The Tattoo Love Story – Wedding of the Year

We proudly present: The Things&Ink tattoo love story of the year! The wedding chapter… Two Christmases ago, we set ourselves the challenge to find the ultimate tattoo love story! And we did it… we found the amazing couple Roxanne & Greg (read more in previous blog posts)

And we headed over to Trinity Buoy Wharf weddings in East London earlier this year to join them on their very special wedding day… Photographed by Things&Ink Photographer Heather Shuker for Eclection Photography.

Take a look at some of the photos from their wonderful wedding day, including Sailor Jerry, of course… we’re so happy we could share the day with this stunning couple whose love just shines through.

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A few days before the wedding, they also got their fingers tattooed by Alexis Camburn at her studio  Two Snakes Tattoo in Hastings. Greg and Roxanne designed the ring/tattoo together. The star and the moon simply symbolising that they are each other’s moon and stars. The four dots represent Roxanne, Greg and their two cats (so cute!)…

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“From the offset Heather put us at ease and made us feel relaxed and comfortable on and off camera,” said Roxanne and Greg about photographer Heather Shuker for Eclection Photography. “She captured the essence of our wedding perfectly and everyone who has seen our photos has been blown away by the great job she has done. What we especially liked was that the images are a great mix of relaxed formal and candid. Giving us snapshots of our guests celebrating with us as well as some amazing photos of us with family and friends. We cannot thank her enough for all the wonderful moments that she captured.”

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“Our wedding was everything we’d hoped for and more. We were deeply touched with the help our friends and family gave us decorating the venue and doing the flowers. The day itself was amazing, everyone seemed to be enjoying it as much as we were, covering themselves in temporary tattoos, swigging rum from the bottle with us and tearing up the dance floor,” said Roxanne and Greg about their wonderful wedding day.  “Looking back on the day, we can honestly say that we had the most colourful rainbow, rum fuelled, fiesta ever and to top it all off we were married and sharing this with the people most dear to us. We’d do it all again if we could but I’m not sure we or our guests could cope with that hangover!”

 

Check out more photos from the day on Facebook.

Tattoo love story – The Wedding

Almost two years ago, we launched a competition to find the ultimate tattooed love story, we wanted to know if your relationship was linked by ink… (Original comp here.) The winners would receive wedding photography, by Eclection Photography, for their big day.

And the winners were Roxanne And Greg (read their story in this blog post with the other two finalists)… our Things & Ink Tattoo Love Story Wedding Competition Winners. And on Wednesday of this week, they made their commitments to each other in Ink, by getting their wedding fingers tattooed by Alexis Camburn at her studio  Two Snakes Tattoo in Hastings.

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Greg and Roxanne designed the ring/tattoo together. The star and the moon simply symbolising that they are each other’s moon and stars. The four dots represent Roxanne, Greg and their two cats (cute!).  Who, btw, will be at the wedding… in the form of cardboard cut outs!

Roxanne was first in the chair and Greg joked: “at least I know the odds of you turning up are pretty high now.” Greg and Roxanne both had their wedding bands tattooed within 30 minutes.  Less time than your average wedding!

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We are all very excited over here at Things &Ink HQ,  the wedding of Roxanne and Greg – the Things & Ink Tattoo Love Story Wedding Competition Winners.  They will tie the knot officially today (Friday 28 August) in East London…

Tattoo artist Alexis does lots of wedding band tattoos and people like the freedom to create what they like as opposed to being limited by what your can wear as a ring.  She has tattoeed couple’s  dates,  initials and also made wedding rings from simple bands to extensive patterns.

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We will keep you all updated on the big day!

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And the winner is…

A year ago today – yep Christmas day – we launched a competition to find the ultimate tattooed love story, and the winner would receive a prize of wedding photography for their big day from Heather Shuker, of Brighton-Photo. We were overwhelmed by all the entries and completely entranced by their love stories.

So much so that before we could decide a winner, we announced three finalists and did an engagement photo shoot with them all to help us decide… read more about why we picked our finalist couples in this blog post announcing the finalists, and view the engagement shoots on Facebook.

