Rock n Roll Bride - The ultimate guide for alternative brides

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The Inspirations: Ian Stuart

Kat

March 14, 2012

With a penchant for the opulent and dramatic, a style that makes him stand out from the bridal pack, Ian Stuart is a British bridal designer to be reckoned with. His statement style is unapologetic and one that makes people stop and pay attention. And pay attention I did, when an email landed in my inbox from the man himself, asking if I'd like to work with him to design a Rock n Roll Bride/Ian Stuart collaboration wedding dress. I kid you not! More on this soon, but for now...
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Is Your Business Future Proof? Cyndi Vs Madonna…

Kat

March 13, 2012

In1983 Cyndi Lauper released her debut single, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!" while Madonna's "Holiday" was the first of her records to really make an impact on the Billboard charts. They dominated the airwaves. Rumours of fueds and mutual distaste behind the scenes raged but they both received equal amounts of success. Their catchy pop tracks and punk inspired looks influenced a generation of girls who crimped their hair and danced around their bedrooms with hairbrush microphones. Whether they liked it (or each other) or not both Cyndi and Madonna were changing the face of a generation.
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The Inspirations: Jonas Peterson

Kat

March 7, 2012

Jonas Peterson is a wedding photographer, originally from Sweden but now living in Brisbane Australia. I first became aware of his work back in 2009 when he exploded onto the wedding scene with a photographic style so daringly different and beautiful that people couldn't help but stop and take notice. Since then I've been lucky enough to feature his work on the pages of my blog again and again. However today I'm going one step further, peeling back the layers, peering behind that lens and talking to the man himself.
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Chasing your Target Market

Kat

March 6, 2012

I'm asked over and over again by wedding suppliers how they can target and book alternative wedding clients - i.e. the type of readers that my blog attracts. While saying 'stick an advert on my site' or 'get featured on my blog' might be easy answers, they're not necessarily the right ones, and simply paying a monthly fee to have your logo in front of those alternative eyes isn't enough. It's a good start mind you, but this action alone isn't going to see your inbox flooded with enquiries from my readers. The best piece of advice I could give would be to ask you to question yourself and at every turn ask yourself why. Why do you want to attract these types of clients in the first place? What is it about these kinds of people and their weddings that you like. Be specific. Only when you know the answer to these questions can you take it to the next step - the how.
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To Watermark or Not to Watermark, That is the Question…

Kat

March 2, 2012

Whether or not to watermark or add a credit line to images published online is always a touchy subject because everyone seems to have a very strong opinion on the matter (as I’ve learnt when researching this article!) It is an issue I have wanted to address for some time and finally feel that, after various discussions with bloggers and photographers alike, I am finally in a position where I am comfortable to open up this debate. To lay my own opinion out from the beginning - as a blogger, I prefer to see and feature non-watermarked images. However tastefully integrated the watermark or logo may be, my opinion boils down to the fact that the image was not originally conceived with it included, and that therefore the whole concept is compromised by the addition. My job as a wedding blogger is to share inspirational weddings with future brides and to help the photographers I feature get bookings from these brides. In order for me to do both these jobs, I want the images I share to look their best.
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There’s a Big Wide World Out There

Kat

February 28, 2012

I'm going to get a little philosophical today as I'm still inhabiting my post-Vegas glow. It's a world where everything is neon, over-sized and delivered with a smile and it's one that, honestly, taught me a lot. I didn't expect that crazy city to have such a profound affect on me, nor for it to make me reevaluate how I run my business (hell, I just went to have a good time!) but it really truly did. Now forgive me if this offends anyone (!) but when landing back at Heathrow on Sunday I was immediately reminded as to just how small this little island of ours is - and I'm not just talking geographically.
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The Art of Selling: A Guest Post by James Derbyshire of Julia Boggio Studios

Kat

February 24, 2012

Nearly 9 months ago Julia Boggio and I had a gorgeous little daughter. I thought that it might slow Julia down a little, but no. She still runs our business at 200 miles an hour. As you may know, Julia and I own one of the fastest growing baby and bridal vintage boudoir photography studios in the UK, Julia looking after the creative side of the business and me looking after the sales. I adore running the sales side of what we do, but admit it: sales is often seen as the scary or evil part of the business or, more often than not, something to avoid because “my clients won’t like being sold to”. Now, the reality of the world is if no one sold anything to anyone, most business wouldn’t exist for very long at all. I had a bit of a head start in sales. As a child I didn’t have pocket money; I had a commission plan. It was stuck to the fridge and re-negotiated on my birthday every year. It helped me understand quite early on that you get out of life what you put in. If I needed that extra boost of pocket money that month, then I had to contribute something quite significant to the household that would entitle me to some extra dosh. So now that I have my own daughter, is this something that I will do with her? Well, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, but the combination of mine and Julia’s genes has created a very feisty little girl indeed. I suspect that if I attempted to negotiate anything with her she’ll look at me like I’m a punter on Dragon’s Den and tell me “You don’t have what it takes, I’m out.” She has me running around in circles already so I thought I’d give you a few lessons in sales according to my 9-month-old daughter.
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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.
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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.
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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...
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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.
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