Posted by
The offbeat bride: Ann, Reservations Agent, Dork, and Sewing Superhero (and OBT member “Ann Verleg“)
Her offbeat partner: Sean, Kitchen Manager, Dork and Ann's personal Chef
Location & date of wedding: St. Andrews on the Square Kamloops, British Columbia Canada — October 31st, 2009 Halloween
What made our wedding offbeat: Our quest was to make our wedding hilariously fun and heartfelt. Everything was about us and our weird and wonderful imagination. We had a Viking themed ceremony that included a sword ceremony and dowry exchange, a dorktastic photo shoot in the park and at the comic book store where we met, a reception complete with beard contest and a pajama party/gift opening at breakfast.
Our invitations stated that costumes were mandatory *GASP!* Several of our guests even grew beards to truly fit our Viking theme, so we threw in a beard contest complete with trophies. Because we don't know when to quit, we also had some farthest traveled trophies, several dance competitions, and best costume prizes.
My mother and I sewed a lot of costumes. We had about eighty guests/attendants/vendors all together and a good 75% had costumes on that we had sewn.
The event that every guest truly enjoyed was the battle for the buffet! Every table had to choose a leader of there clan. That person had to make the sound and motion of the animal their table was named after in order to get the attention of the MC and answer a trivia question. If they answered the question correctly they could proceed to the throne room for a photo and then continue on to the buffet. If they did not partake in the photo they would be thrown into the great pit of Carkoon and be eaten by the all powerful Sarlacc. Sounds fun huh?
My favorite moment: There are too many special moments to list. How about when I tripped on my dress and landed on my back and crushed my crown into the back of my head? The room went silent and I started to laugh, I just got up and kept dancing, crushed crown and all.
Another would be after dinner when we opened a present from my Dutch family. It was a painting by my grandfather of Odin's Ravens. I never knew that the painting even existed; neither did my parents until there trip back to Holland this spring. My mom spotted it in my aunt's basement and she schemed to get it to Canada, without my knowledge.
Sean also has a few favorite moments. When the boys did their photo shoot before the ceremony they did an “Abby Road” themed photo. While trying to take it they backed up traffic seven cars deep. Apparently no one was brave enough to ask them to move, no honking horns or one fingered salutes. I guess they were afraid to be asked “WHAT'S IN YOUR WALLET?” Vikings are intimidating ya know?
Sean was in awe when he saw me for the first time that day walking down the aisle to the Imperial March. Rumor has it that he also enjoyed the wedding night. And yes, as his friend Cooper said during dinner “The deflector shield is (umm was) fully operational.”
My offbeat advice: Save, save and save some more. We saved enough money that we sold our tin can (mobile home) and bought/moved into a duplex two months before our big day. A little hectic yes, but also totally awesome!
Let everyone know in advance of your epic wedding ideas. You don't need to tell them everything, but it will help some of your guests absorb and understand your vision. It will also inspire people to help and give you useful advice. They might also scour every thrift store in you province until they find a blow horn for $5.00 at the Sally Ann, or drive all the way to Viking Alberta to send you a reply card with a picture of themselves in front of the town sign.
If you plan on lots of DIY give yourself time… We gave ourselves two years, and we still bought a few items. Time really helps the budget.
Buy or make your attendants clothes. They will love you looooooong time!
Use your network of friends to save big! Church, reception, food and beverage, flowers, DJ, cake, costumes for the bridal party and guests and our photos were all done by friends and family. Yes! Friends CAN take awesome photos and they don't charge you the biggest chunk of your wedding budget.
Sean's advice: Wear clean underwear. And get as much done as early as possible (even if you have two years), something always pops up last minute.
Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?:
- I can't say enough about shopping in thrift stores, discount shops, garage sales, eBay and etsy!
- Where we met: High Octane Comics
- Our Ceremony/Vows (from a fellow offbeat bride… Who knew?): WeddingSkulls
- Grooms Armor (Made in Canada): Le Troll aux Trousses
- Some guests found this website helpful for an inexpensive costume in a wide range of sizes: Holy Clothing
- Flowers were by my Maid of Honour, but she works at Art Knapps
- All of our guests stayed at The Ramada Inn Kamloops (Where Sean works) With rooms for $50.00 per night you can't complain.
- Bridesmaid Dresses (Yes we broke down and bought them) Pearsons Renaissance Shoppe
Enough talk — show me the wedding porn:
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.
Awesomeness! The wedding looked so cool and makes me wish I could have been there. You all looked like you had a great time.
I loved the little Viking. I am getting married in a week and I am going to have a little pirate.
