March 29, 2012
A colourful 'Alice in Wonderland' themed wedding was the main inspiration for Lucy & Kevin's Australian wedding. They wanted their wedding to be fun, quirky and playful.Read more...
March 28, 2012
Any bride that rocks yellow tights and teal shoes on her wedding day is instantly awesome. Are we in agreement? When Annick & Robert's London wedding landed in my inbox from wedding photographer Marshal Gray, I literally couldn't wait to share it with you! The whole wedding was planning in just 6 weeks. The ceremony took place at Sutton House, and after an emotional service the couple walked to London Fields for a hotdog lunch and some portraits. "On the way we met a friend who was coming to the evening event," Annick told me. "It was a wonderful walk to really reflect on the day and our personal journey. We use to live near London Fields so the walk had real emotional significance to us."Read more...
March 28, 2012
When I say that I'm thrilled about today's interview... well I really truly mean it. 'Thrilled' is just one tiny little word but it's probably the only plausible way to describe how I felt when the email reply agreeing to this feature arrived. Elizabeth Messina is a wedding and portrait photographer who shoots on film. No stranger to wedding blogs (or print magazines for that matter!) she's had her incredible imagery featured on pretty much all of them. Her eye for love and emotion is like no other and she has just written her first book, due to be published on April 24th. Elizabeth kindly took some time out of her busy schedule to talk to me today.Read more...
March 28, 2012
Wendy & Jesse's homemade wedding had a peacock theme. The day was held in their own house and alongside Brittany of Bshane Events, they made what they could themselves to make their wedding their own. Wendy wore a dress that had belonged to her Mother in the 70s. It was originally a pageant dress but she customised it, inspired by Gwen Stefani's wedding dress.Read more...
March 27, 2012
Is there anything cooler than a pirate wedding? I was pretty hard pushed to think of anything...that was until I saw Lou & Jürgen's pirate wedding with a rock gig themed after party! OH YES. The pirate themed ceremony was held on a beach in Malibu, CA. After the intimate ceremony in front of only their closet friends and relatives they headed to the HMS Surprise (from the movie 'Master and Commander') for portraits.Read more...
March 27, 2012
After originally planning a massive wedding for nearly 300 guests, the stress all got too much for Tiffany & Ryan and they were forced to cancel the wedding. When it came to planning it for the second time, they decided to scale it all down and focus on what really mattered - them. "Three years ago I was planning a wedding inspired by what every magazine and television show told me it should be," Tiffany told me. "Like most couples, our guest list had exploded, tilting at nearly 300 people. The stress of pleasing everyone was becoming too much, we were way over budget and the fun was non-existent. My fiancé and I loved each other very much, but we both hated what getting married was doing to us. A few months prior to the wedding we suffered two personal tragedies back to back so we threw our hands up and called it quits. Less than three months prior to the big day we sent out cancellation notices to our guests. We lost nearly $25,000 in the process, and most of our sanity."Read more...
March 26, 2012
Jessica & Ty's wedding was all about having fun, throwing and great party and entertaining their guests. They didn't have a concrete theme per-say, they just included things they loved and thought people would get a kick out of! Jessica explains, "I'm the kind of person to go OVER THE TOP! On my son's birthday for example, I hired a bouncy house that took up the entire backyard! So basically that's what happened for our wedding. I had so many ideas but wanted to try and balance it all that it didnt end up looking to much like a circus or a mish mash of ideas all thrown together. I still wanted the event to be formal and still look like a wedding."Read more...
March 26, 2012
Just a little note today in case you missed it last week, but I've announced my next School of Rock tour date! On Thursday 26th April Gareth & I will be heading to Muddifords Court, Devon in my bright pink tour bus (yeah..that's a lie I don't have a tour bus let alone a pink one...but maybe one day!) and I'd love to see you there.Read more...
March 26, 2012
Back in February 2011 I was at exhibiting at the first Designer Vintage Bridal Show, Birmingham. Luckily for me the organisers plonked my stand right next to one of my ultimate besties, wedding photographer Emma Case. On the second day of the show in walked bride-to-be Aneesha, who had decided she wanted Emma to capture her 2012 wedding. After chatting about wedding planning, blogging and photography Annesha went upstairs to try on wedding dresses. Always one to get excited about this part of wedding planning Emma & I followed to see what the bride-to-be would pick. Aneesha & Ed were having a traditional Indian ceremony in the morning, but for the evening reception they wanted to change into western wedding attire. As soon as Aneesha tried on the slinky Yevonde by Jenny Packham the tears started to fall and we all knew it was the dress for her! I'm honoured that I was allowed to witness this experience and I'm even more thrilled that today I get to share their full wedding story with you.Read more...
March 25, 2012
When shooting in Vegas, make up artist LaVey asked what I'd like on my lips, "bright pink please" was my reply (obviously!) "Well I've got something that will blow your socks off," she replied, "this stuff won't budge all day." And she wasn't kidding. When we wrapped shooting at 5.30pm the lip stain still looked exactly as it did when she applied it that morning. I'd eaten, drunk, talked, giggled...all in the desert heat, and this stuff was still there! Nope, I wouldn't have believed it myself if it wasn't me wearing it! Look at these photos if you're still not convinced...Read more...
