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The Offbeat Bride: Laura, scientist (and OBT member “2girls4PDX“)
Her Offbeat Partner: Gosia, attorney
Location & date of wedding: Shakespeare Garden, Portland International Rose Test Garden, Portland, Oregon — 06.20.09
What made our wedding offbeat: Well, first we're girlie-dress & makeup-loving gay ladies. We couldn't agree who had to change her last name, so we played a Name Change Soccer Game the afternoon before the wedding with our guests, and the winner's team got to pick our new last name. In a total upset, Laura (who is completely unathletic) and her team won, and she scored the winning goal. It served as a great icebreaker for everyone to get to know one another.
Our biggest challenge: Dealing with one vendor who was very unprofessional and could not guarantee IF or WHEN they would deliver what we had ordered. Also, they only accepted cash and there was no contract to be signed which made us nervous. It eventually worked out, but it was stressful to be unsure if they would follow through on the day of the wedding.
Also, I suspect no one cared about this except me, but I was really stressed about matching our two dresses. We didn't want to be matchy-matchy, but we also wanted to look like we belonged together. My lovely girl had found a silver dress on clearance at Ann Taylor Loft a year before that she just adored and wanted to wear. That left me trying to find a dress that I liked that would work with hers.
I scoured the internet for all-bride, all-dress weddings to get ideas for how ladies coordinated so that they looked like a couple, but at the same time both looked like themselves. I found a dress I loved at Nordstrom and started making a black sash for it to match the bridesmaids. My mom had the genius idea to make a gray/silver sash that matched Gosia's dress instead and I have to say that I love how it turned out! We matched enough that we looked coordinated, but not in a cloying or inauthentic way.
As an added bonus, once I made the sash for myself, I thought why not make a cute accessory for our dog, Piishka? She had an adorable ruffled collar that matched us as well.
My favorite moment: The party afterwards!
The photobooth was the highlight of our wedding –- we booked the photographer specifically because we loved his blank white setup. We had a blast taking photos together and with our friends. I don't know that either one of us had ever laughed that hard before, and of course it is great to have the photos to look back on now. I love that my favorite pics of our wedding are of my wife and I with inflatable guitars, feather boas, and silly hats. Also I love the photos where we're jumping and in mid-flight… very appropriate metaphor for a wedding, I think!
My advice for other offbeat brides: Prioritze. Cut out anything you don't care about ….various traditions, extra guests, etc. That way you can take care of the things that matter to you without being overwhelmed.
Complete all DIY aspects of the wedding at least 1 week in advance so that you can enjoy spending time with friends and family when they arrive. I did a lot of DIY stuff –- I made the cake topper, a collar for the dog, a sash for myself to match my bride, team t-shirts for the soccer game, all corsages, boutineers and bouquets, wedding doughnut cake stand, props for the photobooth, etc. Everything but the bouquets was completed well in advance, and I think that was the single best thing I did for myself to prepare for the wedding.
Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?:
- Photographer: The amazing and very fun John Fenger
- Harpist: Also amazing and great to work with, Kate Petak
- Reception Location: Portland City Grill. The view was to-die-for and they were totally professional and generally fabulous.
Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!:
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Working tirelessly to bring you stimulating content day after day, the Offbeat Wed editors will not sleep until you've gotten your offbeat fix.
The pre-wedding soccor game was amazingly adorable. It says so much about your great relationship together and how you handle life! I wish the both of you the best of luck.
I love how you did the soccer game! And the venue was so pretty!!!
oh i want to get married again! love it!
Aww! This wedding is incredibly sweet and beautiful! So very heart felt! Congrates!
What a wonderful wedding! The soccer game is hilariously awesome, and the silver sash really does make your dress and the overall look (as does your dog's collar!).
How awesome, from the soccer game to the dog collar it was great, very fun and beautiful! You ladies looked great together! Congrats!
It is really hard!! I see Ariel posted a bunch of links, but it *was* really difficult to find photos a year or two years ago when we started planning. Notice that only 1 wedding she posted was on the site a year ago (when I was planning).
