors. Honestly, there was a lot going on, however if you do it right it will flow together, make sense and everything will look like it fits and belongs. You can read more about the wedding inspiration and preparation at my wedding blog as well!”
The food the served was also very important to the couple. Not only did it help to add to the overall theme of the wedding, but people need something nice to eat right?! Monica explained, “I am always wondering what weddings on websites and blogs do for their food, but a lot of the times that never is shown. I think food can be a pretty big part of the wedding…the food itself and the presentation of it. The food was a pretty big aspect of our celebration and is in need of being mentioned. I love sandwiches, they are my favorite thing to eat. My husband LOVES Jalapeno Pringles that he first tried on his first time in America and wishes was sold in Switzerland…so those two things inspired our menu.”
“We had a variety of gourmet sandwiches, couscous, a fruit salad, and a spinach salad. There were also kettle chips, multigrain chips and Jalapeno Pringles. The desserts were all homemade by friends and family. One friend made our lime coconut cupcakes, one friend made all the mini cheesecakes and chocolate sea salt caramels {he is for hire}, my Aunt made the cayenne gingersnaps and sea salt chocolate chip cookies, Natalie and I made the peanut butter cups. Allison Nelson made 4 out of the 5 cakes which were all beautifully frosted different with white frosting, and were different widths and heights. My cousin Meredith made a family favorite for the 5th cake…Chocolate Cherry Cake which was disguised in white frosting as well. And of course there were my favorite San Pellegrino Limonata in glass bottles and other tasty drinks from Trader Joes.”
“There was also a “Sweetserland” table filled with amazing Swiss chocolate and European Haribo candy. The food was another personalized element because everything on the menu was food we loved. It was a delicious way to celebrate. Nothing beats delicious homemade food, I say. If you can get family and friends, who hopefully are bakers and cooks, to help I would highly suggest it. Another aspect worth mentioning was my bridal shower. It was confetti themed in celebration of the upcoming wedding. I made confetti/pom poms into jewelry, headbands and hair clips for the guests to wear during the bridal shower. My sister Natalie made cute “confetti” garlands. Instead of “traditional” bridal shower games, we had crafts. The lovely ladies who came helped work on some small crafts for the wedding. It was so fun. You can see what I mean and see more in detail on my blog over here.”
Phew, I think that’s all folks. Awesome wedding huh? Yep…I’m dying over it all too!
Peter & Alisha’s Sydney wedding had a whimsical woodland vibe (complete with animal masks no less!)…with both modern and vintage twists. The bride explained, “I wanted to do something bright and whimsical with some traditional and vintage twists. I love colour so the blue of the bridesmaid’s dresses knocked me over when I saw it … its also one of my maids favourite colours. I wanted to surprise my friends and family with some little surprises , I hope we did. I love autumn colours and bright blue skies in May. Green goes well with these two palletes too and thats my favouite colour.”
The wedding was held at The Garrison Church, Sydney, with the reception taking place at The Ivy Sunroom, Sydney. Alisha’s unusual dress was handmade by her Mum and their friend Toni Quin. “My mum lovingly embroidered the detail on the bodice and the train with moths. My yellow canary rose was in there as well with some feathers and leaves…”
As you can tell from the stunning images by Jonas Peterson, the floral décor was also a big part of this wedding and really enhanced the theme of the day. The bride used to work with florist George Low at The David Jones Flower Show, and so flowers really were important to her. From the bride’s bouquet to the table centre pieces and the dessert table display, nothing about their choices of flowers was usual or traditional. They used mini birdcages, eggs, vine and branches to decorate. “We made up the 100 birds nest with fresh dolta vine, even the boys helped with this one!” Alisha told me. “I think the eggs were used to hit people instead of eating, ha! Pete twisted the wire onto all the skeleton leaves in the trees for me while I was at a friends house. There were 1000′s!”
As a final personal touch, one of Alisha’s bridesmaid’s created a montage of her favourite Disney films to show the love story of the happy couple. “Cassie made a movie all all my favourite Disney films and edited out all the traumatic scenes, looped it together into a story about me and Pete,” she explained. “It was beautiful and included Fantasia, Bambi, Robin Hood and Snow White.”
Hello and welcome to my little blog. My name is Kat Williams aka the Rock n Roll Bride and my aim is to provide a little haven of kick ass weddingness in a cookie cutter, pastel and often puke-worthy wedding world. If you’ve ever picked up a bridal magazine and felt queasy or trawled the internet and felt disheartened by what you didn’t find well, my friend, you are in the right place!
Hello and welcome to my little blog. My name is Kat Williams aka the Rock n Roll Bride and my aim is to provide a little haven of kick ass weddingness in a cookie cutter, pastel and often puke-worthy wedding world. If you’ve ever picked up a bridal magazine and felt queasy or trawled the internet and felt disheartened by what you didn’t find well, my friend, you are in the right place!
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