A focus on fun was the order of the day at Chris and Kara’s wedding, with a relaxed vibe, limbo, a dinosaur dance party and a sparkler send off to celebrate. They chose The Wood Shed in Vista, California as their venue, featuring natural wood, a gorgeous pergola to say their vows, and strings of twinkling lights to dance under.
The couple chose an autumnal colour palette, with red and rust tones through the flowers and the bridesmaids in orange velvet. The colours matched the venue’s worn leather and wood theme perfectly, and fresh greenery and a neon sign added a pop to lift the palette.
For their May wedding day, highschool sweethearts Lorenzo and Erica wanted to celebrate their love in nature, surrounded by their closest friends and family. “In Italy, there really isn’t much outside of the norm for weddings,” Erica told us. “Even if they’re not religious, most people get married in a church for traditions’ sake, which didn’t suit us at all.”
Their wedding theme was very much inspired by Celtic traditions instead of religious ones. From celebrating everything in nature to hand fasting, jumping the broom and drinking hydromel from a shared chalice, the couple based their choices on keeping everything as simple as possible, but with an eye to celebrating the beautiful, too. They paired blue, bordeaux and blush for an ethereal colour palette and used apples as a symbol throughout – writing Norse Gods’ names on them for table names and choosing crockery with apple motifs.
Amy and Ben were inspired by the town of Rosendal in South Africa for their March wedding. “As we were getting married away from home, we wanted our friends and family to experience this destination the way did – which was romantic, rustic and laidback.”
The couple enjoyed thinking of ways to make the wedding a magnificent experience for everyone, and for ways to incorporate Ben’s Afrikaans heritage into their day. The hosted for the whole weekend, made all the decor themselves, incorporating local foliage into centrepieces and table decor and got married in the groom’s family backyard under a willow tree under an arch his family lovingly made as a surprise for them.
When Rock n Roll Bride was created in 2007, I wrote a manifesto, which has remained the same to this day. It states,
Rock n Roll Bride is all about the charm and unique nature of ordinary people’s extraordinary weddings. Our passion is inspiring couples to plan the wedding that they really want in a world dictated by tradition.
Being ‘Rock n Roll’ is not about being cool, a rebel or even thinking of the most unique idea you can. It’s about planning a day that reflects you and your partner and declaring your love in your own special way. You don’t have to be wacky; you don’t have to be offbeat and you don’t have to be intentionally quirky – you just have to be you.
We often refer back to this when accepting weddings for publication, and although on first glance you might think Melina and Steve’s Santa Fe wedding looks a little more on the traditional side, when we heard all about how they took every detail of the day and made it their own, we were convinced they were every bit a rock ‘n’ roll couple!
They met in college but fell in love by going to concerts and enjoying live music together. They really wanted their wedding décor to emulate their relationship and journey together so they tables were all named after venues they had seen shows at and their guestbook was made up of vinyls.
Eden met Caileb when she took her brother to get a car to get fixed at the garage where he worked as a mechanic. They talked for a while while she was there and then he added her on Facebook so they could carry on the conversation.
Their magical boho meets rustic wedding which took place in October 2020. They were married on a private property in Burpengary, Queensland and had the coolest pampas grass wedding ceremony arch to say their vows in front of.
“We both love rustic and relaxed vibes”, the bride told us. “Pinterest was a big help with the reception arrangements and ideas. We basically took the things we both love and gelled them together to create out theme and inspiration.”
Although Sam and Mikey had to postpone their 200-perrson dream October wedding, they didn’t have to wait very long. They only pushed back until November and with the help of the bride’s mother and grandmother; who made masks for everyone, blankets and shawls for the bridesmaids, they were able to reschedule in record time.
Although they didn’t set out to have a definite theme for the wedding, it ended up having a rusic vintage feel with autumn colours (dark oranges, reds and purples) plus lots of gold, bronze and sparkle. Both the bride and groom wore black and white.
