Rock n Roll Bride - The ultimate guide for alternative brides

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A Private Hiking Wedding: Jordan & Michael

Kat

September 8, 2012

Jordan & Michael wanted a wedding that truely reflected them and the things they love, so they grabbed their children and were married in private on top of a mountain in Canada. "Our inspiration was definitely nature and our love of hiking", explained the bride. "We chose Gros Morne National Park in the beautiful province of Newfoundland and Labrador known for its mountainous terrain and unbelievable views. This in our minds made the perfect backdrop for our quiet intimate ceremony. We knew that hiking boots were a must so why not include them on our special day? We kept our attire simple and clean and focused on more important details like the photography and the food!"
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A Homemade Glaswegian Wedding: Eileen & Peter

Kat

September 7, 2012

Eileen & Peter were married at Glasgow University Union. They had a tiny budget, but with the help of wedding blogs sharing affordable and DIY options, they were able to plan the wedding of their dreams. "We really just wanted to have a fun wedding that meant something to us personally rather than just doing things because you are supposed to", explained Eileen. "I was really inspired by blogs like Rock n Roll Bride that showed how you can have a wedding anyway you want. We had to explain our decisions a bit more than most to some people who didn't get it but I knew it would all come together in the end. Things like not having a religious ceremony. This upset our families to begin with but they later realised that they had pestered us for so long to get married that any way we wanted was fine just as long as we did it! So we had a small intimate ceremony filled with songs and poetry we love and lovely romantic things we had said about each other. Then we just wanted to have a big fun party to celebrate with all our extended friends and family. We didn't set out to be 'Rock n Roll' but we definitely ended up that way. Ha ha!"
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A Simple French Wedding with Homemade Touches: Virginie & Julien

Kat

September 7, 2012

This beautiful wedding was sent over the channel to me by French newlyweds Virginie & Julien. They were married at Church of Saint Joseph des Fins in Annecy. After cocktails at the adjoining church hall, their simple reception was held in a restaurant, La Ferme des Ollieres, in Les Ollieres. The bride handmade her outfit including her dress and headpiece and she wore shoes from H&M. "I own a ready-to-wear clothing line but I plan on making a bridal collection because I had so much fun making my own dress!" she explained. "I bought my shoes for 7€ (about £5) from the high street two days before the wedding! I was planning to wear off-white shoes but I found this pair much cuter."
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A Rainbow Wedding inspired by their Living Room: Ruth & Alex

Kat

September 5, 2012

I think green is a totally underrated bridal colour. We see brides in white, red, even black, quite often, but rarely in green - and doesn't Ruth show us how wrong this is? She looks incredible! "I remember looking at photos of my Gran in her wedding dress from 1960 which was blue with a pink petticoat and telling myself that I was going to wear my favourite colour when I got married too", Ruth began, "and so the green dress was born. My something old was my Gran's actual pink underskirt from her wedding dress." "Finding a green dress was hard work though. At first I tried on bridesmaid dresses but I never really felt myself or special enough. I was also being pushed into trying on white dresses by everyone but I didn't recognise myself. I'm a total tomboy at heart and the concept of being feminine for the day felt alien to me. I still don’t understand the concept of feeling like a princess on your wedding day. The most important thing was to feel like me. I found Vivien of Holloway online after looking at the adverts on Rock n Roll Bride. After three trips trying on various Vivien of Holloway dresses, I ended up ordering from a limited run of only 4 (!) plain green circle dresses. I love the fact that I can and will be able to wear my dress again and that I'm only one of 4 people to have bought it!"
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A Farm Wedding with Fancy Dress, Fun & Frolics: Lauren & Matt

Kat

August 31, 2012

Lauren & Matt's started their wedding planning knowing exactly what they wanted: something relaxed, stress-free and fun. They were lucky enough to have a friend whose parents own a farm, so everything else really stemmed from that. Lauren told me all about it. "As soon as we got engaged we knew how we wanted our wedding to be, we just didn't know how to do it! The first and most important thing was to find a photographer. Being a enthusiastic photographer myself, I spent weeks searching for one that she liked, we finally came across Sassy of Assassynation and sent an excited email straight away. She immediately told us to phone her for a chat as we hadn't set a date yet, but when she told us she only had 2 Saturdays free in the 3 months that we were looking at we booked her there and then! Everything else was then planned around her."
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An Independence Day Picnic Wedding: Sarah & Mike

Kat

August 27, 2012

Sarah & Mike were married on the weekend after Independence Day. They wanted a relaxed wedding that was a celebration, and one that all their family and friends would enjoy. "I would describe our wedding theme as a 'rural, homemade, Independence Day picnic'," began the bride. "We first looked at historic mansions in the area but quickly realized they would be out of our price range and we wouldn’t have much flexibility customizing our wedding. They would pick the DJ, and we’d have to select a meal from their menu for example. Then, when driving home from Baltimore one night, we drove past a park in Carroll County that was covered with beautiful flowers and several 18th century buildings, including a working gristmill. We stopped and walked around and discussed how perfect this place would be to get married and we decided to look into it. Luckily, they did allow weddings and after all the quotes we had from the mansions we were shocked at how affordable this place was!"
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An Intimate Ohio Wedding: Ashley & Jon

