Rock n Roll Bride - The ultimate guide for alternative brides

Las Vegas

Hitchfest 2011 – Britt & Mike’s “Re-Do” Vegas Wedding

Kat

May 3, 2011

You remember The Bowie Bride and her ridiculously awesome 'Hitchfest 2010' wedding right? Well I have news...and news that shows that even the most meticulously planned/detail-heavy/totally killer weddings can...erm...sometimes go wrong. Britt emailed me this week to tell me all about the drama! "Basically we were told that the wedding we spent over a year planning and pouring our collective heart and soul into, didn't count. Not one bit. We were, at first, very shocked and devastated. Our wedding day was oh-so-special and unique and was such a personal expression of our love that upon hearing this news, made it seem all for not. We knew we were married in our heart of hearts, but legally, our marriage wasn't legal." "This is what happened... we think: Our officiant was supposed to mail our marriage paperwork back after everyone put down all the appropriate signatures. For whatever reason, this step did not occur. So when we went to go order a copy of the marriage certificate, the state told us that we are not legally married and that it was too late to send them the original paperwork from our July 31st nuptials. Cut to us letting out a collective sigh mixed with a resounding, 'F*ck' and a couple of 'What do we do now's?' We knew we had to get ourselves married. Again. But how? We had considered heading down to the courthouse and doing it quick 'n dirty style, but that didn't seem fun enough or crazy enough for a couple like us. I mean, we started the dance party at our 'first' wedding with a group shot of tequila. If a calm and quiet courthouse certainly wasn't our vibe then, it sure as hell wasn't going to be our vibe now."
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Amy & Daylen’s Las Vegas Elvis Romance

Kat

January 10, 2011

It was Elvis' birthday on Saturday so I thought I'd mark the occasion by sharing Amy & Daylen's awesome Elvis-influenced Las Vegas wedding with you this morning!Amy & Daylen were married at Graceland Chapel, Vegas by Elvis (of course) followed by an informal and rockin' party reception at the MGM Grand in the Skyloft Suite. "We had a reception with about 25 of us at a Skyloft Suite, then all of us took a party bus to Graceland Chapel to get married by Elvis, we chose the Blue Hawaii package and Elvis sang 3 songs," explained the bride. "It was the loudest and liveliest wedding ceremony ever, I'm pretty sure. We all sang and danced and cheered, so much fun and exactly how I want to enter into marriage, with a fun party."
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A Las Vegas Alice in Wonderland

Kat

September 28, 2010

Amber & Mike pride themselves on their unconventionality and so wanted to make sure their wedding was just that too. "It made perfect sense to go to Vegas," Amber told me. "However, we even bucked Vegas tradition by not getting married in a small chapel by Elvis. We found an amazing garden complete with ducks, just right off the strip. I'd like to consider our wedding half elopement, half planned (we planned in 4 weeks). My muse for the entire wedding was a single lipstick that I'm obsessed with called Melrose Mood. Imagine the most obnoxiously, opaque, electric baby baby pink and you're sort of close to what it looks like." The bride is a make up artist so did all her hair and make up herself. In fact she seemed to almost enjoyed the getting ready part of the day as much as the actual wedding bit! "I spent the morning with my bridesmaids doing make up, eating gummy dice and card cookies (amongst other treats). We had an amazing bridal photo shoot in the atrium at Bellagio where we captured some sweet Alice inspired photos. Which is totally fitting since my husband is related to the real Alice in Wonderland, Alice Liddell (can you say "keeper"?). I wore were 6 inch heels entirely covered in Swarovski crystals. Needless to say the bridal shoot stopped traffic."
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“We got married after spending just 12 days with each other…”

Kat

September 9, 2010

Oh MAN am I excited to share Krystle & David's wedding story with you today. The couple got married just twelve days after they properly met and they couldn't be more in love if they tired. This is their story... "We met online via our professional wedding photographer forum, DWF.", the bride told me (they are both professional photographers) "We actually first met when both of us flew across the country to attend the DWF annual convention, in Nashville this past January." "We talked that first weekend about getting married and joked around about going to get married by Elvis back then and I told him I would have married him with a ring pop because I just wanted to be with him. We actually decided to just get married mutually, and when he came out to see me the couple days before we eloped to Vegas, he surprised me with a real proposal! We were playing Mario on my Super Nintendo because he swore he was better than me, yea that sucker failed miserably and I kicked his ass. He then pulled out a Star Wars tin lunchbox filled with my favorite Canadian chocolate bars, I love you mints, and dousche bag gum. At the bottom of all of that was a ring pop. He told me he loved me, wanted to be with me forever and then some, and then asked me to marry him. Nothing over the top, but I can't think of any better way to be proposed to than Mario, chocolate, Star Wars, and wearing sweat pants."
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A Las Vegas Zombie Party!

