A Casual Wedding At Home: Ann & Tim

Kat

December 22, 2011

Ann & Tim had just the kind of wedding I'd love to have had if a) the UK marriage laws weren't so damn strict and b) if I lived in a blue house. With the ceremony being held on their driveway and the reception in their back garden, this is the perfect casual backyard wedding. The couple actually met at their house, at the house party of a mutual friend who owned it before them. Having the wedding here really brought their story full circle. The matchmaker, even spoke at the wedding. "They wanted the whole thing to feel like people were at home", wedding photographers Sarah & Adam of InTandem explained. "The home was built in 1940 and the original owners of the house who sold it to them also had their wedding reception there. Back then it was just a big white farm house, but Ann & Tim repainted, re-leveled, re-landscaped, and even built the flower boxes themselves. It was DIY to the extreme, and their love for authentic vintage came through in their decor."

A DIY Wedding with a Mountaintop View: Larry & Chelsea

Kat

December 21, 2011

Have you ever seen anything as beautiful as Larry & Chelsea's mountaintop wedding? Just look at that view! The lucky couple we're married at the bride's parents home (OK I'm now officially jealous) and although it doesn't look like it, they had a small budget to work with. "Although we had financial limits, hand making everything not only saved us money, but it made everything much more personal and special," Chelsea told me. "I will cherish every hilarious moment I spent crafting and to finally see all our hard work come together was awesome. I never thought I could pull it off and I got it all done in time and I am damn proud of myself!! The essential item to a DIY wedding? Get a dang glue gun girl...Oh and start early!!!" The bride wore two dresses, the first, from David's Bridal for the ceremony, and the second, a one of a kind custom made dress by Deborah Lindquist.

A Movie, CMYK & Zombie Themed Wedding: Elizabeth & Steve

Kat

December 21, 2011

choose, especially when they realised they could have their ceremony at the amazing Tropic Cinema in Key West, Florida. "When we got engaged, we knew we wanted the whole day to be a big fun celebration, and our first thought for a venue was Tropic Cinema," Elizabeth explained. "It's an amazing volunteer run theater in Old Town Key West, and we are huge movie buffs. We even had our 2nd date there. When we contacted them, they were ecstatic to be a part of our big day as they had never hosted a wedding there before."

An Indie Engagement: Karn & Poey

Kat

December 21, 2011

Originally from Bangkok, Thailand Karn & Poey both moved to Brisbane, Australia to study. They followed each other over and during one of their travels to Melbourne, Karn popped the question. This hip and quirky engagement shoot is such a perfect depiction of them as a couple. I love it! "We met them at a local indie market where we had an instant photo booth stall and they decided they’d love to celebrate their engagement with photos" photographers Seth & Tenielle of Feather and Stone Photography told me. "All the styling was completely their own, their own personal style shone through completely. They are two of the sweetest people we’ve worked with!! We LOVE when couples individual styles really come through the photos."

A Colourful Indian Engagement Ceremony: Yashwin & Avani

Kat

December 20, 2011

I've something a little different for you this afternoon in Yashwin & Avani's engagement ceremony. In India, where the couple live, having an engagement ceremony is just as big a deal as the actual wedding. As photographer Kismet Nakai explained, "What usually happens in India is that when the couple gets engaged, even if there is a sweet proposal in private, there is always a 'formal' engagement to announce it to the world. It's almost like a mini wedding. In this case they had their engagement party on the same day as Avanis parents 25th anniversary so it was a combined party with like 400 people (imagine how big the wedding is going to be!!!)."

An Eclectic & Colourful DIY Wedding: Amy & Andy

Kat

December 20, 2011

As a regular Rock n Roll Bride reader, Amy booked some of my ultimate favourite wedding suppliers for her October wedding to Andy. Annamarie Stepney photographed the day and the bride wore a Candy Anthony wedding dress with the gorgeous 'cherry' Vivienne Westwood/Melissa shoes. She also dressed her lucky bridesmaids in Vivien of Holloway dresses. "We looked at lots of wedding blogs to find a photographer and saw lots of examples of some beautiful and really cool photos but when I saw some of Annamarie’s work on Rock n Roll Bride we just loved them," Amy explained. "After meeting her knew she’d be great. She made the day go really smoothly too so it was a good choice!"

