Las Vegas Lovers & A Photo Shoot Teaser

Kat

February 24, 2012

‘Love on the Rocks’ – A Rock Music Themed Winter Wedding: Beatrice & Johann

Kat

February 23, 2012

Beatrice & Johann are true rockers, so what better theme for their winter wedding that the ultimate rock music party!? "Laughter, Party, Music...and a lot of Love" was how the newlyweds described their wedding theme. With music being such a huge part of their lives and love story, it was an obvious choice. They chose a hotel on the Bavarian Alps as the venue for their wedding and so their 'Love on the Rocks' wedding slogan we created.

The Inspirations: Kirsty Mitchell

Kat

February 22, 2012

I came across the work of Kirsty Mitchell via flickr a few years ago. It was her 'Lavender Princess' image (above) that I first saw and I was immediately hooked. I'd never seen anything like it and I was smitten...head over heels in love in fact! It's actually hard for me to articulate how Kirsty's work makes me feel but needless to say she transports me to a magical world with every image that I'm lucky enough to see. If possible, Kirsty's story is even more moving than her incredible images. Get ready to be inspired... Hi Kirsty, can you tell us your story - how you started in photography and a little bit about your journey from then till now? I studied analog photography many years ago when I was 18 at art school, but this was before digital became mainstream. It was my first contact with the medium, and sadly I felt defeated and frustrated by my tutor's focus on the technical processes rather than creative expression. I saw photography as an art form not a science, and so in the end I followed a career into fashion design instead. It was another 13 years until I picked up a camera again in the summer of 2007. I was in the process of recovering from 4 months of chronic insomnia brought on by posttraumatic stress. The drugs I had been prescribed, had numbed my senses to the point where I had pretty much lost all awareness of touch, temperature and interest in the lives of the people around me, I was a zombie. I was undergoing hypnotherapy and slowly things began to return, but my sensitivity came back at an almost heightened state. It’s hard to describe without it sounding like a cliché, but it was like I was seeing the world for the first time, and I had an overwhelming urge to record everything around me.

A DIY Country Wedding: Jacob & Sarah

Kat

February 22, 2012

Jacob & Sarah had a DIY country wedding at Harmony Museum, PA. "Together with our community of friends, we pretty much made everything on our own because we wanted our wedding day to represent who we are," Sarah told me. "Having the wedding ceremony and reception take place in a non traditional atmosphere also helped to sort of describe where we were coming from, a subculture scene of punk music and tattoos. One of the most important things that we wanted to come from our wedding day was to have a celebration with the people who we love the most. We have a very close group of friends that we respect and hold close and we wanted them to feel like it wasn't just 'Jake and Sarah's Day' but rather a party for all of us. Immediately after the ceremony, which was fairly short, there was just a big party."

WIN The Soundtrack to your Wedding with Wedbeat

Kat

February 21, 2012

Wanna party like Monique & Lee (pictured above) at your own wedding? Well I've got someone that might just be able to help you on your way. Wedbeat is a unique online service that allows you to compile your own personalised wedding playlist and then have it presented and ready to play on a 24ct gold CD. No more cheesy wedding DJs and no more having to faff with an mp3 playlist, when, let's be honest, all you wanna do is crank up the music and party! They say, "With our flagship service - The Soundtrack to Your Wedding - couples can order 3, 4 or 5 hours of music on a professionally produced, ready to play 24ct gold CD. The music on each and every CD is highly personalised by a couples' choice of their favourite genres and eras and 'must have' songs."

Curiosity & Courage: A Guest Post by Marianne Taylor

Kat

February 21, 2012

One of the biggest fears for photographers (and I’m referring to photographers as that’s my reality, feel free to substitute a camera for whatever is your passion) when making the transition into a working professional is the doubt about whether doing something for a living takes the shine out of it. Whether in a few years you will start feeling like a new assignment is just ‘another day in the office’, and that in the end you lose that passion you have for your craft. For me this was one of the biggest psychological challenges to get over when I was thinking about starting my business. I was so protective of my craft, my creative process and my artistic outlet, and I was so afraid of potentially compromising all that I loved about photography if it was to be the provider of my main income. Eventually a switch flipped in my head though, and it seemed like madness to sit in an office doing a job that wasn’t fulfilling, while I could spend all my days with a camera in my hand doing what I love. Making that leap was at the same time scary and overwhelming, but also freeing, like stepping into my true self.