The couple who we have picked to win captured our hearts from the beginning, and when we met up with them in real life their love for each other just shone through – you can see it in their photos too… so without further ado, we would like to introduce you to our winners, Roxanne and Greg… who met on a film set and talked about dragon tattoos. Read more about how they met below… and we really look forward to the wedding… bring on the rum. We can’t wait to share the pictures with you too. Have a wonderful Christmas Roxanne and Greg, see you at the wedding.

With love from us all at Things&Ink

 

ROXANNE DONOVAN & GREG FURBER, 28 AND 31, FROM LONDON 

Where did you meet? Roxanne: ‘On a film set. My first job was on Fantastic Mr Fox and Greg was one of the assistant directors on the film.’

How were tattoos involved? Roxanne: ‘On my first day, Greg was asking me my interests and at the time I was reading this book about dragons (which I thought was a bit dorky). A bit embarrassed, I told him about the book, to which he replied: “I have two large dragon tattoos on my back.” Call me weird but, SWOON! We also have matching tattoos that we got while in Coney Island, NYC. It was Halloween and we were a bit tipsy (read: drunk as a skunk). We ended up in a bar called Tattoos and Shots, you can see where this story goes… Needless to say the next morning we woke up with two matching skull tattoos on our wrists with no recollection of getting them. The weekend after that Greg proposed!’

Have you already planned your day? Roxanne: ‘We are getting married on 28/08/2015 at Trinity Buoy Wharf, London. The wedding has snippets of Romany Gypsy traditions in memory of my granddad. Also Spanish Culture as we are travelling South America for our honeymoon and we love everything Spanish.’

How do you see your wedding day? Roxanne: ‘Our wedding is all about partying and rum. On the morning of our wedding we’ll meet at a tattoo parlour and have our wedding bands tattooed onto us. We wanted to make sure in all of the wedding crazy, we had a moment to be together and really make a mark on our day.’

Is your relationship linked by ink? It’s wedding competition time.

Did someone pop the question this Christmas?

We’re looking for the ultimate tattoo love story, as we are giving away wedding photography for your big day worth £1850

Did you fall in love with an artist while under the needle? Or did you start your tattoo journeys together? We want to know all about it. We’re looking for couples who or may not have already planned their wedding. From backyard to town hall, it’s less about location and more about you and your unique story.

The Thing & Ink team and special guest tattoo celebrity judges (who will be announced very soon) will select FOUR couples as finalists. All finalists will receive a love photo shoot from Brighton-Photo and a set of images worth £350. The winner will be selected by a public vote and will receive a wedding commission from Heather Shuker from Brighton-Photo.com, including a disc of beautifully images (up to 500) worth £1850.

ENTER HERE NOW.

Alex and Zoe Binnie – the tattooed love story

Ever wondered how one tattoo artist proposes to another?
Read on to find out. Here is the love story of Alex and Zoe Binnie… 

Zoe and Alex Binnie
Zoe and Alex Binnie

How did you meet?

Zoe: He was tattooing Mo Coppoletta and I came into the shop to bring something in for Mo on my way to work – I worked in a bar at the time. And we just sat down and had a little chat while he was working.
Alex: And I really fancied her and this was, what, 12 years ago. I thought there was something about her I really like, a lot, so…a couple of years later, I found her number and called her – I didn’t ask her out on a date, I offered her a job. I thought that was the best way of getting her in my life. I said we needed someone to be our glamorous new receptionist and desk girl.
Zoe: And he said under no circumstances is this an apprenticeship, so don’t even think about it.
Alex: Is that what I said?
Zoe: Yep, don’t even think about it. So I was like, fine OK and I accepted the offer and came to work for him.
Alex: (looks at Zoe) And actually you learned to tattoo in the shop a few years later…you terrible girl!
Both: And then…
Zoe: I left the shop.
Alex: with Miles – she ended up having a relationship with one of my guys, Miles. Which was fine, I was in a relationship myself and I had two young kids.  It was cool, I always loved her, but I didn’t need it to be consummated in that way – I was happy just having her around.
Zoe: Then I was away in Australia for about five or six years. Then I came back…
Alex: And we’d always kept in touch – as friends, of course.
Zoe: When I came back Miles and I had split up. And that was about a year and a half or two years ago now…and Alex and I went out for a few dinners, like we always used to, as friends…
Alex: Well, we went out for one dinner as friends and then it got a bit “not friendly”…
Zoe: it was weird…
Alex: We think the scales were lifted from our eyes at exactly the same time…
Zoe: He liked my new fringe…
Alex: It was a different fringe from this one. Obviously I like this fringe, too… Then, we were together and here we are. We’ve been together as a couple for a little over a year.