A Autumnal Vintage Cinema Wedding: Holly & Robert

Kat

December 20, 2011

Holly & Robert were married at The Electric Cinema in Birmingham. After walking down the aisle to Billie Holiday 'It had to be you', the bride with her groom, headed to Kitchen Garden Cafe Kings Heath for a casual and DIY reception. "Rob asked me to marry him in NYC in October last year he got down on one knee in Central Park and gave me a beautiful 1920's pearl engagement ring," Holly wrote to me. "It was the happiest day of my life everywhere was just bursting with Autumn colour, strolling through the park was so romantic I wanted to capture the feeling of that day at our wedding."

A Bohemian Garden Party Fairytale: Mark & Jolina

Kat

December 19, 2011

After seeing Mark & Jolina's incredible engagement shoot, there was no doubt in my mind that their wedding would be AMAZING. However in my wildest wedding dreams even I didn't imagine this. The theme for the day was similar to their engagement shoot - a bohemian/hippy chic, garden party fairytale. "Mark & I have been active in the Philippines entertainment industry for quite some time now," Jolina told me. "He plays drums and guitar for his band Rivermaya and they’ve been around for over 17 years. I’ve been a full-time actress, singer and recording artist for the past 22 years. Most of our lives have been spent on stage or in front of cameras, with the whole country watching and listening. Therefore we wanted our special day to be as relaxed as possible, no press, no TV cameras, no interviews, and all the 'formalities' were made as simple and meaningful as possible. We wanted to ignore tradition as much as possible to the day was 100% for us."

A Bohemian Engagement with Hand Drawn Illustrations: Mark & Jolina

Kat

December 19, 2011

I have a beautiful two-parter for you this afternoon, both the engagement shoot and wedding of Mark & Jolina. When I saw this shoot by MangoRed, who hail from The Philippines, I knew I had to blog it. I love the mix of mediums between the photography and illustrations. It's something I've never seen before and it creates a really different and beautiful storytelling result don't you think? MangoRed worked with RabbitHole Creatives to create this shoot, as they explained, "We have been working with MangoRed for a long time now and our collaborations have proved our good creative rapport. The exchange of ideas are both orgasmic and highly productive. RabbitHole's concepts are captured in a very special light by MangoRed. You can see the attention to detail and the desire to capture the mood of every concept."

Vintage Goth Meets Glam Heavy Metal…with a Pinch of Glitter: Amberly & Gabe

Kat

December 19, 2011

Amberly & Gabe's September wedding was held at the Bakersfield Museum of Art. A Rock n Roll wedding to the core, music played a huge part in their day. "We are music lovers and the cocktail hour music was a custom list of electric violin covers by Ms. Jennifer Spingola," the bride told me. "The music over dinner was provided by the Vitamin String quartet featuring our favorite songs. These included versions of Sweet Child of Mine, Stairway to Heaven, Rocking in the Free World, Purple Haze and November Rain. Our first dance was to an Adele’s cover of the Cure’s Love Song."

A Sunday Kind of Love: All I Want for Christmas…is the Furla Candy Bag

Kat

December 18, 2011

You know youre getting old when you ask for carpet for christmas. However I think I can safely secure my Rock n Roll credentials for another 365 days if I have this baby with me. I was walking down Regent Street this week and BOOM! I was shot with handbag lust of epic proportions when I saw these lovelies glissening in the window of the Furla flagship.

DIY Tutorial: ‘Bobble Wobble’ Christmas Place Names

Kat

December 17, 2011

This week's super cute DIY project was submitted by Erin of BerinMade. Erin's etsy shop is a place for fancifully hand-drawn posters and flamboyant stationery & paper goods and I'm honoured to share with you this adorable tutorial that she created just for us. These would be awesome for a Christmas wedding or even just for your Christmas dinner table. Over to you Erin...

Post It Notes – 16th December 2011: Staying Inspired, Coming Up with New Ideas & Blogging Regularly

Kat

December 16, 2011

One of the questions I'm most often asked when I meet people is how on earth I'm able to blog so often. Well firstly and most obviously, I'm in a very lucky position that the majoroty of my content (i.e. the weddings I feature) is submitted to me. Every morning my inbox greets me with a plethora of potential blog content. Brilliant! However, as much as I adore featuring the weddings that I do, if the only content I wrote was other people's work, I think I'd quickly get bored. After all I'm not really stretching myself as a writer by penning 'Sally & Stan were married at the manor house wedding venue in June...' Although coming up with new ways to write very similar content is a task in itself sometimes! Anyway, my point being that I love sharing the amazing weddings and looking at all the glorious wedding photos I get to, but writing the blog posts doesn't massively challenge me as a professional writer. I currently publish approximately 16 blog posts a week, 11 of those being real weddings or photo shoots. However I'm always challenging myself to come up with new new ideas for the other 5 posts. So, today I thought I'd share some of the techniques I use for saying motivated & inspired, for coming up with new content ideas and for making sure you blog regularly.