Kat

July 9, 2010

I'd love to go to a wedding like Patrick & Carla's - a small, personal and seriously fun wedding in Las Vegas. They basically had a really fun holiday with all their best friends and got married at the same time! Carla told me all about their wedding story and I can't wait to share it all with you. Methinks you will likey... "We decided to go to Las Vegas for several reasons. (We are a Denver, CO area couple.) When we first started planning our shindig it was going to be a small affair, about 30 people or so. But even an event that small seems to be a lot of work, and take a lot of cash. We found ourselves talking about the wedding and always saying, "Everyone will love that." or "what do you think people will think?" And we discovered that we were starting to plan our wedding for everyone else. So we decided to rethink our wedding and make it completely and totally us and all about us. One problem we had was money. Neither of us makes a ton of it, so we had to think what we can do to have fun, that won't cost a fortune and still have a honeymoon. Patrick came up with Vegas. We decided to cut the guest list way down too. Patrick’s father is elderly, and wouldn't be able to make the trip, so to be fair I talked to my parents and asked if they minded not going. They actually didn't freak out."
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Mexican Themed Wedding with a Tattoo Twist

Kat

May 10, 2010

Courtney & Dan got married at MGM signature patio, Las Vegas, and had their Rock n Rollin' Reception at Diego's restaurant in MGM. The couple both love Cinco De Mayo, collect hot sauce, their first date was at a Mexican restaurant and they love Mariachi bands, so the wedding has a slight Mexican theme. Courtney originally had a traditional wedding dress, but a few days before she got on the plane to Vegas she went to the fitting to find her dress was to small. It was fate! Courtney knew there wasn't going to be enough time to fix it, so she went to a prom shop in Philadelphia and found this gorgeous dress.
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Cheesily Fabulous ~ Vegas Baby!

Kat

May 1, 2010

Vegas baby! Meredith send me such a great description of Reed & Alicia's cheesily fabulous Vegas-themed wedding that I just have to hand this one over to her... "Reed & Alicia planned their fun, quirky wedding in just six weeks! When they began looking for ceremony locations & venues, the two came across this small chapel located near the beach where they usually walk with their golden retriever. After looking inside and seeing the bright red carpet & a cheesy stained glass window (with a rainbow & two doves) at the altar, Reed & Alicia came up with the idea of having a kitschy Las Vegas-themed wedding in this Vegas-esque chapel. They found 60 pairs of "Elvis" sunglasses on Ebay and envisioned having their guests put on these sunglasses right after they were pronounced husband & wife, during their kiss.
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Cool & Colourful

Kat

April 26, 2010

Mindy & Ben of Studio 6.23's photo session with the fabulous Amelia Lyon makes me so happieeee! Anyone thank knows me will be well aware what a colour fiend I am and so when I saw this I knew it was perfect for a-featuring! "Mindy emailed me to set up the session a few months prior" Amelia explained. "When Justin and I met them at WPPI, we had a blast getting to know them as bright, playful, hilarious, photogenic, and super cool people to hang with!"
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Superman Chic

Kat

April 18, 2010

The term 'Trash the Dress' is thrown about a lot in this industry so it's nice to see a shoot where I can comfortably call it a 'real' Trash the Dress shoot - boy is this David's Bridal number destroyed! The shoot took place at Dry Lake Bed in Las Vegas, Nevada and the theme was Superman and Lois Lane having a great time (!) Eric, the groom is a huge Superman superfan and their wedding theme was actually, Superman Chic (which you can see for yourself here.) "Honestly, we just wanted them have a great time and I think that definitely shows" photographer Mike explained. "We believe they are a Rock n Roll couple because Nichole destroyed her dress and at the end of the day, she decided to shadowbox it and hang it in their house as their own personal work of art. Her dress will never be locked away in a box, it will always be on display for all to see and that is pretty rockin'."
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Neon Boneyard, Tattooed Rockstars

