Rock n Roll Bride - The ultimate guide for alternative brides

Short Dress

James & Kassie’s “Earthy-Vintage” Wedding

Kat

November 4, 2010

James & Kassie got married at Casa Blanca on Brushy Creek, Texas in an "earthy-vintage" themed wedding. The couple chose their venue because they felt it completely reflected the vibe they wanted for their day. "The outside ceremony site, decks for guests to hang out, trees everywhere…..it was just perfect," began the bride. " The venue allowed for simple accents and decorations, which was just what I wanted. The colors were bright and happy, however allowed for that earthy theme to mix right in. Down our aisle I had 1 ½ - 2ft tree trunks set along each side, with simple vintage bottles and daisy’s just to add the earthy-vintage flare. Our archway was designed with lilies and shells, with vines and curly willow, which added that perfect backdrop for our quick ceremony."
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Patti & Frank’s Tattoo-Heavy, DIY-Crazy, Totally Rock n Roll Wedding

Kat

October 27, 2010

Patti & Frank are just the epitome of Rock n Roll Bride! Whenever people ask me what my favourite type of weddings are, weddings like this one are what I describe - tattoos, DIY, short wedding dresses, fabulous bridesmaids and happy, smiling faces! Patti wore an original 1950's vintage dress, awesome shoes by Harajuku Lovers and feathers in hair. "I originally spent $2,000 on a custom made dress which I had designed myself," the bride told me. "Well I had someone who specialized in wedding dresses make it (first problem) and I guess our vision was not the same and I didn't like what she made at all! I went to Cambridge Antique market looking for some vintage brooches to jazz it up and the first thing I saw see when I turned the corner was this dress. I think it had a light shining on it with my name! It was meant to be and just a week before the wedding and it fit like a glove! Oh and the best part? It only cost me $150!"
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Tamar & Jon’s “Hot Mess” Wedding

Kat

October 26, 2010

"Jon & I met in New York City, live in LA, and had our wedding in Toronto - where he grew up and I went to grad school," Tamah, the bride, began. "Our overall vision for the wedding was that it would be urban, comfortable, fun, and very "us". We love music and vintage stuff, so we definitely had some of that style infused but there are so many other weddings out there that are more "vintage" than ours. We're Rock 'n Roll and unique because instead of trying to unnaturally contort ourselves and our wedding into a neat little category, we accepted the fact that we're "all over the place" and went with it. That meant having some traditional elements - a chuppah, wedding party, sit-down dinner, and bouquet toss - with other details that had special meaning to us regardless on whether or not it conformed to a wedding norm." "If there was one thing I was adamant about, it was taking the subway to the wedding (I'm a transportation planner) and making it easy for our guests to our wedding using transit. So we picked a space right in the city that was only a couple of blocks from a busy subway station; even if it would be the only time in our lives that we "should" take a limo. Both Jon & I wore "flair" on our backpacks throughout high school and college so we designed some of our own for the wedding with the Toronto & NY skylines. There were video monitors throughout the venue, which are usually used for wedding slideshows. Feeling awkward about our faces being broadcast throughout the night, we instead screened Andy Warhol's "Screen Tests", which are beautiful and intriguing."
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Sarah & James’ Rockin’ Rockabilly Wedding

Kat

October 22, 2010

Sarah & James 1950's rockabilly wedding was inspired by Sarah's Grandparents who got married on September 12th 1953. "We wanted to get married as close to this date as we possibly could, hence the choice of 11th September 2010," Sarah told me. "My Grandparents celebrated their 57th Wedding anniversary the day after our wedding - the rose tattoo's on my feet (by Sam Ricketts) have their names 'Alice' and 'Mervyn' in recognition of how special they are to me."
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Scott & Ashley’s Incredible DIY Picnic Party Wedding

Kat

October 19, 2010

I loved Scott & Ashley's wedding as soon as I saw it...and I loved it (and them!) even more once I got chatting to the bride and their photographer Jeremy Lawson about all the amazing little details of their day. "Our inspiration came from our love of the vintage," the bride began. "We listen to records at the house, shop for clothes at retro themed consignment stores, and stay glued to TCM. We sort of envisioned a party that looked like a party scene we saw years ago in the movie Mona Lisa Smile combined with the famous barefoot dancing scene from Big Fish in the town of Spectre. We wanted that easy, happy, homemade, and colorful party for our closest friends and family."
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Julie & Chris Sweet ‘n Simple Philadelphia Wedding

Kat

October 15, 2010

Julie & Chris got married on a hot and sunny rooftop in Philadelphia city centre. They handed their guests colourful parasols to keep them cool which they got from their local Chinatown. Following their intimate ceremony they hired out the second floor of their favourite restaurant Noble which they decorated with DIY flower arrangements, sweet treats and vintage style postcards. The bride wore Dolce & Gabbana and the Groom
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Emma & Morgan’s Wonderfully Sustainable & Crafty Welsh Wedding

