Rock n Roll Bride - The ultimate guide for alternative brides

British Brides

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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Emma & Matt’s Incredible Fancy Dress Wedding

Kat

September 8, 2010

Emma & Matt had an incredible fancy dress wedding at home. The bride & groom live on a farm, so they decided their own home would be the perfect venue. The theme for the fancy dress was anything from 1920's - 1980's and they invited their guests to dress as their favourite decade from the last century. Even the music they selected fitted the theme, with the DJ's 'The Beautiful and the Damned' - who they saw playing at a festival - playing an eclectic mix of music from the 1920's to the 1980's throughout the evening.
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Laura & Paul’s Vintage, Mismatched, Rock n Roll Bride-Inspired Wedding

Kat

September 7, 2010

I first laid eyes on Laura & Paul's fabulous wedding when I saw a sneak peek on their photographer's blog. Over the next few weeks I pretty much pestered their photographer Eliza Claire until she agreed to let me feature it - this is my favourite of all Eliza Claire's weddings to date! Laura, a regular Rock n Roll Bride reader throughout their planning, was keen to add personal and alternative wedding touches throughout their day...and they certainly did that. It was also a lot down to Paul too, who really got stuck into the planning and the desire to create something unique.
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Jenny Packham & The Roaring 20’s

Kat

September 3, 2010

Jenny Packham and 1920's styling was the order of the day for Emma & Adam's wedding at Chewton House just outside Bristol. In fact Emma's Jenny Packham 'Joy' dress provided the inspiration for the whole wedding! The wedding theme came about by chance as when Emma visited Wedding Days in Cheltenham bridal shop to look for a potential wedding dress. She hadn't had much luck in her search up til then but luckily for her, a promotions representative from Jenny Packham happened to be visiting the store that day and had a few "one off" dresses for Wedding Days to show case for one day only. The last dress she tried on was "Joy". It was exactly what she had been looking for. The bride then came up with the idea to theme the whole wedding about the 1920's/30's style of the dress.
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Vintage, Geek Chic, Retro & Folk – With Extra Sprinkles Please…

Kat

September 3, 2010

When David & Ruth started to think about the kind of theme they'd like for their engagement session and up coming wedding they realised that they wanted to do something that celebrated their life together and their upcoming marriage. "We soon realised that like our life together and we pretty much wanted it all to reflect us - vintage, geekchic, retro, scifi, lowfi, folk, rock, disco, soul, town and country - with extra sprinkles please."
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Have a Wedding that is Perfect for YOU – Greg & Michelle’s Low Key, Homespun & Family-Focussed Wedding

Kat

August 31, 2010

I went out with photographer Emma Case a month or so ago and as we dolled ourselves up in the hotel room before hand she was telling me all about Michelle & Greg's wedding. She told me how it was like nothing she'd ever shot before. The contrast of the awe-inspiring and dramatic Synagogue ceremony venue with the reception being held in Greg's Grandmother's house really was the ultimate depiction of what Rock n Roll weddings should be - you don't need any of the wedding "bits" and you don't need to spend a fortune - all you need is you two, in love, and a wedding that is perfect for you.
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A Vintage Shoot with Lucy Ledger Designs

Kat

August 23, 2010

If you're a regular reader of Rock n Roll Bride I'm sure you'll already be aware of the amazing Emma Case (she shot the image that I'm currently using as my blog header/my 'Punk Rock n Roll Bride' shoot) and Lucy Ledger Designs. Lucy makes gorgeously creative vintage-inspired stationary (I've also been lucky enough to feature her before as well as meet her in actual real life!) After Lucy saw Emma's work on Rock n Roll Bride she got in touch asking if they could get together to do a promotional shoot for her vintage stationary company. Hello!? Match made in vintage Rock n Roll heaven or what!?
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A Quirky, Vintage & Super Personal Wedding

Kat

August 20, 2010

You might remember Amy & Darren from their fabulous All the Fun of the Fair engagement session. I knew back then that their wedding would be a super stylish and quirky affair and they sure haven't disappointed. I am SO EXCITED to share these with you. The wedding took place at a private estate which belongs to Amy's Godfather called Ipley Manor in Marchwood, Hampshire. The couple actually got engaged at the same venue 18 months earlier when Darren popped the question at Amy's birthday party in front of all their friends & family. He snuck the proposal into a game they were playing! On the day Amy wore a beautiful one off Temperley dress while Darren wore a suit from Reiss with vintage bow tie and hankie. Amy arrived in a vintage Mustang driven by her father and they were married in Amy's godfather's new pool room where an oak floor was laid over the pool itself. Amy's aunt made the cake and their tables were named after their favourite haunts in London and they had written a potted history of why for each table to make everything really personal.
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Multi-Coloured Seaside Fun