Here are a few of my favorite links found while searching all-girl wedding porn:
http://www.stylemepretty.com/2009/04/07/real-wedd…
http://www.stylemepretty.com/2009/04/07/real-wedd…
http://www.stylemepretty.com/2009/04/07/real-wedd…
http://www.stylemepretty.com/2009/04/07/real-wedd…
http://www.stylemepretty.com/2009/04/07/real-wedd…
http://www.stylemepretty.com/2009/04/07/real-wedd…
http://www.stylemepretty.com/2009/04/07/real-wedd…
http://www.stylemepretty.com/2009/04/07/real-wedd…
http://circlephoto.livejournal.com/12472.html
http://luminaireimages.livejournal.com/57694.html
http://charlottegeary.livejournal.com/143850.html
http://circlephoto.livejournal.com/2647.html
We've featured several two brides/two dresses weddings. Here are a few links:
http://offbeatwed.com/2009/07/australia-commitm…
http://offbeatwed.com/2009/07/gena-annes-old-ho…
http://offbeatwed.com/2008/11/lisa-teris-fancy-…
http://offbeatwed.com/2008/09/offbeat-aunties
http://offbeatwed.com/2008/08/sarah-jenns-fairy…
http://offbeatwed.com/2007/01/greta-christina
great photos, get atomosphere..
Yay for more photo's hon … I love Piishka's collar!
Love,
Jen
SO BEAUTIFUL!
Quite possibly the cutest brides ever! LOVE the dresses, love the hot pink/red accents, LOVE the pup with the ruffly matching collar! Adorable.
Also, doughnut cake? Genius.
You make a stunning couple!
I LOVE the white hair with the white dress, the sash that matched your wife's dress and dog collar!
Can you please post a tutorial on how you made that adorable ruffly dog collar when you get a chance? It's so perfect!
I made the dog collar following the tutorial for embellishing the jacket seen here:
http://mightygirl.cm.fmpub.net/2009/05/06/diy-j-c…
I altered the instructions a bit, only using 1 type of fabric and using hot glue (as I was not patient enough to sew each rosette). Then I hot glued them all to an existing dog collar. Voila!
At an ultimate frisbee tournament recently a married couple tried something similar to the soccer game: husband & wife showed up with enough friends to make 2 teams, then picked players out of a hat. The spouse with the worse-ranked team at the end of the weekend had to switch his/her name to that of his/her partner.
Oh my goodness I love love LOVE the blue dress…where is it from? I have been searching for a dress like that for YEARS!
The blue dress is Butter by Nadia. http://www.butterbynadia.com Highly recommended, quite possibly the most comfortable, flattering and versatile dress I've ever owned. It is the signature satin in indigo.
Your wedding looks so fun! Not stuffy – just like everyone was there having a fabulously fun time. Congrats and I am now in love with Butter by Nadia, I'm getting the signature satin dress for my reception. Thank you so much for posting!
How did you do the photo booth set up? All of the booths that I'm looking to rent are all sit down. I would love to have one like yours where there's room to move around. That looks so fun!
THANK YOU for some ideas and pics from a double dress wedding!! My fiance and I are both pretty girlie and most of the lesbian wedding info I have seen has been a butch/femme couple. We are planning our dresses similiar. I will be in white with red accents and her dress is all red. The ladies standing up for us are going to be in black and the guys in black suits with red ties. I love the idea of the soccer game, but if i tried that, she would blow it on purpose. She has a very common last name and mine is a very uncommon Russian name, so she decided a long time ago she was taking mine. You two are adorable!! Best Wishes
you're welcome! 🙂 i'll be excited to see the pics!
You'll have to ask our photographer, John Fenger, in the wedding vendor links above. His setup for the photobooth was BEYOND AWESOME! and involved a laptop, a camera, lights, the backdrop, but I have no idea how he set it up. I would get in touch with him to ask……
Fantastic ladies! I am a bride in an all bride wedding myself. We're getting married in September! Loved all your details, so nice to see there are others out there! Hope you two are enjoying your lives together!
soccer game is unique!
what a beautiful couple!
I love the dresses! We are also two gals in dresses and were struggling to come up with ideas. Thanks for the inspiration. Your pics are gorgeous. Congratulations.
PS lI ove the donut idea aswell, pity we dont have great donut shops down here in NZ to make one 🙁
here's another awesome 2-dress wedding:
http://www.emilygphotography.com/blog/2009/12/18/…