Rock n Roll Bride - The ultimate guide for alternative brides

UK

Bunting, Cupcakes & Chickens – An English Village Fete Wedding

Kat

June 24, 2010

OK so I feature a lot of weddings photographed by Emma Case...but the thing is, all her weddings and all her couples are so RAD that as soon as I see the photographs I'm like "Emma Emma Emma send these to meeeee!" You get me right? The event I got so excited about this week was Kelly & John's wedding. Their inspiration came from the traditional English village fete, "where Nan brings an apple pie and auntie Brenda brings the coleslaw" Kelly explained. I love that!! The couple wanted a laid back, casual, relaxed and informal wedding which they pulled off on a budget. "We had two things in mind when we planned our wedding" Kelly told me. "We would not spend silly money and we would do it our way. We wanted a relaxed, informal ‘village fete’ wedding with no formalities and in general, a big knees up! Practically everything was done on a budget but I think it makes you more creative anyway! I think having a wedding with a difference in England is hard work – finding the right people to work with and in particular, sticking to your guns, but it really is soooo worth it. Our wedding couldn’t have been ‘more us’ and it went beyond both our expectations – and the comments we’ve had about the day have been very touching. I just wish we could do it all again!"
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Fabulous 50’s & Multi-Coloured Tulle

Kat

June 22, 2010

As soon as a saw Catherine & Kev's fabulous 50's style wedding, my attention was drawn to one thing - that amazing Stephanie James Couture dress! I have been a superfan of the designer ever since I found and fell in love with this amazing multi-coloured tulle creation and OMG Catherine's had a similar underskirt. She too fell in love with this dress when I featured in a while ago. "My maid of honour, Kirree, found a dress on Rock n Roll Bride made by Stephanie James Couture" Catherine explained. "It was the 'Lustful' or 'Tame Fifi' dress you featured a while back, as soon as she sent me a link to the pictures I knew that was the dress I needed to get married in! I quickly got in touch with Stephanie and asked if she could make me a similar version and she said yes!"
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A Non-Vanilla, Love-Filled, 1950’s Delight

Kat

June 21, 2010

An excitable email from a newly married reader always brightens my day and LeeAnn's may have been one of the most excitable I've received in a while! I just had to share the story behind her and husband David's gorgeous 1950's influenced wedding with you today. "After gorging my eyes on a ga-jillion bridal mags and internet images, I felt I was living a white-out groundhog day" LeeAnn began. "I quickly became downhearted about organising my own BIG DAY, the no-fun casting my eye over "traditional" gowns (this one? no, that one? no, repeat), the vanilla-ness of invites, pink-and-white themes to the power of 42,000! Where did the love go?"
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Quirky English Summer Festival Wedding

Kat

June 19, 2010

This quirky, laid back British wedding with a cool festival vibe was sent over to be last week and you guessed it, I couldn't wait to feature it. Rachel & Dan really did it their own way and I love the idea of a chilled out party in a tent to celebrate a wedding. The couple were officially married at a registry office but has an 'unoffical' church blessing at St Peter's Church, Weston, Suffolk. They didn't make a big deal about the registry office part as they didn't want this to feel like their actual wedding - in fact Rachel was still at work half an hour before their appointment! The reception was held at Marsh Farm which was just a holiday property when they found it. However since the couple got married there and Rachel published an article in The Guardian newspaper about the wedding, the owner decided to change it to a wedding venue.
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A Laid Back Brighton Beach Wedding

Kat

June 15, 2010

Becky & Jon wanted to have a laid back wedding with all their closest friends and family at one of their favourite posh restaurants in Brighton, The Ginger Pig. Originally Becky didn't even want to wear a wedding dress but after falling in love with this gorgeous David Fielden number, she soon changed her mind. It even disguised her baby bump pretty well! She paired this with some vintage shoes that had belonged to her Mother. The ceremony was held at Brighton Town Hall which was followed by some quick portraits on the beach - complete with the iconic Brighton beach huts and champagne in plastic glasses!
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Tamanna & Tanveer’s Muslim Wedding Celebration

Kat

June 15, 2010

You don't see enough Asian weddings in blog land which surprises me really as they are so colourful and full of love that one would think they were perfect blogging material. Luckily for me, photographer Tapas Maiti, who specialises in these weddings, send me this gorgeous Muslim wedding last week. I have a couple of Indian friends and I am always intrigued to hear about their epic wedding celebrations and how different they are to the western wedding. They are all about colour, family and fun!
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1950s Housewife Engagement – Tea, Cakes & Scrabble!

