Rock n Roll Bride - The ultimate guide for alternative brides

Wedding Planning Advice

The Name Game: Should you Take your Husband’s Surname When you Marry?

Kat

Jamie Hopper

June 25, 2012

Kathryn Underwood was always last to be called in the school register. I'm not sure why it bothered me so much that I was stuck on the end every time, but it did. I felt like an outsider and I longed to be all snuggy in the middle with the Matthews' and the Smiths' and the Jones'. "It's OK though", I justified to myself, "when I get married I'll never have to be at the end of a register ever again..." And then I married a Williams.
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Are Babies the Next Logical Step?

Kat

June 20, 2012

choose to be in a room with a load of them. In fact at my parent's Jubilee party which was frequented by rather a lot of screeching neighbourhood rugrats, I spent then entire time cowered in the corner staring at my lap/my glass of champagne/the dry sausage rolls and hoping none of them would try to talk to me. It's ironic really, I'm pretty outgoing with adults, but anyone under 12 and I don't know what to do. I guess I'm scared I'll make them cry... or I'll accidentally drop the f-bomb and scar them for life or something.
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The Bridal Shop Experience & How to Come Out Alive…

Kat

June 18, 2012

I was blown away by the response to the article I published on Weight Loss and Weddings a few weeks ago. Thank you to every single one of you who was brave enough to leave a comment sharing your own experiences. Even though the post has been up for a little while the tweets, emails and blog comments are still pouring in for it. I never really know how topics like that will go down so it means a lot that you guys put yourselves out there like that. You are all so amazing. There was one resounding message that came from the comments, and one I didn't anticipate. It was your concerns or bad experiences with bridal shops and your worries with finding a wedding dress you loved (and that fitted/complimented your figure/make you look beautiful). The crazy thing was that these concerns were not even limited to those of you who identified yourselves as overweight. It seemed that nearly all of you, no matter what your shape or size, had concerns or stories to tell about the dreaded bridal shop experience.
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Weight Loss and Weddings

Kat

June 4, 2012

"Fat, fat fat fat fat!" read Martha's Facebook status. I'd seen updates about her diet plan and weight goals over the past few months and it urked me. In fact anyone talking about weight loss and dieting makes me feel uncomfortable... it's just one of those things I don't like being thrust in my face. Diets can be dangerous things. I've had personal experience. But Martha's statuses upset me particularly because I knew for a fact that only reason she was dieting was to fit into that size 10 Ian Stuart number. Yes, Martha is trying to lose weight for her wedding.
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Wedding Traditions & Deciding What’s Important

Kat

February 3, 2012

I put a shout out on my Facebook page to ask if any of you we're struggling with anything wedding planning-wise and if I could help. A couple of you mentioned wedding traditions, namely how to decide which to include and which to scrap altogether. I have a few ideas on the subject... Remember, it's your wedding There is a recurring theme throughout nearly all of the weddings I feature - that the couples wanted to have a wedding that was a true reflection of themselves...their likes and dislikes, their relationship, their personal style, their life influences. I believe that deciding which wedding traditions to include or ignore should also be totally dependent on you and what you value as being important to your wedding day.
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Do You Have to Invite Plus Ones to Your Wedding?

Kat

January 27, 2012

I'm going start out by being 100% honest with you. I don't really know the answer to this question. However after a discussion with Roo last week, I feel it might be a topic some of you are struggling with. Therefore I thought I'd use today's wedding planning advice post as a forum for us to get in a discussion on the matter - I want to know your ideas and opinions on the subject please! Although I'm sure you could Google this question and come up with the 'proper etiquette' answer, I think it's much more relevant these days to figure out what's right for you and your wedding. However I do think you should consider a few things before you make your decision...
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Simple Upcycling Ideas for Your Wedding Dress

Kat

January 20, 2012

I love love love the idea of making my own wedding dress. I am, however, more than a little bit sucky with a sewing machine. Alas! However this week I chatted to eco-wedding dress designer Deborah Lindquist about some simple upcycling ideas. Launched in 2004, Deborah’s eco-conscious clothing line combines environmental responsibility with a cutting-edge aesthetic. Deborah works her fashion magic with a mixture of environmentally-friendly fabrications and the resulting designs are as striking as they are ecologically sensitive. As a trailblazer at the forefront of the stylish green clothing movement, Deborah is making an impact in the fashion world while remaining true to her love for the environment. So as you can see, she's the perfect person to talk about upcycling with, I think even I could do a few of these things...
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Should I Book a Professional Wedding Photographer or Get a Friend to do it for Free? A Cautionary Tale…

Kat

January 13, 2012

You've probably seen similar discussions to this on other wedding blogs, however today I wanted to share with you this cautionary tale from a bride who had personal experience of taking the cheaper option and was unhappy with the results. Now, I know spending £2000 on a wedding photographer isn't possible for everyone, however the point of this post is not to bully you into paying for someone you can't afford. No, I wanted to share this story with you so that you make your decision with your eyes wide open. I just want to be open and honest with you and to let you know that, as with most things in life, you really do get what you pay for...and if something sounds too good to be true then it probably is. If wedding photograph isn't that big a deal to you, the great - who am I to tell you that's wrong? However it breaks my heart when I hear from newlyweds that say 'I wish we'd thought more about our photography. We spend more on the cake/my dress/the flowers and now we have no good photos to remember our day'. OK, Over to you Mrs X...
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What Makes a Good Wife…and Am I a Bad One?

Kat

January 6, 2012

This week I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be a wife...or more specially a 'good' wife. I guess with the new year kicking in and all, I started a-pondering about where I am in my life and what I'm supposed to be doing next... Anyway, Gareth & I often joke that I'm a bad wife (at least I hope he's joking). The roles are anything but traditional in our house. As many of you will already know, Rock n Roll Bride is the sole source of income in our household and most of the work that goes into it is on my end - that's not to say that the things Gareth does aren't extremely valuable and important - just that he doesn't spend 12 hours a day glued to a computer screen is all!
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Post It Notes: 16th December 2011: Let’s Hear it for the Boys!

Kat

December 16, 2011

This week's wedding Post It Note was submitted by Carina of the fabulous Love Me Do Photography. I loved reading the ideas she presented in her article, some of which I'd never even thought of. We'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas for getting those boys involved in the comments section too so get those thinking caps on! ...and as a side note, if you'd like to submit an idea for a Post It Note article, feel free to drop me an email, I'm always looking for new ideas for this series. Let’s face it, weddings are very 'bride heavy'. We gush about the bride’s dress, hair, shoes, and everything else feminine that goes into a wedding. But really, the wedding (and marriage) is about two people coming together; most often being a bride and a groom ( I’ve haven’t noticed this problem in same sex weddings so kudos to you!)
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Post-It Notes – 18th November 2011: Just How Much is This Wedding Going to Cost Us?

Kat

November 18, 2011

I've been wanting to put this post together for some time to give you an idea of what you might expect to pay for certain areas of your wedding. Now before I get you all hating on me, saying "But we can't afford to spend XYZ on my dress/our photos/the food" I want to make it clear that I'm certainly not writing this to show you what you should be spending. No no no, I want this post to give you a basic idea of what you might get initially quoted to save you from the mini-heart attack I had when I first realised how much wedding dresses were.
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