Rock n Roll Bride - The ultimate guide for alternative brides

Retro

A 50s Wedding Inspired by Back to the Future: Laura & Chris

Kat

October 2, 2012

"We've never really been a 'weddingy' kind of couple so after the initial haze of getting engaged and buying all sorts of wedding magazines and stuff, we realised there wasn't a whole lot out there that was really very 'us'," began Laura, who married Chris in August this year. "At one point I'd even considered getting a traditional wedding dress and being a lady for a day but luckily all was saved when we went to see Back to the Future when it was re-released at the cinema. As soon as I saw the dresses at the enchantment under the sea dance, I realised that I knew what I wanted for our wedding."
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A Retro Americana Wedding: Ralph & Carly

Kat

August 22, 2012

Ralph & Carly love all things Americana and retro and so the theme for their wedding was easy to decide on. They wanted to incorporate the feeling of driving through America in an open top car - something they love to do in real life. Ralph had even proposed on a road trip through Arizona, one of their favourite places in the USA. "We love Americana and we feel that there is a big difference between what is retro and what is vintage", Carly explained. "We wanted our wedding to be all things that we love. We love nothing more than booking a flight and a car in the US and then exploring, although sometimes we end up in very peculiar places and cannot wait for daylight to arrive so that we can head out! For the most part though it's the way that we have discovered some of our favourite places. Each table was named after a hotel or motel that we have stayed in on our trips, there have been many others but these had the coolest signs."
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A Laid Back Camden Wedding: Gemma & Liam

Kat

July 9, 2012

Recently I've been getting so many weddings in my inbox where the couple describe their wedding theme as 'laidback'. This makes me very happy indeed. I think a lot of couples stress so much about having the perfect magazine or blog worthy wedding that they forget about actually enjoying the whole process! Well not my readers... you guys know where it's at! Gemma & Liam's Camden wedding couldn't have been more gorgeous. The relaxed vibe of the venues they chose, and their quirky and fun fashion choices made this wedding stand out from the crowd. "The whole wedding was a very laidback affair, from organisation through to the actual day," Gemma told me. "I didn’t even write a to do list until 2 weeks before the big day and I’m not sure if I even used it!"
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A Casual London Wedding with a Bride in Yellow Tights: Annick & Robert

Kat

March 28, 2012

Any bride that rocks yellow tights and teal shoes on her wedding day is instantly awesome. Are we in agreement? When Annick & Robert's London wedding landed in my inbox from wedding photographer Marshal Gray, I literally couldn't wait to share it with you! The whole wedding was planning in just 6 weeks. The ceremony took place at Sutton House, and after an emotional service the couple walked to London Fields for a hotdog lunch and some portraits. "On the way we met a friend who was coming to the evening event," Annick told me. "It was a wonderful walk to really reflect on the day and our personal journey. We use to live near London Fields so the walk had real emotional significance to us."
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Young Love, Carefree Days & True Romance: Taylor & George

Kat

March 1, 2012

This beautiful shoot entitled 'True Romance' was set up by Christine of Angelberry Organics in order to showcase some of her latest trends and inspiration to support her organic make up company. "At Angelberry Organics we love to celebrate effortless beauty," she explains. "I wanted to capure the feeling of a romantic getaway, young love, and sharing laughs with your best friend. Those carefree days when you just have a chance to enjoy the simple pleasures of the beach, good music, sharing laughs, and the romantic moments in life. This shoot is inspired by all-American Rock n Roll and wrapped in soft colors with beautiful, scenic backdrops."
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A Retro, Kitsch & Cherry-Themed Southend-on-Sea Wedding: Heidi & Jim

Kat

January 11, 2012

You can't help but fall in love with Heidi & Jim's Southend on Sea wedding. The cherry theme is just so cute and perfect for a retro, quirky and kitsch seaside wedding. "Our inspiration was most definately ourselves, our loved ones and where we live, sunny Southend on Sea!" Heidi explained. "We wanted a wedding that was totally personal to us, that involved everyone close to us as much as we could and that was totally full of fun and unstuffy. We knew we wanted good food and a venue that was ours, where we could do what we wanted, decorate it how we wanted, drink the drinks we wanted and eat the food we wanted!"
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A “Totally Neat, Totally Sweet” Music-Themed Wedding: April & Rich

Kat

August 8, 2011

"Some people described our wedding theme as Rockabilly, but the only rockabilly music was played at the ceremony," newlywed April told me. "We are punk rockers at heart, but listen to a wide variety of music in the rock genre. We thought it would be very difficult to do a punk rock wedding and still keep it somewhat formal. (Rich's family is Catholic and I am not religious in any way. We didn't want to horrify his grandmother!)"
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Melissa & Jon’s Alice in Wonderland, Camden Wedding

Kat

June 30, 2011

"The theme of our wedding ended up as a sort of mish-mash of Mad Hatters tea party, 1940's/50's and Camden weirdness (Camden is an area of London known for it's alternative culture - great for people watching!), which fitted our personalities perfectly" newlywed Melissa told me. She married Jonathan at Islington Town Hall and afterwards had their reception in a hotel in Camden, where they first met. "My inspiration firstly came from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland," Melissa continued. "Jon and I went to see the film when we were dating and I fell in love with it, I'd always been a fan of the book as a child but the film had me hooked. As soon as Jon proposed I knew I would want a touch of Alice involved somewhere within the wedding, the only difficulty was going to be fitting the theme around our tiny budget."
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Kristin & Brian’s Black & White & 1940’s Themed Wedding