March 24, 2012
Hello Kat & Rock n Roll Bride readers, I’m Rebecca Douglas of www.rebeccadouglas.co.uk a Kent based wedding and lifestyle photographer who loves working with people and making and creating beautiful things! When I’m not shooting and doing photography related stuff I love to get a make on with all sorts of materials. I really loved the images that I was seeing from wedding photo booths and so wanted to develop these blackboard speech bubbles for guests to write messages on while in photo booths at weddings.Read more...
March 23, 2012
In my opinion, every business lives or dies on the strength of its customer service. To most it means complaining when there are queues at the store, when a check out girl is grumpy, when we wait too long for our order in the restaurant – i.e. the term is mostly pulled out when customer service is lacking. When it works well, it’s like an invisible comfortable blanket that makes you feel good when you think about visiting your favourite bar or when you are ordering an item from an online store that’s always reliable. When Kat asked me to write about customer service, I first started writing a very matter of fact, hypothetical kind of article. But I soon realised that, actually, speaking from personal experience would make my point come across a lot better than any bullet points ever can. So, I hope you’re sitting comfortably, as I’m about to tell you the story of my tattoos…Read more...
March 22, 2012
Wow what a day yesterday was. Bright and early Gareth & I bundled into my car and headed up to Sheffield for my School of Rock (n Roll Bride) blogging workshop. The day was held at the amazing Chimney House. It was perfect for our intimate event (20 students in total) and Sally and her team made us feel very welcome. All the students were girls which was lovely for me but poor Gareth was definitely picked on because of that! After my four hour presentation (don't worry we had tea breaks) and a lengthy Q&A session we all trundled off to The Milestone for dinner and drinks and to get to know each other a little better. I can't even tell you how seriously nervous I was about talking, I'm certainly not a natural public speaker, but I'm so incredibly greatful to everyone that attendeed for making me feel some comfortable standing up there whittering on. Knowing nods & smiles, the sound of notes being scribbled and plenty of questions made me feel a whoooole lot better. You girls ROCK!Read more...
March 22, 2012
When Mark & Manilla's colourful wedding landed in my inbox I just about burst with excitement. There's nothing quite like a rainbow wedding in my opinion! The South African wedding was held at The View Boutique Hotel, a glamorous hotel in the heart of Johannesburg. "I felt that the ceremony should be the serious part of the day but I wanted the rest to be a very relaxed and festive carnival style celebration!" the bride told me.Read more...
March 22, 2012
For Terry & Elle their wedding wasn't about a big show or how much money they could spend. After a health scare in October 2011 they decided they wanted to get married quickly so planned the whole thing in just 4 months. They wanted a wedding that represented them and didn't cost a bomb. As the bride explains, "We held a wedding for 90 guests, including bridal party plus all bridal attire, wedding rings the works for under 15,000 AUD (that's about £10,000) - the average Australian wedding is $36,000 - do it all yourself and be resourceful and you can achieve wonders!"Read more...
March 21, 2012
I've known about Julie & Jaques' wedding for a long time because the bride's sister and maid of honour is one of my best friends, wedding photographer Shell de Mar! I've been hearing all the exciting details of the wedding plans for so long and now I'm thrilled to not only see the results but to share them with you guys too. The wedding took place in Melbourne. The ceremony was held on the rooftop of the Arcadia Hotel and the quirky and cute reception was at Garage Cafe, Carlton.Read more...
March 21, 2012
You're probably all aware by now, that at the moment I'm loving teaching, learning and exploring the ideas behind running your own wedding business (hence The Green Room, my School of Rock workshops and my work with The Photography Farm!) Very early on in my wedding blogging career I became aware of Liene Stevens and her blog Splendid Communications. I found it invaluable and full of amazing snippets of advice and guidance when I was navigating the murky waters of trying to be my own boss. When I launched The Inspirations, Liene was top of my list of people to interview. I hope you enjoy eavesdropping on our chat...Read more...
March 21, 2012
Last week saw the third Photography Farm organised and hosted by wedding photographer Lisa Devlin. I was super excited to be invited along again to talk about blogging, to help style the shoot which we asked Roo to model for. Lisa, stylists Hannah and Jayne and myself have been planning this spooky Miss Havisham-esque shoot for a few months now so it was seriously exciting too see it all come together! Hannah and Jayne did an amazing job of creating a indoor/outdoor sets in the woods behind the farm. Roo also had a lot of input into the feel of the shoot as one of the great things about The Farm is that we try to make each theme relevant to the models. It would be a bit ridiculous plonking Roo in a vintage picnic set with cupcakes and balloons for example as that just isn't her!Read more...
March 20, 2012
Wolf Whistle is a small stationery design studio based in London. Illustrator Brooke Woolley has just launched her company as she wanted to offer something a little different to what she'd seen available elsewhere. Her quirky signature style makes her stand out and she offers personalised, illustrated wedding stationery that's perfect for creative types.Read more...
March 20, 2012
I'm not going to embarrass anyone by naming names, but I've had a few people ask me if they could 'borrow some of my confidence' recently. It's a funny old thing really and a notion that I still find very strange. Inside I'm quaking in my boots pretty much daily, but apparently no one can tell - I guess that's a good thing! I really don't see myself as a confident person (seriously, just ask Gareth how annoying and stressy I've been over my School of Rock workshop that's happening tomorrow!) However what I am aware of is how I present myself in order to give the impression of self-belief. My faith in myself has come on in leaps and bounds over the past few years. However I certainly didn't wake up one day feeling top of my game...in fact even as I write these words I'm cringing a little bit inside that you're all going to think I'm a right knobber. My 'knobberness' is something I've just had to come to terms with I guess.Read more...