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The offbeat bride: Natalie, Graphic Artist
Her offbeat partner: Nick, Finance Officer
Location & date of wedding: Newstead Park Rotunda, Brisbane, Australia on April 19th, 2008
What made our wedding offbeat: I wore a red gown that I designed myself that was inspired in part by the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland, Victorian fashions and Cyndi Lauper's “She's so Unusual” album cover.
We had a non-religious ceremony, my husband and I are both atheists; and we were lucky enough to have a long time family friend marry us as an official celebrant. After the ceremony we played croquet and I stood in dog shit!
Our biggest challenge: Our biggest challenge wasn't confronting our families with a non-traditional wedding, it was culling the guest list! I have a huge family, and my husband's is quite small in comparison.
We ended up having to compromise by cutting out some of our mutual friends from the guest list, as our families are incredibly important to us both.
Our second major challenge was stripping the ceremony and the reception proceedings of all religious references. Our celebrant/family friend was incredibly understanding once we explained what we wanted, but the reception venue insisted at one stage on having a “grace” before the meals commenced! I was very firm about this issue. I didn't mind if religious guests said grace privately, but we did not want it as part of the meal that we were hosting.
My favorite moment: Standing in dog shit while we were playing croquet and having my new husband clean it off as the photographer snapped away!
My offbeat advice: Be firm about your decisions. This is your single most powerful ammunition when you have to confront traditional vendors or even family members and friends. People do not mess with a bride who has a clear vision and is determined and confident.
Enough talk — show me that wedding porn: Click on the picture below to see the awesome shots from Natalie and Nicks Red Queen Garden Party wedding!
About the Author: Offbeat Weditors
Working tirelessly to bring you stimulating content day after day, the Offbeat Wed editors will not sleep until you've gotten your offbeat fix.
What a gorgeous barefoot bride! Unfortunate about the, ahh…’poo incident’, but awesome that she took the whole thing in stride.
Also, yay for more hot + sized brides!
I absolutely LOVE your dress. You look so gorgeous!
Amazing dress and fun theme! LOVE the features on plus sized brides — You look at enough wedding magazines and you start feeling like you will never “measure up.” Seeing gorgeous, glamorous, happy plussie brides like Natalie is the best antidote for Wedding Industrial Syndrome at its worst!
Absolutely gorgeous wedding — amazing dress! Cheers to yr hubby for cleaning up the poop! He’s a keeper. xo
I saw this posted on the OBB forum a while back. LOVE her and her story. Great photos.
“She’s So Unusual” – Awesome.
I love the photo on Flickr of her putting on her own lip gloss, with her fingers!
What an empowering, gergeous bride. I totally love that she even rocked the dog poo!
[…] plus-size bride featured on OBB a while back has written a great blog post full of tips titled A Fat Bride Survival Guide: There […]
How sweet for your hubby to clean the poo off your foot!
Beautiful gown and great advice on staying firm and confident.
What a beautiful dress! But I’m wondering… how did you have a non-religious wedding? I’m atheist and so is my boyfriend, but the thought of having a marriage arranged at a court saddens me because I want it to be a celebration that I can share with my huge family! We’ve looked into civil unions and domestic partnerships and neither can be romantic or brings with it the rights of a married couple in churches. If anyone could offer suggestions, that would be wonderful!
This post might help you: How do you have a wedding ceremony without a Bible?
thanks so much! this is perfect
Grats on the dress, you designed it absolutely stunningly!!!
Querry, where’d you get the led trees? They’re gorgeous and exactly the right shade