Kat

August 24, 2012

"Jon & I were married on a scorching hot day (temperatures just shy of 100F!) in September of last year in Columbus, Ohio", wrote Ashley. "This was the culmination of a year and a half of UK to USA long distance relationshipping! We met while living and teaching ESL in South Korea 3 years ago, and after 8 months of dating while there decided to keep trying even as we returned to our respective continents. After Korea, I started a master's degree course in Ohio while Jon returned to Brighton and found a job. The year and a half apart was tough but we kept the love alive with lots and lots of Skyping and daily gchats. We got engaged when Jon surprised me by secretly flying to Ohio (an impressive collaboration between himself and one of my best friends/roommate) on February 13th, 2011 with a vintage ring he'd bought at an antique shop in the Brighton Lanes. I was absolutely shocked, believe me!"
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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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An Elopement-Style Ceremony with Friends & Family: Teresa & Russell

Kat

August 20, 2012

"Teresa & Russell’s wedding was like an elopement which included family and close friends", wrote wedding photographer Melina of Lucinda Photography. "They left their East Vancouver home with suitcases packed for their Montreal honeymoon for which they were leaving only a couple of hours after the ceremony! We did some whirlwind portraits in their neighbourhood before heading to Vanier Park to help friends set up some chairs and refreshments. Guests arrived, they were married, the mingled and they left. It was great."
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Red, Polka Dots & An Ice Cream Van – A Budget-Friendly DIY Wedding: Kelly & Matt

Kat

August 17, 2012

With a budget of just £8500, Kelly & Matt pulled of a wedding that perfectly encapsulated everything about them. From the cute red colour scheme, the DIY details and the relaxed photography, their wedding was one to remember. "We did absolutely everything ourselves for as little money as possible!," began the bride. "We wanted the day to represent us as a couple and to be really personal. We wanted to make it a really relaxed atmosphere and make sure all our guests and we had fun. The theme was slightly retro, with red as the main colour set around black and white polka dots and loads of red love hearts! Everything looked exactly as we had imagined and seeing it all for the first time was one of my favourite parts of the day. All the details looked amazing and we were glad we put so much time and effort into them."
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A Simple Bridal Shoot on the Barcelona Hills

Kat

August 15, 2012

April in Barcelona. Teresa and film photographer Miguel Varona headed away from the city and up the hills to Montseny natural park to shoot a set of simple bridal portraits. "It wasn't the perfect day", wrote Miquel. "The sun didn't shine, but the atmosphere we had was perfect to recreate the special moments for a bride on her wedding day." "Teresa wore a leather jacket a boots with her simple dress. 'Why not mix tradition and simplicity?' I thought. 'Why not show that tradition is compatible with personality?'"
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Buttons, Belles & Polaroids: Angela & Paul

Kat

August 13, 2012

Paul proposed to Angela on an idyllic deserted beach in Galicia, Spain. This set the tone for their wedding day. Firstly a map of Galicia became the backdrop of their seating plan. They also had a polaroid theme with the table names, place names, cake toppers and invitations. They used images of their favourite places in Galician on the polaroids including palaces, fortresses and monasteries, and used them throughout the wedding.
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A Rockabilly Las Vegas Wedding: John & Marnie

Kat

August 13, 2012

Australian John & Marnie spent six weeks travelling around the US for their honeymoon after their wedding in Las Vegas. They were in town for the Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Festival and they loved the idea of getting married there. The ceremony was held at Little Church of the West, a quaint little 'mini church' looking chapel, right at the south end of the strip and the after party was at Level 107 Cocktail lounge in the Stratosphere hotel - right at the north end!
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A Sweet Sussex Barn Wedding: Fiona & Ben

Kat

August 10, 2012

"We didn't want a run of the mill wedding", explained newlywed Fiona. "Ben's a bit of a control freak and likes things done his own way. We both love anything vintage so enjoyed lots of weekends trawling through flea markets and car boots collecting bits and bobs to decorate the barn. We really wanted a party atmosphere with all of our family and friends. We collected/ borrowed lots of hats, sunglasses and various other items of fancy dress for the evening and encouraged people to be a silly a possible – our guests fully embraced the dressing up and pretty much everyone was wearing some kind of fancy dress at the end of the night."
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A French Garden Wedding: Elodie & Alexis

Kat

August 9, 2012

Welcome to Elodie & Alexis' gorgeous French wedding. If you loved their engagement shoot this morning, then their nuptials are gonna blow your socks off! The wedding ceremony was held in the bride's parent's back garden which they decorated themselves. Alexis picked all the flowers and pulled together a bouquet of wheat for Elodie to carry down the aisle. As I said in this morning's post, the couple are both deaf and found their film-loving deaf photographer Ashton Jean-Pierre at World Deaf Art Festival in Reims, near Paris, last Summer.
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