Rock n Roll Bride - The ultimate guide for alternative brides

UK

Marcus & Simone’s Laid Back, Country Vintage Wedding

Kat

July 7, 2011

Marcus & Simone used some of my favourite wedding suppliers for their barn wedding in Gloucestershire, including Joanna Brown for photography, Fur Coat No Knickers for the dress and Severin of The Hepburn Collection for the bride's hair. I love this! "I got a little frustrated at how little choice there is when it comes to creating an individual wedding, especially as I didn't have that long to plan it (5 months)," the bride told me. "I found it easier to not refer to magazines and traditional wedding websites and preferred to take inspiration from Etsy.com, blogs such as Rock n Roll Bride and to go with my own ideas. I think it's easy to get sucked into the wedding machine and things can become too fussy. My ethos was to try and keep it classic, stylish and simple."
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Regula & Bruno’s Creative, Spooky & Wonderful Wedding (Part One)

Kat

July 4, 2011

"Regula & Bruno rock my world"...that's how photographer Assassynation introduced me to this bad ass couple when she sent me their wedding. The pair are from Belgium but wanted to be married in England. Their ceremony day was followed by a tea party reception and spooky photo shoot in an abandoned fairground (!) in their home country a few weeks later. Luckily for us all, this second part took place just last weekend and believe me, I'm going to be featuring it just as soon as the photos are ready! But for now, it's all about the ceremony...
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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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Anthony & Collette’s Laid Back & Timeless Wedding

Kat

June 29, 2011

Anthony & Collette were married at South Farm in Hertfordshire. They wanted their day to be laid back and timeless, so a matchy-matchy or strong theme really wasn't for them. "We took our inspiration from a few different sources," the bride told me. "We wanted it to be quite understated but not boring. We didn't so obviously want to have a things match or have a recognisable theme. We did, however, want everything to complement each other. Kind of like how my wedding ring and engagement ring contrasted but complemented each other - a traditional white diamond engagement ring with a black diamond 'eternity' wedding ring. One of our favourite photos of the day is of the flower girls. It shows them in their sparkly' trainers - it sums up how we wanted our day... relaxed but quirky."
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Claire & Joe’s Beautiful & Funky New Forest Wedding

Kat

June 15, 2011

A Temperley dress, a skull handbag and a groom in Vivienne Westwood? Oh yeah, this is my kind of wedding! Claire & Joe's wedding was held at Rhinefield House Hotel in the New Forest and was beautifully captured by photographer Lisa Devlin. Quite frankly this wedding is made for these pages, and so I'm more than a little bit thrilled to share it with you today. "We knew we didn’t want to look like every other bride and groom and wanted to be ourselves," the bride told me. "We took our inspiration from the 1930’s and although it wasn’t a theme it had a definite feel. One of the most important things for me as a make up artist was how to wear my make up which I did myself on the day. I love a strong rock n roll lip so I went for a dark 30s look using MAC Current lip liner all over with MAC Ruby Woo lipstick on top."
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Darren & Naomi’s Vintage Circus Wedding

Kat

June 15, 2011

The theme for Darren & Naomi's romantic wedding was Vintage Circus. "We wanted a day packed full of fun, totally relaxed and whenever anyone thought back on it they would smile," the groom told me. "The theme was a total surprise for all 200+ that were invited, with the first clue being as we walked down the aisle together as man and wife, and Entry of the Gladiators (the traditional circus theme tune!) was played by the organist."
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Katie & Michael’s Glamorous 1920’s Wedding

Kat

June 14, 2011

Katie & Michael glamorous 1920's wedding was held at East Close in the New Forest. The couple knew it was the venue for them as soon as they saw it - they didn't even look elsewhere! Katie's beautiful vintage dress came from Fur Coat No Knickers and she wore it with a marabou feather shrug from Queens and Bowl. The groom looked just as dapper with his bespoke King and Allen suit. Michael even sourced his own vintage buttons for his outfit from Button Queen and a haberdashers in Brighton. His vintage pocket watch was a gift from Katie.
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Mark & Maryanne’s Summer Fete, Tea Party Wedding

Kat

June 13, 2011

Mark and Maryanne had their garden tea party wedding in Maryanne's parents house in West Chiltington.The vintage vibe of the day with carried throughout with DIY, classic vintage and country garden ideas. The bride's dress which was original vintage from The Vintage Wedding Dress Company. "I found a beautiful 1950's dress that I had customised" the bride explained. "It originally came with a lace cape, but my fab seamstress turned the cape into sleeves and added a bit of sparkle with some old glass buttons that I found from a little junk shop in Sussex." With this she wore Emmy Shoes, a customised vintage veil (made from a 1940's hat) jewellery made from original vintage piece and bag from the 1950's.
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Tory & Joel’s Two-Day Vintage & Rock n Roll Wedding