Kat

June 11, 2010

Alex & Claire's retro, 50's housewife engagement is aces! Not only because it was shot by one of my bestest wedding buddies, Emma Case but because it has tea, cakes and scrabble! "Alex and Claire are getting married in August and Alex is my best friend's boyfriend's brother so I know them both pretty well and am ridiculously excited about their wedding as I know what our nights out are like when we all go out together!" Emma began to yell me excitedly. "A special treat is Claire's wonderful rendition of "Oh, wouldn't it be lovely" in a cockney accent...she's actually very Northern (that's usually nearer the end of the night)."
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Laundrette Lovers

Kat

June 10, 2010

I've always loved laundrette photo sessions so when Brighton photographer Joanna Brown sent me this set I couldn't wait to share it... "I have been living in quirky Kemptown in Brighton for some time and have always had my eye on the Laundrette round the corner thinking it would be perfect location for a shoot" Joanna told me. "I have always thought that there is something quite lovely and romantic about laundrettes; the sound of the machines quietly whirling that combined with complete strangers just hanging out sharing a really mundane chore. So I have been patiently waiting for my opportunity to arrive and hey presto a lovely couple got in touch and I could not quite believe it. Laura and Rikki met whilst studying at Bath University and had seen each other around the campus; at the bar, in the library and also spied each other at the local laundrette; after sometime Rikki finally asked Laura out and the rest is history. They are simply an adorable couple who have a great sense of humour, Rikki even took Laura on one of their first dates to a Laundrette (how romantic). We had a hoot at the Laundrette (I think some of the regulars thought we were balmy) especially when Laura lay on the floor for one of the shots; hey it is Brighton though anything goes!"
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A Sunday Kind of Love – The Moustache & The Crown

Kat

June 6, 2010

I've been thinking long and hard about who should be my Sunday Kind of Love victim this week...it's getting increasingly hard as so many of you are so awesome to me! So I'm going to pick something a little bit random but something I know you'll enjoy! I had a total Tatty Devine fest. this week and I am in utter love with my new purchases. Therefore I dedicate this week's post to my new Moustache necklace and Crown ring. They are pretty, they are funky and they are random as hell. Love!
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A Bout De Souffle – A Cinematic Engagement

Kat

June 3, 2010

Shalma & Leo were lucky enough to find their photographer David through a feature on Rock n Roll Bride so as soon as the excited bride emailed me to tell me that they'd chosen David I was already looking forward to seeing what he would come up with for their engagement session. Over the past few years David has truly become the one to watch when it comes to his pre-wedding shoots. He's always pushing the boundaries and never fails to impress with his unique eye for detail. Shalma & Leo wanted to go for a film noir, classic film and super stylised shoot and in an unusual departure from his usual hyper colourful style, David decided process this entire shoot into black & white to fit in perfectly with this theme. "This couple are into their photography big time" David said "but they’re also in their classic films and wanted to have a pre-wedding shoot that referenced one of their favourites, A Bout De Souffle. This was a french film where the characters mostly smoke and drink coffee a lot - so we tried to recreate the streets of Paris in Richmond!"
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Pure (Feather) Love