A Burning Man Inspired Wedding: Christine & David

Kat

February 21, 2012

TThere's so much about Christine & David's wedding that I utterly adore - Christine's Wai-Ching wedding dress, the metal-welding ceremony, the Burning Man inspired after-party... seriously, if you don't love this wedding you're bonkers. "Well, we started off by not trying to be anything other than ourselves," Christine told me. "The only thing I knew I wanted was my Wai-Ching dress and a gluten-free cake, and David just wanted a raucous party. Neither of us had expectations of what our wedding should be, so we just took the parts of the traditional wedding that we liked, ditched the parts we didn't care about, and made some things up along the way."

A Breathtaking Australian Wedding & A Bride Who Wore Black: Amber & Gary

Kat

February 20, 2012

You know when an image just stops you dead in your tracks? An image that you can't help but pause for a few seconds and go 'wow'. Well that pretty much happened to me with every single photograph of Amber & Gary's wedding. Wedding photographer Samm Blake is quite simply phenomenal. See? I bet you whispered 'wow' too didn't you? "I wouldn't say we were purposely going for a Rock n Roll wedding, but as I play at many weddings every year as a professional musician, the cookie cutter white strapless dress look really didn't excite me," Amber told me. "I tried on over 50 traditional dresses in dress shops and didn't love any of them!. My decision to wear black was probably the biggest diversion from 'traditional' and came from my love of being slightly dramatic and different, while also wanting to be glamorous."

Roo’s Favourite Finds: Fabulous Favours

Kat

February 20, 2012

As the rest of you Rock n Roll Brides will be aware, there are certain age-old wedding traditions that we love and want to uphold, whereas others leave us looking a bit glassy-eyed. The beauty of the contemporary wedding is that we’re free to do away with the stuff that doesn’t make sense to us pretty much without question – for us, I naturally just assumed that we’d be forsaking the wedding favour. Now, I’ve only been to three weddings in my time and I received a wedding favour at just one of them – so you’ll forgive me for thinking that there was no real “meaning” or general substance to the idea. In fact, the tradition apparently dates back to as early as the 16th century, when wedding guests were given what is known as a bonbonniere – a small trinket box that held sugar cubes/confectionary. Sugar was then somewhat of a luxury, and to give it as a gift was indicatory of the bride and groom’s wealthy standing. As time went on and sugar became more of an affordable commodity, the tradition became popular with lower classes of bridal parties – and the rest, as they say, is history.

DIY Tutorial: Ribbon Bouquet

Kat

February 18, 2012

When I first saw today's DIY tutorial I thought it would be a really tricky one, but I'm pleased to report that I was wrong! Emma of Two Little Birds Boutique has made it look so simple and quick - let's all have a go! Over to you Emma...

A Family-Central, DIY Backyard Wedding: Adam & Kim

Kat

February 17, 2012

Adam & Kim were married at home in their back garden in front of a retro caravan that they'd bought especially for the occasion! The entire day was DIY as they wanted their wedding to be about all the things, and the people, that they love. "Our love and what we love is what inspired our wedding day. We wanted to create something that was very personal and a signature of our relationship," the bride explained. "Each part of the day was special and unique to us; even the format was flipped to the traditional idea of many. I found the traditional wedding magazine’s a bore and wondered if there was something wrong to not admire these staged, stuffy epic weddings. It wasn’t until I delved more on the internet that I found that I wasn’t the only one who felt this way and that others were creating some fabulous and unique days of their own. Rock n Roll Bride was a site that made me feel at home."

#BrunaDigaSim – A Twitter Proposal & A Geeky Wedding: Bruna & Alexandre

Kat

February 16, 2012

After a Twitter proposal (#BrunaDigaSim - there are a number of videos of them on TV on You Tube after it happened, unfortunately they are all in Portuguese!) Bruna & Alexandre went to work planning their 'vintage geek' themed wedding.

