An interview with Rock n Roll Bride

Our wedding has been featured on Rock n Roll Bride! 

We are so excited to be on this prestigious site and we thought we would share all the details that went into the wedding including the questions we were asked that didn't make it to the site....there was simply too much detail! 

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Can you tell us, briefly, how you met?

We met at a gig where I (the Bride) was performing. We flirted all night and were inseparable from then on.

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How would you describe your wedding theme?

A journey through the land of Dom and Dan!

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What was the inspiration for your wedding?

I (the bride) am a designer, so I took inspiration from all the things we love, like harry potter, lord of the rings and anime and wrapped it up in a fantasy design with a French baroque aesthetic for something truly us.

Is there anything that you did that you think makes your wedding particularly unique, alternative or different?

I was told so many times to tone it down or pick one thing to theme the day, but I had a vision to create an aesthetic all our own. We wanted a colourful wedding full of all the things we love, so we stuck to our vision and created something that our guests felt was like going to the theatre. Our theming was around our journey together so even the music we chose was a journey with nods to all our musical ventures over the years. We asked friends and groups we are or have been a part of to perform- 6 acts in total (with a surprise performance from the bride) for a celebration of our journey.

What is the one thing you wish you’d know about planning a wedding before you began?

I have worked in events for many years so there were no real surprises apart from which guests would be the most difficult to organize. The people we thought would be easy to arrange were the most difficult even though we planned for user error and unusual requests, its still surprising how crazy people get around weddings, it’s so personal so the guest list is a mine field!

What challenges (if any) did you face when planning your wedding?

Covid! Two years delayed, a change of venue, two dates moved, three honeymoons moved, one emergency honeymoon booked, three suit vendors and 5 celebrants later we were finally ready to get married! What challenges did we have?....all of them!

Tell us about your ceremony... What music did you have, what were your vows like, were there any particularly special or memorable moments?

Guernsey Concert Brass (who Dom used to perform with) played the guests in and the bride walked down the aisle to the Harry Potter theme tune. The ceremony was extremely emotional and Dom could hardly get through her vows. The culmination of the last two years of delays and disappointments mixed with the emotion of the day and missing her father (who passed away due to cancer), lead to many tissues emerging from the bridesguard during the ceremony. Our guests said it was the most emotional wedding they has ever been to!

Our friends who are all performers (Lydia Pugh, Jo Marsh and Aimee Queru) did an acoustic rendition of 'First Date' by Blink 182 and 'Here in your arms' by Hellogoodbye, both the bride and groom have been in rock bands and gigged together many times over the years so a rock element was needed to represent this journey. The wedding party walked out of the church to a flashmob by the bride’s choir ‘the Accidentals’, singing the Circle of Life. Being Disney fans with the groom also being South African this fitted with the celebratory tone of the day.

Tell us about your reception/ party… What were your favourite details or moments?

Our speeches were incredible with my brother, who had stepped into my late fathers shoes for the day, handing the mic to my mother (who hates speaking publicly) for a surprise speech.

I too surprised the room with a performance instead of a speech, I wrote a song for my husband,which no one but the venue knew about, bringing laughter and tears to everyone’s eyes.

We had also been rehearsing a first dance for months and managed to sneak off to rehearse it underneath the reception balcony. This was such an intimate moment where we could step back and take it all in, our reception manager didn’t think we had time but I’m so glad we made it work!

My wedding planner was also my best friend and bridesmaid, (Emma Joy aka The Wedding Fairy) so she surprised me with some epic room decor which represented our honeymoon destination of Japan, with a cherry blossom tree indoors, blossoms hanging round the room and Japanese umbrellas and origami everywhere hung everywhere. My sisters’ wedding cake was revealed to us on the day so we had loads of amazing surprises, which added to the drama of the day. My family is very into theatrics so it was great to see everyone celebrate us in different ways.

Did you do any DIY projects?

I am a designer so I put a lot of effort into our wedding. I was so excited to use techniques I don’t get to play with often. I wanted the room to feel like a journey through our world which went into everything from the invites to the room décor.

The invite:
I designed the invites to have 4 illustrations to represent each table from something we loved. These were designed in a baroque styled invitation letter with tickets to ‘The Greatest Show’ inside which represented our love of going to shows and gigs. Our invitation letter contained play on words from our favourite things like: watch us exchange ‘one ring to rule’ our hearts forever (lord of the rings) and ‘we solemnly swear we are up to’ loving each other forever (Harry Potter).

The tables:

We named our tables accordingly to sound like a country in the land of Dom and Dan – they all related to the four illustrations for each table that were featured in the invitation - for instance the travel table was 'The Magic Kingdom' and the gaming table was called ‘Hyrule’. I made the illustrations into acrylic decorations to hang from the candelabras on the table centers with a view to use them again on a Christmas tree after the wedding.

The Table plan:

The table plan was wood burnt on recycled wood by myself. I made magnetic feet counters to hold the names which could easily be removed for drop outs. I designed the plan to represent the room layout in the style of an old map inspired by a combination of lord of the rings and the marauders map. It took three days to complete but was totally worth it.

The taverns:

We wanted places round the room to feel like places you would stop on your journey through our land, so we themed the bars as taverns from our favourite books. We even made a crown and anchor gambling table for one of the taverns with gold painted rocks as nuggets of gold to gamble with, and a trophy at the end of the night for the person with the most gold nuggets!