Kat

June 10, 2011

Tory & Joel's two-day wedding makes my heart sing. These two totally different days worked so brilliantly for the couple. Both had a vintage and Rock n Roll vibe and I'm utterly thrilled to share them both with you today. The couple were married at Marylebone Town Hall, London in an intimate ceremony on Friday 27th May. Tory wore a vintage dress by Armstrong Vintage and Joel wore a suit from Next . The couple chose not to have their reception directly after as they were dreaming of eloping, and having the ceremony separate to the reception party gave them this feeling without upsetting their family and friends! "Part of us wanted to run away together and have a romantic eloping story to re-tell but in reality we both wanted our parents and siblings there at the ceremony," the bride told me. "It turned out to be exactly what we wanted: incredibly romantic, very intimate and with our nearest and dearest there to squeeze our hands when things got a bit emotional." The reception was held on the 29th at West End Farm, Bedfordshire and certainly had the Rock n Roll vibe. The bride wore a second vintage dress from Love Miss Daisy and the event was a detail-perfect party for all their friends and family.
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James & Charlie’s Intimate Registry Office Ceremony

Kat

June 6, 2011

You may have seen Andrew's own wedding around blog-land as it was photographed by the awesome Emma Case. Inspired by his own wedding experience, Andrew wanted to try his hand at wedding photography himself...and can I be so bold as to say, for a first attempt he pretty much nailed it! One to watch? I think so! He explained, "Meeting Emma had a huge impact on me. I've always felt quite a creative person and used to be able to channel that through music and film making. That just seemed to fizzle out through my mid twenties and left a massive void in my life. I never took time to fill it. When I met Emma she inspired me to pick up my camera and find a totally new passion. I've not looked back. I am so grateful to her and we still keep in regular contact. I find weddings and couples the most amazing thing to photograph as there is nothing but love and positivity in every frame. I am completely engulfed now and have taken the leap of faith to see if I can follow my own photography path."
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Jonathan & Zoe’s Wedding Festival

Kat

June 3, 2011

For their 'Wedstival' (wedding festival!), Jonathan & Zoe threw traditions completely out of the window and planned the wedding that they wanted. As the bride told me, "Having been together for a (very!) long time we really wanted to steer away from a traditional wedding and do something that completely reflected us as a couple – we love the outdoor life, our Airedale terriers, our family and music festivals. Thus we came up with the idea of our “Wedstival” – a weekend that saw pretty much all 150 guests camping at the farm (in a mix of tents, VW campers, caravans and even a 36 foot luxury RV!!). We took massive inspiration from our amazing venue, York Maze. It meant we could literally have everyone and their dog there! The kids enjoyed two adventure playgrounds, an animal farm, a jumping pillow and go kart track. All eleven dogs had their own special dog park and to top it all off we had a three table casino and the most amazing live band!"
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Laura & Rich’s Eco-Friendly & DIY Two-Day Wedding Celebration

Kat

May 31, 2011

Laura & Rich's classic English themed wedding had some super quirky and personal touches. The couple werelegally married at Merton Register Office, London and a few days later had an outdoor blessing ceremony and their reception at Tilford Institute, Surrey. "People were confused as to why we had two days, but why not?" Laura told me. "I wore my dress twice. I was driven in a posh car twice. The first day with my dad, nervous; the second with my new husband, brimming with excitement at seeing my friends! I'd recommend spreading out the love to anyone."
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Charlotte & Kevin’s Atmospheric Edinburgh Wedding

Kat

May 27, 2011

Charlotte & Kevin were married at The Caves in Edinburgh - a challenging venue for any photographer (it's very dark!) but photographer Bryony Claire certainly rocked this one and the couple ended up with some fantastic images of their special day. Charlotte explained, "Kev & I have been together for 8 years now. We went to The Caves for a night out and when quite by chance we heard it was a wedding venue so we booked for 8 months later before he even got a chance to propose! The Caves is a truly magical place and it felt so right to have our whole wedding there. We had a Humanist wedding ceremony that was filled with love and laughter and believe that the whole atmosphere and venue suited us and out relationship. I think quite a few people were shocked at my choice of dress, but hey, if you’re getting married, do it your own way! I've always been a bit of the beaten track, I'm sure a few of my friends and family would have been disappointed had I turned up in a traditional white gown!"
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Aimee & Ben’s Heavily Tattooed, Handfasting Vow Renewal

Kat

May 26, 2011

Bride Aimee and photographer Naomi Kenton connected through Rock n Roll Bride. They both got talking via facebook about some weddings they'd both seen and liked on the blog and so after getting to know each other well in this informal way, Naomi shot her vow renewal to Ben. Can we also just please stop for one minute and share some love for Aimee & Ben's ink?! Seriously...wow. "Tattoos are a big part of both our lives as Ben is a tattooist," explained Aimee, "and we are both really into all things rockabilly, hot rods and VW lovers so that's what we wanted for the day. We are just ourselves and we do things the way we want and are happy as a result."
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