If you’re a regular reader of this blog, then you’ll know that I got engaged, after my fiancé proposed last year, on a beautifully magical winter’s day in Paris. Ever since, I’ve been on a anything-wedding-related binge, spurred on by my mother-in-law-to-be, showering me with bridal magazines & natter about ribbons, favours and anything, as well as absolutely everything! The same style of invitations, typical black & white photos and colour schemes seem to appear on every double-page spread though, which is why I was so excited when I stumbled across Rock’n'Roll Bride— it’s edgy, daringly different and shows you that you don’t have to have the same polished, carbon-copy wedding as every other loved-up twosome. In fact, even if you’re nowhere near this stage in life, you can adapt this girls philosophy & buoyancy to your every day existence!

Photo of Kat Williams by Marianne Taylor Photography
Hi Kat!  For those people out there who don’t know about the Rock’n'Roll Bride, who is she and what does she do?
The Rock n Roll Bride is obsessed with kick ass photography and unique and inspiring weddings. On my blog www.rocknrollbride.com I combine both these loves by sharing the very best alternative weddings and photo shoots from all over the world!

How would you describe yourself in just three words?
Pink, feisty and weird!

What 5 tracks would be essential to the Rock’n'Roll Bride soundtrack?
Contrary to popular belief, being rock n roll is nothing to do with music – it’s a state of mind, it’s your personality and your individuality shining through in whatever way it might manifest itself… And Oh God I have such bad taste in it! Eclectic is the word. My favourite songs right now are probably Rage Against the Machine Killing in the Name Of, Britney Spears Toxic (oh yes, rock n roll? me?!) All you need is love by the Beatles (our first dance song) Tiny Dancer by Elton John and…The Power of Love by Huey Lewis and the News. I told you it was a random mix!

How might a typical day in the life of Kat Williams go?
Well I still have a full time job where I work evenings. So on a usual day I get up at 9 or 10, check my emails, read my Google reader and write some posts. I schedule my posts throughout the day and try and plan and write everything at least a day in advance. If I have time I get going on some of my other writing commitments like if I’m guest posting for someone or writing for one of the magazines I work with. Then I have a bath, some food and get ready for my ‘day’ job. I work as a television producer for a shopping channel here in the UK so I head of to work, plan the show and produce 3 and a half hours of live tv! I head home at either 7, 10 or 2am (depending on what shift I’m on) When I get home I either go right to bed (if it’s 2am) or otherwise I eat, give my husband a kiss and turn my computer back on. The emails have undoubtedly built up so I get cracking on them and plan the next few days’ posts before heading off to bed!

I love seeing so much diversity, uniqueness and inspirational work and weddings! No two days are ever the same!

You got married a few years ago.  When and where did you meet your husband?
We met in a bar actually. He was 21 and I was (shh!) 16! We didn’t actually get together until I was 18 though as I played hard to get! He texted me on my 18th birthday and asked if I wanted to go out for a drink and after much discussion with one of my girlfriends (as we do!) I agreed.

Is there anything you’d change about your own wedding day?
Yes! Living and breathing weddings it’s inevitable that I’ll look back and see what we could do differently. I’ve had pink hair since I was 16 – I had pink hair when I met my husband and it was pink when we got engaged, but I went brown a little while before the wedding. Looking back, I wish I’d gone back to pink, because it’s pink again now and probably will be for the new few years. Brides often tell me: “I thought my ideas were weird, but now I’ve seen weddings that do things differently, it makes me feel more comfortable about having what I want.” I asked my florist for pale vintage colours. The reality? Bright Purple. It didn’t matter on the day, as I was so excited about getting married, but looking back I think, “Urgh, they’re not what I wanted,” and I wish we’d done them ourselves.

A lot of weddings take place in July- September time.  Why did you choose April?
April 12th was our anniversary of getting together. Gareth proposed on the 12th April 2007 – our 5 year anniversary. We wanted to keep this special date for our wedding day too.