It was like the scales had been lifted from our eyes
It was like the scales had been lifted from our eyes

So when did you propose?

Zoe: Valentine’s day.
Alex: Yep I proposed on Valentine’s day.
Zoe: It’s a very romantic story.
Alex: Go on, you tell it then.
Zoe: I was working and Alex was in Brighton – doing what I’m not sure…
Alex: I was busy.
Zoe: He told me he couldn’t come to see me and he was like “You don’t care about Valentine’s day anyway, do you?” and I was like “No, of course not…it’s fine, it doesn’t matter”. He got flowers sent to the shop during the day, saying really sorry he couldn’t be with me. I was like “awww that’s nice”. Then I went home and I was making dinner with my flat mate and I got a phone call from Into You London (Alex’s shop) and it was Alex. I said, “What are you doing in London?” and he said “Babes, you didn’t think I’d really miss Valentine’s day, did you?” He’d booked a table to ‘our’ restaurant – the one where the scales had been lifted from our eyes. He said he would be there at nine, so I only had half an hour to quickly get dressed and get there. I got there and went to sit down and his hat was on the chair. I lifted the hat up and there was a big, sort of diamond and Alex said it was a taste of things to come. I was just like fine, whatever, thanks and I sat down.
Alex: And then I told her she had to come outside, as I had something to show her.
Zoe: And he was checking his nails every five minutes and looking nervous…and as he lead me outside I saw he had a little box in his hand. I was like oh my god, oh my god – I think I know what’s going to happen. Then when we were outside he got down on two knees – he has a dodgy knee – and he lifted up his shirt and he had ‘marry me’ tattooed on his chest. He said “Darling, will you marry me?” And I said “of course, yes”. Then, he said he didn’t have a ring yet, but he had picked a diamond.
Alex: I did have the diamond with me.

Marry me?

Zoe: And then we went back inside, so I could have a look at the diamond. And of course the next day, I went and got the ‘yes’ tattooed on me… then in two months’ time I will be (scary voice) Mrs Binnie.
Alex: (in scary voice) Yes Mrs Biiiinnnie…

Yes

 So do you two ever tattoo each other?

Alex: Yeah we have.
Zoe: (Looks at Alex) I am supposed to be tattooing you at some point soon.
Alex: I have to admit, I find it a bit difficult to tattoo her now, as I don’t want to hurt her.  (Looks at Zoe) I don’t want to hurt you babe.
Zoe: And then you’d have to stare at it every night.
Alex: It’s tricky, there’s too much stuff going on, as the great Hanky Panky (Henk Shiffmacher) said you should probably never tattoo your other half. It can be weird, but who knows I might tattoo her again one day.

Kiss
Sealed with a kiss - how romantic

So there it goes, the tale of two love-struck tattoo artists – how they found love and how he proposed to her. 

This interview took place at the London Tattoo Convention in September 2011 and the couple wed at the end of that year, massive congratulations to you both. Check out my tattoo film series, filmed with Papercut Pictures for Zeitgeist, with lots of other artists (including the infamous Mr Binnie) talking about their craft at the convention. The London Tattoo Convention film series.

Visit Alex’s website alexbinnie.com
Zoe now works at Cult Classic Tattoo