Something Borrowed, Something Blue: The Vintage Wedding Fair, Harrogate

Kat

February 16, 2012

The Inspirations: Princess Lasertron

Kat

February 15, 2012

You know Princess Lasertron right? Inventor of the felt & button bouquet (yes, the original inventor of the concept!) and fashion designer from Omaha. Jeez, it's hard to put into words how much I adore Megan, the lady behind the brand. After falling in love with her over the internet, and a mutual respect that grew from expanding our respective businesses at the same time, I was utterly flummoxed when she invited me to model in her catwalk show at Omaha Fashion Week in August. At the time I thought the trip would be a shrewd business move and nothing more. However yes while it certainly was, what I didn't expect was the epic and genuine real life friendship that would blossom from that trip. I love her, I love her family, I love her outlook on life and work, and I love love love that she's agreed to be interviewed in The Inspirations. My sister from another mister, I adore you...

A Christmas Meets Halloween Wedding: Holly & Gareth

Kat

February 15, 2012

Holly & Gareth were married in late November and so had a kind of Christmas meets Halloween themed wedding. "Originally I quite liked the idea of a festival-y vibe wedding but Gareth's not very outdoorsy and I'm not keen on hot weather so a winter wedding it was!" Holly explained. "We were also on a budget so an out of season wedding also worked in our favour! My sister described our theme as, 'What do you get if you cross Christmas and Halloween?!'"

A Cupid Themed Valentine’s Day Engagement Shoot: Nic & Katie

Kat

February 14, 2012

Happy Valentine's day lovers! Well what could be more fitting on a day like today than swooning over a cupid themed engagement shoot? I hope you have a glorious and love-filled day. Don't forget to tell someone that you adore them!

How to Maintain a Good Work/Life Balance: A Guest Post By Adam Bronkhorst

Kat

February 14, 2012

I’m going to start out by saying I'm not here to tell you that this is definitely the right way to get a good work/life balance. However this is the way that I (try to) do it so I wanted to share it with you - who knows, hopefully I can help someone! It’s what works for me at this moment in time and enables me to switch off when I need to and not being all-consumed by my work. It’s really difficult being a freelance photographer. Right I’ve said it. We all know it. We all love it, but lets face it, it can be tough as hell sometimes. I can only imagine it's exactly the same for people in other areas of the wedding industry. We love our jobs so we spend most of the time on our own sat in front of a computer...at any time of day or night. As business owners we often need to work for long hours over the weekend and still be expected to be sat at our computers at 9am on a Monday morning to answer emails.

Discounts, Savings & Special Valentine’s Day Offers

Kat

February 14, 2012

Happy day of love! To celebrate, a number of my favourite people are running discounts and offers so I thought I'd pass them on to you too. Be sure to check them out! Whatever you're up to (even if it's just crap TV and wine like us!) I hope you have a fabulous day.

Mark Niemierko’s Valentine’s Party at Spencer Hart, London

Kat

February 14, 2012

Last week Gareth & I were lucky enough to be invited to Mark Niemierko's annual Valentine's party, this year held at Spencer Hart Tailors located on Saville Row in Mayfair. I wore a vintage pink 1950s prom dress for the occasion which I had picked up from my favourite vintage shop in all the land, Frock n Roll. As a little v-day treat, I thought you might like to see some photos (hello pink lighting!) and the fabulous video. I was even interviewed for this one!

Mexican Art Wedding: Kirsta & Alec

Kat

February 13, 2012

Kirsta & Alec's Arizona wedding had a Mexican art theme. Being married in an arts centre and with a mutual love of travel and other cultures (they met while working in an orphanage in Kenya) the idea of having this vibe for their wedding just felt right. "We met working at an orphanage in rural Kenya," Kirsta told me. "Luck would have it that both our loves of travel and adventure lead us to being in the same remote place at the same time. We just happened to be placed as roommates and the rest is history! We fell in love over working with kids, farming projects, and other development work. After moving back to the States to live in Seattle for a year, we got the itch to live abroad again and moved to South Korea so that I could teach. We had a series of serious discussions (neither of us really 'proposed') and decided that we wanted to make it official. In April, we had an awesome little Embassy wedding in Seoul totally by ourselves. We knew we'd be going back to the US for the holidays, so it felt like a natural time to have a bigger ceremony with our families and friends. The whole idea behind having a second wedding was simply to have a big party to celebrate with those people that we love and miss so much while we are off adventuring."