Rock n Roll Bride - The ultimate guide for alternative brides

Backyard

A Quintessentially English Country Garden Wedding: Liz & Blake

Kat

September 26, 2011

Liz moved to America from the UK where she met Blake while he was singing in a bar. After dating for a while he proposed while on holiday in Rome. Although well-traveled, Liz wanted to have her wedding in her hometown of Brize Norton, in her parent's back garden. She had to rely on her parents, sister and bridesmaids a lot for help during the planning, "I arrived in the UK 3 days before the wedding and immediately had to go and meet our vicar, after that we had to fight the jet lag to start decorating the marquee," Liz told me. "I didn’t realise how much stuff I had collected over the year and when I saw it all piled up in my parent's dining room I felt really overwhelmed by it all. Luckily my sister and bridesmaid were on hand to keep everything on track we knuckled down and started hanging and arranging."
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Tess & Ray’s Dream-Like Backyard Wedding

Kat

July 12, 2011

Tess & Ray's backyard wedding is pretty much what my dreams look like. Tess told me all about it and I swooned over every detail, "From the very beginning Ray and I knew that we wanted our wedding to be relaxed and FUN, but most importantly something we could be proud of. We wanted to stay true to ourselves and not worry about any kind of fuss or frill. We wanted to make our dream a reality without breaking our backs trying to pay for it."
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Joli & Gary’s Amazing Backyard Wedding

Kat

June 28, 2011

Joli & Gary eloped in San Francisco. They had planned to have a big wedding party afterwards with their friends and family at a biker bar in Palm Springs, but then Joli got pregnant and everything changed. So 7 months pregant, the couple had a kick ass celebration in the backyard of their Los Angeles home. They described their party as a celebration of "Love, Freedom, Wild, Raw, Family, FUN, Village, Community!" and that's exactly what it was.
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Mark & Maryanne’s Summer Fete, Tea Party Wedding

Kat

June 13, 2011

Mark and Maryanne had their garden tea party wedding in Maryanne's parents house in West Chiltington.The vintage vibe of the day with carried throughout with DIY, classic vintage and country garden ideas. The bride's dress which was original vintage from The Vintage Wedding Dress Company. "I found a beautiful 1950's dress that I had customised" the bride explained. "It originally came with a lace cape, but my fab seamstress turned the cape into sleeves and added a bit of sparkle with some old glass buttons that I found from a little junk shop in Sussex." With this she wore Emmy Shoes, a customised vintage veil (made from a 1940's hat) jewellery made from original vintage piece and bag from the 1950's.
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Vanessa & Brian’s Bicycle Themed Wedding

Kat

April 7, 2011

Vanessa & Brian's DIY wedding has a vintage bicycle theme because cycling was what brought them together. The day was held at Simpson House, Kansas City and started with an intimate ceremony on the gardens. Vanessa walked down the aisle to "I Will" by the Beatles, performed acoustically by a local couple. After the kiss, everyone rang bells that were placed on their chairs. They also decorated their venue in a way personal to them. Wheat was an important decorative element as Vanessa's Dad was a wheat farmer and passed away when she was young. She even has a tattoo of wheat on her arm in memory of him.
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Jess & Brian’s Backyard Holga Wedding

Kat

March 29, 2011

I spied Jess & Brian's wedding, shot almost entirely on Holga, on one of my regular scouts around Flickr. I was not only blown away but the stunning photography by Laura Burlton (who doesn't love a bit of Holga magic?) but the actual wedding itself, and all the love and attention to detail that the couple put into it made it super duper Rock n Roll worthy. "I didn’t want the standard cheesy wedding photographs," Jess explained when I asked about her decision to have her wedding shot on a toy camera. "I am a photographer myself and I have a love affair with my Holga. I went searching for a photographer who shared the same love, but also did weddings. No easy task! I found Laura Burlton though and she’s won quite a few awards with her Holga work. And joy, she also does weddings! My parents and I are both happy now and I love the way the Holga shots perfectly portray the feeling of the day."
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Amy & Manny’s Morocc’ n Roll Backyard Wedding

