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The offbeat bride: Christie, Social Worker (aka RedDress on the Offbeat Bride Tribe)
My offbeat partner: Phill, Marketing Student & Sith Lord
Location & date of wedding: Verona, Ontario, Canada in my Mum's 150 acre backyard. – October 12th, 2008
What made our wedding offbeat: We knew before anything else that we wanted our wedding to be our way and made a vow to not budge one inch on anything… and we didn't! And you know what? People loved it! and we didn't compromise even once. No one died, no one suffered. No one even complained.
Our attire ended up a very Victorian, goth, steam-punkish somethingerother. It happened completely by accident and we planned our outfits separately, yet they matched to a T!
My three piece outfit consisted of a bridesmaids dress, a custom corset and a custom caped shrug (made lovingly by my maid of honor Amanda.) I spent less then $500 for the whole thing. Also my Fluevog Grand Nationals, my dream boots, were hiding underneath.
Phill wanted to wear a kilt from day one. His family tartan was the inspiration for our colour palette. His frock coat was custom made and his New Rocks looked kick-ass. His mohawk was of course the cherry on the cupcake…and the red matched my dress perfectly.
Our vows were very personal and very funny. Most people probably had no idea what we were talking about. Example vow topics include; zombies, UFC fighters, getting sick-juice, leaving the knife in the peanut butter and being a jerk. They were so very us.
Almost everything in the entire wedding was DIY and handmade. Found items and reusable was a major theme.
We wanted to express our love for nature and fall, without falling (ha ha ha) into the “Fall Theme Wedding” category.
And no one even missed the wedding cake, because our “Rockaberry” truffles were too damned good! …The massive candy buffet didn't hurt either.
Our biggest challenge: Finding a photographer. Our photos came second only to the actual act of getting married. We wanted someone who could really capture us, our day, our friends our life in a way that really gave an honest reflection. We looked at sooooo many terrible websites, with boring, bland and typical wedding pictures. We honestly were very worried that we were not going to find a good photographer.
Then we finally found Jeremy Ashley at ishootpeople.ca and then we had to beg him to do our wedding. It took some convincing and some negotiations, but we hooked him and not only did we get the best photos ever, Jeremy even had a great time and is still raving about the wedding and especially the food.
Oh, and our wonderful photographer was not within our wonderful budget. BUT he was perfect and the pictures were so important to us that we did what we needed to to get him. We cut corners in other wedding areas, dropped a few things and received a very generous early wedding gift from a friend and got the photographer of our dreams. Prioritizing was key in this situation for us.
My favorite moment: Phill is very nervous when speaking in front of a group. So he tends to whisper. When saying his vows, pretty much only the wedding party and I could hear him. But when it came to the part where he was supposed to say “I do,” he yelled (and I mean yelled), “OH FUCK YEAH!” And everyone burst out laughing. It was great.
There was so much laughter our entire wedding day. It definitely started during the ceremony.
My offbeat advice: If you really want to have your wedding, your way, tell people that. Announce it! Never shut up about it. Make the nay-sayers afraid to “give advice”. And stick to your guns. No giving in! If people think they can push you around, they will. Do you really want to be pushed around about your wedding? (Take it from us, people will not die if you get your way!)
Enough talk — show me the wedding porn:
Click the photo below to see all the amazing shots from this magic-pants red dress 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.
Oh Christie, your photos are so beautiful and your words of advice so strong and reassuring! Looks like you had a fab day, congratulations to you both!
Christie, I loved to watch you got through all your planning on OBT. You were very inspirational and your wedding looks like it was amazing! Congratulations!
Yay!!!!!!! It’s about time Christie’s wedding was on here. What an absolutely gorgeous bride. I often go to flickr to look at this beautiful couple and I even harassed the heck out of Christie to hurry up and post all the photos. Stunning!!
We used my boy’s tartan colors for our wedding too, it made things so much easier!
i’ve always loved this wedding! there’s nothing like ontario in the fall!
Nice! Between Megan’s & Lamps profiles, and RedDress today, this week is shaping up to be all about my all-time favorite OBT weddings! Keep ’em coming! :o)
I know Jeremy Ashley! He’s always been super great. Tell him Alison Currie says hello!
What a beautiful couple (and yes, your dress. That shrug is AMAZING; who do I have to give a reach-around to get that pattern? Haha!) and really kick-ass party. My boyfriend is so green-eyed over your “cake” topper. You guys ROCK!!
So gorgeous! The fall color is incredible and I love the attire =]
oh Twin, you are so beautiful. Congratulations once again. Your wedding was absolutely gorgeous just like you. FUCK YEAH! xo
@Em Thanks a bunch for the compliment on ma’ wedding. And I was a little selfish my first week as Offbeat Intern and chose some of my favorites to profile!!! Glad you guys are digging it.
I love the last picture under wedding porn.
Much love for both Christie and Phil! If you look through the porn make sure to catch Phil’s Star Wars lego cufflinks that he made for himself!
The photos look amazing, Christie! You definitely chose the right photog for the job. Absolutely. stunning.
I hope you don’t mind I passed this website off to my brother (Jeremy Ashley)to take a look. He did a great job on your pictures. I love your red dress!
Magical!
yes yes YES! thanks for valuing the photography AND putting your money where your mouth is!! woot – the photos are truly stunning.
Ive been waiting for this wedding to be featured. RedDress does not dissapoint!
Thank you everyone so much for your comments. We really did have the best day ever and we really appreciate that people liked our wedding because we put a lot of hard effort into it.
And I have to say, I am still obsessed with my pictures!
Thanks so much everyone! OBB4LIFE!
Here you go Lil’s!!!
Husband DIY goodness.
Okay so that didn’t work… http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3244/3024376310_ef88fcbebc.jpg?v=0
I LOVE this.
I also plan on having an autumnal wedding, but want to avoid the formulaic pitfalls of normal “fall themed weddings (cornucopias everywhere? no thnx).”
Love the red dress, and the backyard idea as I believe it takes that stuffy, on-your-best-behavior” edge off. Also, boots are beautiful, though I can certainly I’ll look forward to no shoes for my barefoot wedding 🙂
Christie this is extraordinary!
I LOVE your corset, by the way. Where did you get it form?
Thank you for your encouraging words on making your wedding your own. I’ve been having a hard time with that lately and now i feel as if i can tell people to back the fuck off!
@Cecilia
My corset was custom made by House of Worship http://www.houseofworship.ca
SOOO BEAUTIFUL!!! I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE A CORSET DRESS AN ROCK MY LACE UP KNEE HIGHS!! 🙂 JUST ABSOLUTELY STUNNING…
I LOVE this red dress. May I ask where it is from? The pictures are gorgeous!
wow that dress looks awesome! brilliant idea putting the waspie on over the dress 🙂
Gorgeous!!!