The book signing table:

The signing table was styled as if it were an apothecary. I made magic colour changing potion bottles created from bottles dug up from our island. I hand illustrated and coffee stained labels to look vintage, and featured everyone in our immediate family's names on the labels to make the table fully immersive.

Favours:

Our reception hotel gathered mini jam jars for us after their breakfast service so we could use them as shots for the favours. We painted the tops and hand illustrated 140 drink me labels and stickers to label what was inside all branded in our wedding typeface. We also did 140 eat me and display me labels each to go on the other wedding favours. We did one of each type (something to eat, drink and keep forever) to guarantee there was something everyone would like. Children got a colouring book made from the illustrations from the wedding invite.

Orders of service:

Our order of service I designed like a programme for a west end show, the wedding party all had photos and bios and so did the performers. Different elements of the ceremony such as the entrance of the bride were laid out like adverts for other shows saying ‘coming soon’!

Table names:

Our table names I designed to be like mini storybooks which included all the details of your table, illustrations, and other wedding thanks in, most people took these home! I did this so people knew what table they were on and why it was important to us in our life together. I have been to many other weddings where I never know what my table name means, so I wanted to make sure my guests knew.

Signage:

I crafted signage from recycled wood to go round the room to direct people to the right places, including a sign for the gift sleigh (because who doesn't need a reindeer and sleigh at their wedding!) We did signs to sign the wedding book, shake the potion bottles, how to play crown and anchor and signs to the kids room.  

Logos:

I designed our wedding logo from our initials into a heart shape which I got made into a large decoration to go behind the top table and features in everything from the save the dates to wedding necklaces and decorations. These were gifted to our wedding party in their own bespoke boxes made to match the wedding branding.

Family made elements:

My mum made all of the groomsguard waistcoats, ties and pocket squares, my mother-in-law made biltong for edible wedding favours, my sisters made our wedding cake and my brother in laws surprised my husband with a homemade lightsaber cane on the day!

We put alot of effort and thought into the day and it really paid off to make our day so personal.

What was your favourite part of the wedding planning process?

I loved creating our world and designing every detail.I run my own design business and used our wedding as an opportunity to play with the extremes of possibilities, and challenge the normal practices. I also loved planning with my bridal party which was mixed gender dubbed the 'brideguard' and 'groomsguard' respectively, an idea I saw on rock n roll bride!

What was your favourite part of the wedding day itself?

Our ceremony and the speeches were very emotional as I lost my father 9 years ago to cancer and my husband just lost his grandmother a few months before our wedding. My brother gave me away and did a combined speech with my mum which was a lovely surprise and I asked my two brother in laws to walk me down the aisle like a bridal baton relay! I had all the men who stepped up when dad passed away involved, which was so important to me. My necklace was a combination of a gift from my mother which was a resin piece with my fathers ashes inside so he could walk me down the aisle, which was then enhanced by my friend Monica from the Magpie's Nest. She took this to the next level by designing it into a stags head, part of an accidental stag theme that ended running through many elements of our wedding. She included coloured stones from our wedding colours and engraved this at the back saying Love M & D so i could have a gift from both of my parents.

What was your biggest expense and why?

The venue was the biggest expense as there not much negotiation with the packages, however the team were really accommodating and helpful with all the details. After that probably the outfits as we were let down by a suit vendor who pulled out of ou risland during COVID and didn’t inform us until the last minute that they could no longer help us with the suits. We had to find an emergency solution which was much more expensive, but the new vendor was great and gave us a discount for the bulk order.

Was there anything you really saved money on and how?

We called in alot of favours from friends and family. My sisters made the wedding cake, my mum made all the waistcoats and we also used recycled materials to make signage and wedding favour containers. Our family. Is Christmas crazy so our wedding favours were stag tree decorations made by a South African Charity in our wedding colours, also representing my husband’s South African heritage and our accidental stag theme. Most of our friends performed in some capacity for free or for beers and our other connections gave us great rates.

What was the worst thing about planning your wedding?

COVID delays and effects with businesses closing down meant we essentially planned the day three times! Our honeymoon too was effected meaning we had to plan a last minute minimoon to Northern Ireland two weeks before the wedding due to covid restrictions to Japan, the war and embassy changes. We are now having our real honeymoon a year after the wedding.

R.S.V.P's, were also a challenge, even with a website and form, you need to account for user error and late or incorrect responses,which cause a lot of stress.

In retrospect, was there anything you would have done differently?

I planned a get together the night before to allow people time to meet but it was a pay your way event. If I were to do it again I would take payment up front as we were left with a big bill for people who didn't attend on the night and then some awkward conversations with people afterwards.

Are there any comments you’d like to make about the wedding industry in general or your experience navigating through it?

I have been designing for events for years and I was still surprised bya lack of options for items that take the wedding branding throughout the day and beyond. I was also surprised when I was looking for inspiration - there were limited options mainly showcasing watercolours and florals. As such I added services to my design company 'Design by Domo' such as signage, jewellery and décor, which give weddings a full rounded experience with reusable concepts to keep after the wedding. I have also started a range of template invitations for alternative couples looking for something a bit different, whether modern or classic whilst also being affordable.

Do you have any advice for future engaged couples?

Make it you! Don't worry how other people have done it, I was told I should just choose one person to walk me up the aisle and I'm so glad I did it my way! The more you… the better and more memorable the wedding. It doesn't have to cost the earth to be you either, problem solving really opened up some more creative solutions.

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