Kat

February 24, 2011

Amy & Manny were married in the bride's parent's back garden which they decorated themselves in an eclectic and fabulously 'them' style. " I actually didn't really intend for my wedding to be all Rock n Roll, and it turned out that way anyway," explained the bride. "It was kind of Moroccan/Rock n Roll... a Morocc' n Roll style! I think the fact that it was a Rock n Roll wedding without trying... that makes it ROCK N ROLL! Plus the awesome leopard party booth couch, the fact that my Dad plus the groom & all the groomsmen wore chucks..."
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Tasha & Noah’s Americana Backyard BBQ Wedding

Kat

January 11, 2011

Tasha & Noah's beautiful backyard wedding is pure inspirational gold! I am super excited to share it with you today. I just know you're all going to love it just as much as I do. The ceremony & reception took place in the couple's back garden and they asked all their friends & family to help out where they could to make the day a really personal one. "Noah and I wanted to have a small, chilled wedding that involved our families and close friends," Tasha told me. "Choosing red, white and blue for our Americana backyard BBQ wedding theme made finding coordinating fabric and accessories super easy. Nearly everything was DIY- Noah made our Save the Date''s and invitations, Noah's mom made all the desserts, Noah's mom, grandma and aunt made the bouquets and bouts from a few bouquets from Pike Place Market. My mom's friend made 200 feet of pennant flags from fabric I picked out at the fabric store down the street from my house. My sister and her boyfriend cut up all the fruit for our drinks. My aunt stamped all the BBQ bibs with a custom stamp that Noah designed. My aunts put together the centerpices the day before. On the day of the wedding, my mom and I set up all the tables, chairs, tablecloths, and centerpieces in an half an hour."
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Rebecca & John’s Elegant Vintage Garden Party

Kat

November 28, 2010

Rebecca & John's beautiful Tennessee wedding took place at Almost Heavens Wedding Resort. With quirky details and elegant 50's styling, this really was a wedding worthy of Rock n Roll credentials. The bride wore a Paloma Blanca gown with awesome Irregular Choice shoes and a vintage veil that she found at a friend's yard sale. A friend of the bride who is a costume designer re-worked it for her to suit the style she was going for. She carried and vintage lace parasol.
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Laura & Harry’s Locally Sourced, Eco-Friendly, Midsummer’s Nights Dream, Vintage & Totally Rock n Roll Wedding

Kat

July 26, 2010

Excuse me one second while I scream "EEEEEEEK!" at the top of my lungs, because that's exactly how I felt when I first saw Laura & Harry's eco-friendly, vintage-heavy, Rock n Roll inspired backyard wedding. Oh yes, I really do love to feature true Rock n Roll Bride weddings - ie weddings of those that I was able to help and inspire with my little blog. Laura & Harry actually found their fabulous photographer Rosie Parsons and Laura's gorgeous vintage Fur Coat No Knickers dress after seeing them on the site. Yey!
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Homespun & Locally Sourced

Kat

April 1, 2010

I've discovered one of my new favourite photographers! So much in fact that I emailed him to ask for not one, not two, but THREE of his weddings to feature...so hold onto your hats because over the next few days you're gonna see some serious awesome. First up is Tony & Katie's laid back, funky backyard wedding. Although the pair live in New York they opted to hold their wedding in Kentucky where all their family are based. They knew they didn't want a traditional church wedding and luckily for them Katie's grandparents allowed their home to play host to the celebrations.
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Perfect Picnic Wedding

Kat

March 14, 2010

Sarah & Kevin's darling backyard wedding took place in a friend's back garden in Arlington, Texas. The vintage-inspired theme with robin egg blue touches made for the perfect, personal picnic wedding. The day was styled by Revolution Garden and several of the wedding accessories (including the invitation, all hair accessories, the sign-in painting, and the decorated hat box) were hand-made by them as well. The whimsical bouquets made of all off-white and vanilla flowers and the boutonnieres were created by The T Shop. The bridesmaids wore dresses from Anthropologie and the bride's dress was put together with thrift store shopping including Buffalo Exchange.
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