Kat

June 2, 2010

Emma Case is my home-girl. I love her. She is a massive (and I mean crazy massive, like totally obsessed) fan of Featherlove Photography so when she found out that Noa was over in London in April, she jumped at the chance to do an engagement shoot with her fiance Pete. As soon as Emma told me of her plans I immediately 'bagsied' the images for featuring as I knew, even without seeing a single frame or knowing the premise of the shoot that they would be awesome...and boy how right I was! I asked Emma this morning if there was anything she wanted me to add to this post and she simply replied "The only thing I would like to add is a big fat thank you to Pete. I cannot begin to explain how supportive he has been over the past six months. I love him with all my heart and he's so friggin' hot in these pictures it's unreal!!" So much cuteness. Now hurry up and get married you guys. I'm waiting for my invite in the post damnit!
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Rock n Roll Bride Rocks The White Gallery 2010

Kat

June 2, 2010

Last week I was lucky enough to be invited to the prestigious White Gallery exhibition where all the country's top designers show their latest and greatest collections to a gaggle of eager stockists, press...and me it would seem! So last Tuesday myself and my 'official photographer' (it's true - his badge said so!) David McNeil, headed down to The Kings Road in uber posh central London so see what all the fuss was about.
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Best of Blogs – Issue 9 ~ Emma Case

Kat

May 31, 2010

Anyone that's been following me in any capacity over the last 6 months will be well aware of my love and devotion to Emma Case. Not only have I featured as many of her weddings as possible (I can't get enough) but I've even been lucky enough to be photographed by her. I'd say we pretty much have communication every day (whether that be twitter, email, text or talking on the phone!) and I am honoured to call the talented and absolutely awesome lady my friend. So when it came to writing this month's 'Best of Blogs' article for uk photography magazine Photo Pro, who else was I going to choose? Enjoy...
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A Sunday Kind of Love – Lisa Devlin

Kat

May 30, 2010

I wanted to start this week's post with a huge thank you to every single one of you for your kind words and comments on my 'How to...not be a blogging pushover' post. To everyone that stuck up for me and shared your love and passion for my little website - well wow, I've literally been blown away. I decided to share this story with you today because I think it can only add further proof of my love of all my sponsors, of how they make my world go round and of my genuine feelings towards them (and theirs to me it would seem!) UK photographer Lisa Devlin has been a sponsor of Rock n Roll Bride for the past few months. Not only has this got her many a Rock n Roll wedding booking, but it has provided me with more eye candy to blog than I could ask for! With Lisa's approval I wanted to share this card I received in the post this week. She also send me a little bag of treats including a Tatty Devine necklace! She knows me so well!
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Rustic Retro with a Diy Charm

Kat

May 25, 2010

Fanni & Ben got married in April at Cripps Barn in Gloucestershire. Bored by the usual wedding stuff they found in magazines and at wedding shows, the pair turned to the internet for inspiration and luckily for them stumbled upon not only Rock n Roll Bride but a plethora of amazing ideas via some awesome American wedding blogs. "Back at the drawing board, I found myself scanning an array of American wedding blogs. All of which featured jaw-droppingly gorgeous weddings that looked amazing but had little or no information about weddings in the UK, and then I stumbled across your site!" Fanni told me "From that day on, Rock n Roll Bride truly was a breath of fresh air for me from everything else I had seen out there previously. Your site was reassuring that we didn't have to be confined to the norm or do things a certain way because it was tradition. Our wedding was our day, our way. We wanted our guests to have the best time and not be left thinking that they were just at....'another textbook wedding.' So, with much planning and evenings spent beavering away we managed to pull it all together."
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Punk Rock (n Roll) Bride

Kat

May 18, 2010

First of all, well done to everyone for all your patience. I have been very cruel and teased you for weeks about this new project (especially on Twitter hehe!) but I'm pretty sure you're going to forgive me when you see what I've been up to...You must also forgive me for the super wordy nature of this post, but there has been so much work behind the scenes to make this shoot happen that I can’t possibly do it justice without an epic explanation. A little while ago, the amazing Emma Case and I were talking about how crazy our lives are; about how everything seems to have exploded over the last few months and about how many awesome people we’ve met. “Let's do a shoot together” one of us said “hell yeah!” said the other. After we’d decided to actually go through with it and (as Emma later confessed to me) after a major bit of 'OMG what the hell am I doing'/freakin' out about it, a date was set. We didn't really know what the plan was. “Let's just go and have a play” we said.
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