Post It Notes: 16th December 2011: Let’s Hear it for the Boys!

Kat

December 16, 2011

This week's wedding Post It Note was submitted by Carina of the fabulous Love Me Do Photography. I loved reading the ideas she presented in her article, some of which I'd never even thought of. We'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas for getting those boys involved in the comments section too so get those thinking caps on! ...and as a side note, if you'd like to submit an idea for a Post It Note article, feel free to drop me an email, I'm always looking for new ideas for this series. Let’s face it, weddings are very 'bride heavy'. We gush about the bride’s dress, hair, shoes, and everything else feminine that goes into a wedding. But really, the wedding (and marriage) is about two people coming together; most often being a bride and a groom ( I’ve haven’t noticed this problem in same sex weddings so kudos to you!)

Thursday Treats – 15th December 2011 + Christmas Parties & Believing in Pink

Kat

December 15, 2011

Last night I went to my second Christmas party of the year held at my favourite shop in all the land, Fur Coat No Knickers. I certainly couldn't go to a party in a dress shop without a fancy dress so I rocked up in this baby created for me by Alexandra King, accessorised with my sparkly 'Airlia' belt from Lara Hannah and added some extra sparkle (hey, it's Christmas!) with my silver glittery brogues. Champers, mini cakes and stupid (in Charlotte's case pole) dancing ensued...

A Rustic Wedding with Personal Touches: Emily & George

Kat

December 15, 2011

Emily & George's rustic autumnal wedding was sent to me by Carina and Nadine of Love Me Do Photography and I simply fell in love with all the personal touches. The bride wore two dresses, the first, her Mother's wedding dress from 1977, and the second, a vintage-inspired short number by Avioanni. She also wore vintage jewellery. "The necklace I wore in the church was the same one that my Mom wore on her wedding and it was my Great Grandmother's (my Mom's Grandmother)," the bride wrote. "The earrings I wore in the church were the ones my Grandmother (my Dad's Mom) wore on her wedding and were given to her by my Grandfather. That was an amazing discovery. The jewelry I wore at the reception was also my Grandmothers but a little more modern looking. My aunt, Kathy, was amazing and loaned me most of the jewelry and told me some great stories along the way."

A Portland Glam Goth Grunge Shoot: Carmen & Solomon

Kat

December 15, 2011

This photo shoot and film landed on my desk a few weeks ago and I was immediately intrigued. I recognised the 'groom' as being Solomon Trimble, whole played a warewolf in the first Twilight movie and wanted to know more about the ideas behind this styled shoot. Real life couple Carmen & Solomon modeled for this glam/goth/grunge inspired project.

Yoshi, Final Fantasy & A Bride with Green Hair: Esther & Andy

Kat

December 14, 2011

Strange Spirits in the Mist: A Lithuanian Styled Shoot

Kat

December 14, 2011

When I first looked through this shoot by Lithuanian photographer Saulės Pieva I was honestly a bit chilled. It's definitely got that creepy-spooky vibe going on. "The shoot was about mist and about the strange spirits who are protecting dying nature," Saulės told me. " It's about the mystery of the rain, the forest, little creatures and secret life of nature spirits."

An Intimate Wedding of Just 16 Guests: Jasmine & Piers

Kat

December 14, 2011

Jasmine & Piers had only 16 guests for their intimate wedding which meant they were able to have a really relaxed and personal celebration. "We wanted it to be simple and pretty, and most of all...relaxed," the bride told me. "We didn't really have a theme, but if I had to pick a work to describe it, I say Love. Everything involved in the day are things (or people) we love. Piers had his Father as his best man, which was very sweet. One of my very dear friends, and her boyfriend, from NYC spent the morning with me, helping me get prepared. During the ceremony, our friends and family sat in a circle around us in the "Lady Chapel" of All Saints West Dulwich. It was exactly what we invisioned and felt so special. We all had so much fun. I don't think either of us have ever smiled that much in one day!! It was perfect."