Photos of Kat Williams by Marianne Taylor Photography

Which is better— Winter or Summer weddings?  Why?
Oooh difficult! I wouldn’t say either was necessarily better, it’s just what’s right for the couple. We personally would have never got married in the height of summer as neither of us are great fans on the sun – I’m so pale that I actually melt! The longer days do have their advantages of course especially photography-wise and you can do more outside and have less stress about the weather. However there is something so romantic about the winter – being all bundled up in the cold and dark, candlelight, snow and moody photography. It’s really important to have your wedding at a time that suits you.

Describe the most inspiring wedding you’ve ever seen.
That is even more difficult! I literally couldn’t pick just one. I see so many amazing, unique and different weddings everyday. What I adore about what Ido is the diversity of the weddings and couple’s I see. I actually wrote a round up on some on my favourite weddings of 2009 this month so be sure to check these two posts out for some of my faves.

What top 5 tips would you give to a bride who’s stressing about planning and budgeting for her big day?
1. Stop, breathe, chill!
2. Get organized – write lists. Lists are good and very therapeutic and having stuff written down will stop you mulling it over so much as you know it’s all there. Writing all your tasks down will give you a sense of relief.
3. Ask for help – friends and family are there to support you
4. Take a day off, go shopping and meet a friend for a no-wedding-chat-allowed coffee
5. Don’t forget that at the end of the day it’s the marriage that’s important not the wedding!

What do you enjoy most about the niche blogging that you do?
I literally adore writing! Not only is it therapeutic but I end up finding myself more intelligent when I write things down – weird huh? I am also obsessed with pretty pictures and so I get to combine both of these things. I have always liked to pride myself on my individuality. I’m impulsive and controversial and I love it. The best thing about Rock n Roll Bride is how different it is to all the other wedding blogs out there. Not that I don’t adore them (because I do and spend hours of my procrastination time reading them!) but I find by standing out from the crowd I have drawn a very specific reader base and so I not only get sent the most unique weddings (that don’t crop up on all the wedding blogs) but I have been able to offer a very niche readership base to anybody to gets their work or company features on my site. Quite apart from that I’ve loved meeting so many amazing and inspiring people though the blog, both in real life and online and I certainly wouldn’t have been able to do that if it wasn’t for Rock n Roll Bride.

Is Rock’n'Roll Bride your full time job?
Not yet no, but I am hoping that 2010 will be my year!

Would you ever go into wedding planning?
Definitely not! My passion is imagery and writing. Although I adore weddings, I wouldn’t want to have to directly deal with the madness that can be planning a wedding every day!

You’re a photographer too, right?  Who’s your fav?!
Nope I’m not, not unless you count me playing around with my Fuji Instax! I have been lucky enough to model for some of the best UK photographers but I haven’t taken any of the shots on my site myself.
Again it is really difficult to choose a favourite photographer out of the hundreds I see, but some of my favourites include David McNeil, Tinywater, The Sloans, MangoRED, Steep Street, FeatherLove Photography and Jonas Peterson.

Besides weddings, what makes you jump-in-the-air happy?
My husband, my new pussy cats (we get them on the 7th Feb!), Mac make-up, finding the perfect new dress and a tidy house (yes I’m a total geek!)

What’s next for the Rock’n'Roll Bride?  Where would you like to be in 10 years time?
I would love to still be doing what I’m doing. Oh how I love it so! I’d also really love to expand my freelance writing avenues so to write for some more magazines both here in the UK and abroad.

And finally, a quick fire round: What’s your fav…
Shop: Topshop
Book: I’m a rubbish reader! I don’t have time for fiction really. The last great-countn’t-put-it-down book I read was probably The DaVinci Code!
Website: www.galadarling.com
Season: Spring
Band / Artist: Michael Jackson
Food: Sushi
Cupcake flavour: lemon or carrot
City: Tokyo

Thank you for your time, Kat!

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Remember, you too can feature in the Aimee Marie Loves series. If you think you’ve got what it takes, let me know!

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	Filed under: Aimee Marie Loves..., Regular Features, Weddings On: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 Love: 5 Comments »