Kat

February 7, 2010

Lindsey & Nate chose Vegas' Neon Boneyard as the location for their radical engagement session and from Lindsey's excitable email it sounds like their wedding is going to be off-the-hook too We’ve decided it’ll be very US—off the cuff, a little startling, but still have those moments where you’d feel the need to sigh at the sheer romance of it all. It’d be a whirlwind of crazy drinking and bringing family and friends together and looking FABULOUS and MOST OF ALL, having the best day of our life. Three of us at work started wedding planning at the same time and while they talked about chapel ceremonies and formal dinners they scoffed at my EMPHASIS on an open bar, chucks for the groomsmen, and the very mention that my maid of honor (my gay younger sister) would be in a tux rather than a dress --BLASPHEMY!!! I have no doubt in my mind though that my wedding and our great pics to always remember it by, will blow both of theirs outta the water. Nate and I chose to do our engagement photos here in Vegas at a venue I fell in love with on Chelsea’s page: the Neon Boneyard, where all the old Vegas signs are kept. It’s bright but rundown and captures Vegas perfectly and will be a great contrast to the relaxed Fall wedding (10/10/10 is XXX in roman numerals as Chelsea pointed out to us. SCANDALOUS, I love it!) we have planned at a Texas Vineyard. The pictures are being used for my Save the Date magnets, and shhh no one knows this yet, but the peacock headpiece will be a recurring hint for guests. The invitations will each be tied with a feather, and then the wedding has been based around the bright colors of the peacock mixed with the deep browns of fall. I guess I’m still somewhat of a traditional girl, and every bride needs something blue right? Thanks to Chelsea, Lindsey & Nate for sharing
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All Shook Up

Kat

January 29, 2010

Jessica & Ronnie's kitsch Elvis themed wedding was just too damn Rock n Roll to ignore. Stand by for all the juice... First and foremost I would like to just say Kat your blog was definitely a huge source of inspiration through all of my wedding planning! Your excitement for all things wedding is so fantastic to read that even after our big day, I still take a looksey to check out all of the great wedding photography you find! Thanks for doing what you do! It was pretty wild when Tom asked us if he could send you some of our photos, I said "of course I know Rock n Roll Bride, that sounds great!" I totally thought wanting to get married in red was going to have to make me spend a bazillion dollars that we didn't have on getting one made, but I randomly found it at David's Bridal. It was a bridesmaids dress for only $160!! I just had them take off the spaghetti straps that it came with because I thought it gave a more vintage feel to it. My husby's outfit cost more than mine with his special Wingtip Shoes costing almost as much as my dress but it was so worth it because man did he look hot in them! Our wedding consisted of a weekend gathering in San Luis Obispo at The Madonna Inn, which is filled with everything gold and gaudy, its such an amazing place with every room holding a different theme, I really recommend it to all for at least a one night stay! We started the weekend off Friday night bowling with friends and family at Pismo Bowl just right down the road. We wanted our wedding to be for us to spend as much time as we could with everyone and just party, so we had an early afternoon wedding in "The Gay 90's Room" upon the stage, while making our separate entrances, my fiancee's song was "I'm Your Man" by Leonard Cohen, and mine to "You Can Never Hold Back Spring" by Tom Waits, then we had our officiant "50's Young Elvis" (no disrespect intended to older Vegas Elvis, but we just love classic Elvis) who made his entrance by singing "I Got Stung" up the aisle as all of our guests just laughed and clapped along. It was truly a great moment seeing everyone have so much fun with him! Elvis officiated the wedding with fun and singing but also such sincerity about love and how to make it last. Our I do's went something like, "Do you promise to never step on his Blue Suede Shoes?" and "Do you promise to never leave her All Shook Up at the Heartbreak Hotel and Love her Tender?" After the ceremony Elvis handed us the infamous Vegas Elvis Glasses and sang us out to "Burning Love". We of course had to have Elvis' "Fame & Fortune" as our First Dance, hopefully by now your seeing that we're not creepy just HUGE Elvis fans. At the reception each table centerpiece was a different record sleeve from our collection of singers that we love like Johnny Cash, Wanda Jackson, Roy Orbison, B.B King, David Bowie, Elton John and many others, then for the placement cards we had "Mr & Mrs So & So are partying at Elton John's table" and so on. It was such a cheap money saving way to do centerpieces! I totally recommend it! To continue with the theme we had little record napkins that had "Rock & Roll" on them from Party City for next to nothing. For party favors we had our immediate family members and bridal party dedicate songs to us that reminded them of us, and the two of us dedicated songs to each other too, which we made into a CD for all to take home. Everyone came up with such great songs that it made a great compilation that we listen to all the time! We finished off the reception and despite the sprinkles of rain outside, we all headed up to the pool & spa and partied in our bathing suits till the pool closed! Such an awesome day to finally start a new chapter with my best friend in such a fun way and to share it with all of our loved ones that came near and far for a little mini vacation! I definitely recommend all couples to just try and have as much fun with the planning as possible, and don't worry about having to stick to the norm of late afternoon weddings with dinner & dancing, do whatever your heart desires and have an all day long of festivities to enjoy it even longer, because it goes by so fast! Thanks to Tom and of course Jessica & Ronnie for sharing their top tappin' wedding with us
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