Kat

June 28, 2011

"We got engaged in prison. Well...that's what my Mom likes to say - we got engaged on Alcatraz!" newlywed Kristin told me. "We both have a fascination with prison documentaries and we ADORE San Francisco. So, Brian took me to Alcatraz and surprised me with a ring. If you walk to the back of the prison by the water, you get the MOST gorgeous view of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. This is where he asked me to marry him." Kristin & Brian's unconventional but beautiful engagement was perfectly reflected in their glamorous wedding on Friday 13th May. "Our inspiration was a combination of vintage, old Hollywood glam, and a bit of Rock n Roll! I wanted to be in black and white," continued the bride. An all-white dress was never an option for me."
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That 70’s Show – A Retro Flower-Child Bridal Shoot

Kat

May 4, 2011

The 1970's are well and truly BACK. I don't know about you but I'm seeing the styling of this decade everywhere at the moment - from the rails of the high street to the lookbooks of the high end. Even kitsch 70's décor is back in vogue (apparently...not sure about the whole avocado bathroom thing making a comeback ...) So needless to say, I didn't expect it to be long until someone brought this iconic styling into a bridal shoot. Photographer Catherine of Lily & Frank Photography and florist Steph from Fairy Nuff Flowers worked together to bring this concept together. They set out their goals from the outset as they were keen to make this shoot stand out from the crowd. They wanted the flowers to take centre stage to the styling, to echo the 'flower-child' movement of the 70's I'd suppose, so they make a conscious decision not to use any jewellery or hair accessories on the models. They were also very keen to make it a retro style, rather than the oh-s0-popular vintage styling of the moment - therefore bold pops of colour and strong statement pieces moved to the forefront. Finally, an obvious British feel was imperative as was a vibe of laid-back, fun and alternative-ness.
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A Modern Retro, Bowling Alley Shoot

Kat

May 3, 2011

Today's shoot is one that celebrates all thing British-ness but without a blatant 'jumping on the royal wedding bandwagon.' Thank goodness for these guys and their original take on what it means to be British. "With the royal wedding drawing so much attention around the world to good Ol’ Blighty, I wanted to showcase a quirkier side of England!" stylist and wedding planner Mary of Forever & Ever Events told me. "So I teamed up photographer, Aneta Mak, who specializes in shooting on film, designer Delphine Manivet, milliner Edwina Ibbotson and Bloomsbury Lanes Bowing Alley for an inspirational shoot that celebrated what I consider truly British: high-end meets retro."
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Stav & Danielle’s Engagement Session on Wheels

Kat

April 25, 2011

Stav & Danielle met she brought her car into her local garage to be fixed, where Sav happened to work. Needless to say the couple have their mutual love of cars to thank for their relationship! Being a mechanic, Stav has a passion for old cars and restoring them. Danielle adores all things retro and loves the aesthetic nature of vintage cars, so using them in their engagement shoot was a no-brainer really. For the shoot, the couple were lent a collection of vintage cars from some of Stav's clients including a classic Mercedes, a clasic Woody, a classic Corvette and a classic Ford truck.
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N’tima & Steven’s Love Across the Sea

Kat

March 18, 2011

How are your emotions doing today? because I've got a wedding to share that will probably make you blub...there is just so. much. love right here! N'tima & Steven's love blossomed across the sea. The bride explained, "We lived in Okinawa, Japan when we met. He was 16, I was 14. We were kids. We were neighbours. We both were kinda dating people on & off here in America, so we were just friends.You see, my family had orders to be shipped to California in June. It was April, and Steven and I were starting to get close. We exchanged numbers, and everything moved so quickly after this point. Every day before I moved was spent falling in love with this beautiful boy. Although we denied it, and being together was scary to us. Distance obviously hadn't worked previously, so we decided we’d be just friends. Everyone around us knew we were ridiculously in love, but we kept telling each other that we had to stay friends. On May 26, 2008, Steven told me that he loved me, and that he would rather ‘try & fail with us, than not try at all.’ So June 6, 2008, I moved away, and we made the distance work for us. We lived through web-cam dates & 17 hour time differences. I visited November of that year, and April of 2009. By the end of 2009, Steven had joined the air force. He was sent to Basic & we lived through letters for 8 1/2 weeks. I visited for his graduation. He was then sent to Tech school across the country for four more months. I visited for Christmas. In January of 2010 he was sent to live 2 hours away from me here in California, completely by chance. How much luckier could we be, eh?"
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Tony & Cindy’s Pin Up & Tattoo Themed Wedding

Kat

January 28, 2011

"Tony and I have always been into tattoos and are both big pin up girl fans, both classic and modern," begin Bride Cindy. "Neither of us ever thought we get to have a wedding that truly expressed who we were, and we were soooooo wrong. The tattoo / pin up girl theme was one of the first things we decided on. If we were going to do it, we were going to do it right and really have our own wedding … for us and no one else … we got our wedding tattoos during our engagement photo shoot."
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Katie & Olivia’s Natural Beauty

Kat

January 26, 2011

Today's first feature actually isn't wedding-related at all, but I just loved it so much that I had to share it anyway. Sisters Katie & Olivia's shoot took place at the home of photographer, and friend of their family, Lee Anne Havens of Flower Child Photography. The idea for the shoot was inspired by the girls' natural beauty and a desire from Lee Anne to create something unique. "It took me a long time to decide how and where to do this shoot, and in the end I settled on just doing everything at my home studio and made some crazy "costumes" for them," explained Lee Anne.
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