Kat

October 5, 2010

Emma & Morgan's Welsh wedding has really put a smile on my face today. Everything about the day was personal, was sustainable and was perfect for them. The couple got married at The Hive and Ice Cream parlour in Aberaeron. They actually had two ceremonies through the course for the day. Firstly a smaller and more personal ceremony at The Hive, joined by just close family and friends. Then, once they got to the reception, they had a second ceremony amongst all 120 of friends. Their DIY heavy reception was held in a marquee in "Charlie's Field" that looked out across New Quay Harbour, Wales - the exact spot that Morgan had proposed!
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Lisa & Tyrone’s Windy Wedding

Kat

September 28, 2010

Lisa & Tyrone got married on the South Coast of Kwa Zulu Natal in South Africa. Their bridesmaid and photographer, Jacki Bruniquel, told me the whole story. "Their wedding was a day of such love and celebration. Lis not just my sister she is one of my best friends and Ty is not just my brother in law he has been in the best friend category for long time now. Tyrone happens to be a really good photographer as well! I love them both to absolute bits and pieces and really wish i could just do their whole day all over again."
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Candy Anthony, Cupcake Tattoos & Pink Converse Trainers

Kat

September 27, 2010

Some eagle-eyed and long-term readers may recognise Nicola, who's 'Do It Yourself' wedding I featured way back in May 2009. Nicola decided that she wanted to rock her gorgeous Candy Anthony wedding dress just one more time, so got in touch with photographer Caroline to see what she thought. Luckily, when Caroline heard 'Candy Anthony, cupcake tattoos and pink Converse trainers' she was totally up for it and they planned this fun and fashionable shoot. Caroline also persuaded Nicola to bring a few more outfit changes (does this girl just live in gorgeous 1950's style dresses or what!?) and they were good to Rock n Roll!
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Jill & Neil’s Vintage “Englishness” Wedding

Kat

September 22, 2010

Jill & Neil's wedding is vintage "Englishness" in every sense of the word. The whole day - from Jill's floral Fur Coat No Knickers vintage gown, to the London bus that transported them and the personalised vintage postcards used as invitations and then re-used as the table-plan - was an authentic representation of the theme they loved so much. "We took vintage inspiration from our own families, finding old frames in charity shops for lots of photographs of our parents, grandparents and great-grandparent's weddings," they told me. "These filled the fireplaces of the Lodge and meant we were surrounded by reminders of our ancestors as well as being beautiful pictures. Also, to entertain our guests on our bus trip we had a picture quiz to guess who the couples in the old photos were - with the answers on the back of the original at the venue. These were in bags made by a charity from recycled newspapers from The India Shop and we also included bus related gifts to keep the children amused - mostly from the London Transport Museum, and old fashioned sweets and goodies. On the tables we used luggage labels from the Post Office for place names, which my nieces helped stamp with butterflies and tied to mini jars filled with old fashioned sweets from Hope and Greenwood."
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Messing About on the River with Joanne Fleming Designs

Kat

September 13, 2010

I wanted to start this sunny and bright Monday morning with a bit of dress 'porn' for you all. Who doesn't adore looking at pastel colours, short hems and gorgeous attention to detail - all perfectly modelled by a stunning rockabilly-esque model? Exactly. The dresses are all designed and made by Brighton based, Rock n Roll Bride favourite Joanne Fleming. They are (in order of appearance) Clothilde, Audrey and Pieretta. Joanne also made the pretty damn stunning headpiece to go with the Pieretta dress. I am a particular fan of this dress in fact - made from metallic silk organza, it has the wonderful quality of tarnishing slightly over time, so the dress starts to look properly vintage very quickly.
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An Elephant, Vegan & Love Themed Celebration

Kat

August 24, 2010

This elephant themed, vegan love-fest wedding makes me so happy! Abigail & Zak actually got married last October so this wedding was really a celebration of their love and partnership involving all their friends & family. "We wanted it to have a theme of elephants, loyalty, and compassion" they told me. !That's why we had the paintings of our parents there and also why our "favors" were gifts bought from heifer international (bees and trees) in our guests' honor. The most important part of our vision was that we were already married last October, so we didn't want to pretend this was something it wasn't. We wanted it to be a celebration of our partnership, and our friend who introduced us was our celebrant at the party. We did our vows in the past tense, and most importantly, we wrote and read our marriage manifesto about what partnership and marriage means to us."
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Megan & Kevin’s Budget Conscious, Family Friendly, DIY Heavy Day

Kat

August 17, 2010

You might remember Megan from her Historic Firehouse Bridals that I featured a few weeks ago. I loved them so when her photographer Erica of Turner Creative Photography sent me the photographs of her and Kevin's wedding, I couldn't wait to share them on these pages. Even more so in fact when I found out their day was an all-out budget diy fest - one of my favourite types of weddings! I also knew that Megan hadn't worn her actual wedding dress for her bridal shoot so I couldn't wait to see what she's chosen too.
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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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