Kat

August 20, 2010

Whitstable is such a little gem of a place for photo shoots. As most of you will know, my last Rock n Roll Bride photo shoot took place there but it would appear that Peri & Ryan knew some really awesome locations to visit that we never found. I mean just check out the multi-coloured beach hut. I love. The couple, who live in the area (hence knowing all the best places to go!) are having a winter wedding in December so wanted to make sure they cashed in on a gorgeous summer engagement shoot. "It also happened to be the Whitstable Regatta that Saturday so we decided to do the shoot in the evening to catch the fireworks" their photographer Shell told me. "It's the best time of the day really as we got some gorgeous light, beautiful sunset and some fish and chips whilst watching the fireworks! Their nicknames for each other are muffin and cupcake hence the chalk board shots - I wanted to have a fun, whimsical feel to the shoot as they are a cute young couple, and their wedding is going to be 50s polka dots which I think will have a similar feel."
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“It’s Not Easy Being Green” – A Beautifully Sustainable British Countryside Wedding

Kat

August 18, 2010

James & Holly had a beautiful countryside wedding at the couple's home, Newhouse Farm in Cornwall which they share with James' family . The couple, who star in the TV series, It's Not Easy Being Green, wanted a homespun, eco style wedding that truly reflected them as a couple and a family. In keeping with their 'green' theme the couple arrived at the church on shire horses, which when they're not glammed up for weddings are actually used to plough fields. "Our aim was to have as 'green' a wedding as possible. We wanted to have our reception at the place that had brought us together, Newhouse Farm" they told me. "Certain steps towards a green wedding were fairly straight-forward: we wanted to use only local, seasonal produce as well as British grown, seasonal flowers. Our venue, Newhouse Farm, is powered completely by solar power, a couple of wind turbines and a waterwheel, as well as using only water from our own natural spring. We even had a compost loo and a compost urinal for our guests to use! Green transport was also easy to achieve, after all what could be more romantic than using a pair of beautiful Shire horses to transport us to the reception. (Actually this was a bit of an extravagance as the church was only 100 metres from the venue... our guests simply walked!!)"
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Archery, Tractors & Tents – A British Summertime Wedding with a Twist

Kat

August 16, 2010

Architects Sybil & Jon planned an outdoors, Robin Hood style wedding - complete with campfire, archery and tents - at the bride's parent's house, for July 30th this year. Jon explained that they wanted the ‘feel’ of the wedding to be similar to the scene in the woods from the original film of Robin Hood. They wanted everything to be relaxed and very informal and so had tractors as their transport, a folk band and a rustic, natural style of flowers. "Sibyl was very keen to use English flowers and wanted them to look like they had been picked from the garden." their wedding planner, Kate told me. " Anne Bell sourced the flowers from a walled garden in Hertfordshireand created beautiful colourful arrangements in jars on each of the tables along withbouquets for Sibyl and her bridesmaids. The church was decorated witha stunning candle stick display and pew end arrangements tied with raffia. As an added touch the couple also quickly decorated the tractor!"
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A Sparkly Rockabilly Campsite Romance

Kat

August 12, 2010

Ooh what a lovely sparkly rockabilly wedding! Lucia & Paul got married at Arundel Town Hall, West Sussex which was followed by an outdoorsy reception at the bride's sisters camp site - Billycan Camping, Arundel - which specialises in bringing back traditional camping, with bell tents, safari lounge tents and Teepees! "We wanted to create a family orientated wedding" Lucia told me. It was held in my hometown, my Mum did our photos, my Dad made the rings, my Mother in law made the cake and the whole thing was held at my sisters campsite. Fun, laughter and a relaxed environment was important to us. We'd been to so many weddings where we felt on edge (due to not knowing everyone) and we didn't want that from ours. It was a buffet lunch that was solely Vegetarian and the tables were decorated with gold sweetie bags with fake tattoos beside them- these were red hearts with a scroll across- reading "Pete & Lucia" something that went down amazingly well with the children."
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Their Big Fat Leopard Print Lesbian Wedding

Kat

August 10, 2010

One of the things that really stood out in your survey responses was that a lot of you wanted more Rock n Roll same sex weddings. Well my dears, you ask and I deliver! I have actually been dying to feature Lindsey & Amanda's wedding for a while now but with wedding season being in full flow I have been a trifle busy! Patience is a virtue though my little kittens and I think you'll realise that wait was worth it when you see these two kick ass chicks!
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Nicola & Ed’s Scottish/London Fusion Wedding

Kat

August 10, 2010

Nicola & Ed wanted a diy wedding that really reflected them. The took from Nicola's Scottish heritage and had a thistle theme for their flowers and decor, all of which they sourced themselves. For their invites and order of service they used a photograph from the Bolivian Salt Flats which they had taken themselves when they were away travelling the year before that was really special to them. For the London aspect of their wedding (they married in London) they booked a double decker bus to transport all their guests and as a final touch they named each table after a London tube stop and bought postcards to add to the centrepieces.
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