Real Wedding: Clare + Justin’s Rock and Roll Chic Wedding

Yes, a true rock and roll wedding. A LoveFest if you may inspired by music festivals + love :) The couple met while performing with Pink (yes, that Pink!) on one of her tours. Clare is a dancer + Justin is Pink’s exclusive guitarist. Talk about a fun couple! Brad of Shaking Hands Production sent me their wedding video thinking I would love it + I did! Clare was also sweet enough to share some details into their day. Make sure you watch their video –  Butch Walker is a close friend of theirs + recorded his own version of  “all you need is love” which is played during the video (and was played when Clare walked down the aisle).

Our inspiration: We are both in the performance industry. My husband is a guitarist and I am a dancer so our vision was always going to be rock and roll chic. I am British, and love all the vintage influences, almost like an english tea party and our love of music made us decide that we wanted a festival style wedding. The great thing was that we knew we wanted to marry at Justins family home in Charlottesville Va. It is so beautiful + peaceful and Justin’s father had always hoped someone would marry there one day. Justin wanted to honor his dads wishes (he passed a few years ago) and it was just the perfect setting for the festival style wedding. We decided on the name ‘”LoveFest” and the quote “all you need is love” and knew it would never be conventional. We wanted it to be stylish and beautiful but so relaxed and fun fun fun. We wanted it all to take place outside, lots of music and quirky additions.

lace beaded wedding dress

We had tour laminates made for everyone to wear. The wedding party were support act and all guests vip. They were handed out when guests arrrived as they had their polaroid taken and signed the guest book. On the back were our thank yous and the name of their table which was a band name.

lovefest wedding

Our car parade was pretty fun! In front was our friend Billy playing bagpipes, and Mark on snare drum, followed by Justin and his mom driving an open top vintage Buick, followed by all the bridal party in a vintage firetruck with custom love plates, all wearing cool sunglasses (the girls in hearts and the guys blues brothers) using a siren and wooping and waving, followed by myself and my dad in my vintage car…what an entrance!

bridal party in a convertible vw bus

Our Favorite Memory From The Wedding

There are so many memorable moments from the day its hard to pick just one! A funny memory that sticks out is my grandmother who journeyed all the way from the uk at 80yrs old to attend the wedding. During the party we had a huge bonfire down by the lake, it was a little chilly so my grandmother had wandered to the bonfire to keep warm and watch the fireworks, while down there she was laughing really hard at someones joke and her false teeth fell out onto the grass. There ended up being about 20 people on their hands and knees searching for her teeth in the dark including a few well known celebrities, it was the funniest thing i have ever seen.

Another memory was when I arrived at the site and I watched justin and his mom and the bridal party all walk down the aisle. Our friend Butch Walker had recorded his own version of ”all you need is love.” It was so cool to see everyone walking down the field and all the congregation waiting, sitting on haybales clapping and singing.

lovefest wedding

black and white wedding photos

Our Advice To Those Planning Now

Know that whenever you attach the word wedding to anything, the price will jump so be wise, shop around. Give yourself time. Definitely make a plan and know your budget and stick to it! Make a list of what is most important and get those things organized first. Always make room in your budget for a photographer +video…the day goes by so fast and after all your effort and planning you will be so glad that you have the memories. Look around at all your friends and family and see where you can maybe save money on making your own pieces or doing things yourself. If you can, try and do a wedding weekend so that you get to hang out with your close family and friends for a few days and people can get to know each other prior to the wedding so the day can be enjoyed rather than full of introductions…also you wont feel as sressed trying to spend time with everyone. Work out what is most important to you – For us we wanted to invite more friends than worry about small details that cost money but people dont really remember. On the wedding day, don’t let go of your partners hand, if you lose each other you will spend the night either looking for each other or missing each other.

Our unique touches:
• We had a huge sign that was based on the hollywood sign “love fest”, it was illuminated at night.
• We had a bluegrass band + wedding band. We did a funny dance together to take the edge off then a slow dance.
• We made everyone bring a funny hat + during the party, when people were drunk they all put hats on.
• We had fireworks and a bonfire and sparklers and we had pizza delivered at 10pm.

Don’t keep up with the Joneses. Start with who you two are and what reflects your lives and personalities and let your wedding day be about that. Not the centerpieces or an ice sculpture (unless this is what you really like) etc which you think may impress but it wont be the thing people remember about the day. The thing you want people to remember is that they had a good time.

Ultimately “all you need is love.”

Both bride and groom’s attire were completely custom made. Clare’s gorgeous dresses were designed/made by herself and designer Jennifer Jacobs. Justin’s suit was designed by himself and Rey Akino and made by Serj Tailoring in LA. Clare personally styled all the bridesmaids, flowergirls, and paige boys. Hair was done by Asley Gaunt from London and makeup by YvetteBeebe .

Video: Shaking Hands Productions // Photographer: Brantley Gutierrez

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