This is spectacular! I love the Abbey Road picture and the shields the guys are holding (and the tiny Viking, OMG!). I love it so much!
Yeah we slaved over the shields for a few weeks. My dad constructed them and I drew the designs on and then we painted (My parents, my hubby and I), then added the leather edging and the metal boss in the middle.
Thanks for the uber nice comments!
Your cape is AMAZING!! Awesome wedding!
Looks like SO much fun!
Congratulations! Those are definitely some awesome pictures to treasure!
I could kiss you! My urban viking's been having a hell of a time finding armor – Le Troll Aux Trousses is PERFECT and has his SIZE!!! *pardon the open weeping*
Your wedding is awesome to look at, and I absolutely am inspired by your "yup, we're vikings!" attitude. LOVE tweaking out to your weddingporn 😉
Thanks again for sharing everything!
Le Troll Aux Trousses is really good to deal with and they make everything to order which is nice! Do order it ahead of time though, it might take up to 8 weeks depending on the season.
Thanks for the super nice comments! 🙂
So much awesome!
This has been so a fantastic week here on OBB.
Brilliant! One of the best weddings I've ever seen on OBB. And the fact that you were able to fall, crush your dress, laugh and get back up without batting an eyelash makes you my hero.
I…. just…. WOW. I am speechess. One of the BEST OFFBEAT WEDDINGS EVER. You two are amazig. My (horned) hat's off to you.
Tiny viking FTW!!!!!11!@! Squee!!!!!
Pure liquid awesome. I LOVE the abby road shot. I LOVE the grooms boots. I love the attitude. Kudos to you guys for throwing what looks like the best darn party Kamloops has ever seen (having been to a couple myself, I can speak from experience here!)
Awesome!!
This is AWESOME. I'm having a Viking Tea with the Queen 50's sorta wedding so it made me ridiculously happy to see other peoples kick ass dorky-ness LOL!!
Yeah us dorks have to stick together 😉
My favorite wedding on OBB so far! So many incredible details: a fantastic theme beautifully executed. And it looks like you had so much fun! I was wondering, did you make your bouquet? It's one of the most creative I've seen here.
My maid of Honor did it for me. I said I wanted fall colours with feathers, and thats what she came up with. She is a florist here in Kamloops. I loved it!
I LOVE the picture of the two of you running after the birds in the park! Incredible.
It's a spin on our engagment photo shoot 😀
Holy cow! <3 This is so amazing. My favorite part has to be the battle for the buffet. So awesome! This is probably my new favorite wedding on here. XD
Looks awesome. Great tips. Wish I was there.
I am loving this so hard! And fellow Canadians too (hi from Manitoba!). And I'm definitely making note of Le Troll Aux Trousses too 😀 Maybe find something for my own Viking hubby (hehe).
Hi back Miss Manitoban!
I had as much fun shooting the wedding as everyone did being in it too. If anyone’s wondering, yes, my assistant and I were in period costumes as well. I just wish more people would do things like this and I could be part of it. All other weddings pale in comparison.
Martin is amazing (and willing to let you dress him up) ! If you're in the Lower Mainland I'm sure he'd love to shoot you… well your wedding anyways 😀
Me love you long time!
That is so cool! Though I don't know much about Vikings per se, I loved the ways you actually INCLUDED your guests (with the costume contest, dance-off, buffet battle lol!, etc) into your wedding day. It looks like it was a lot of fun! 🙂
OK this HAS to be the most awesomest theme ever!!!!! Your wedding was beautiful fun fantastic!!!!!! I wish you the best and happiest!!!!!!!!
Wonderful *bursts into applause*, hilarious, beautiful, outstanding. So impressed with the artistry and theatricality. You two seem made for each other. Also, how awesome is that Odin's Ravens painting?
Congratulations! I laughed in joy all the way through the wedding porn.
Your wedding was AWESOMESAUCE!! Love it!! I'm planning on walking down the aisle to Imperial March too!! (a dream of mine for about seven years now LOL) Love the lil viking too!!
Imperial March all the way! You won't regret it! 😀
omg!!! I totally went to highschool with Ann. Ann, I FREAKING LOVE your wedding. OMG the picture of the little boy!! and the beard contest!!! AHH, awsome.
Hello, long time no see! Thanks… your wedding was awesome too by the way, saw some pictures posted on OBT 😉
Wow.. AWESOME. I've seen Ren weddings and medieval weddings, but never a Viking wedding like this and it's FABULOUS.
This is one of, if not the best themed wedding I have ever seen. Amazing x1000. Thanks for sharing. I especially love the pic of the groom and groomsman near the shore.
I would just like to say that GEEK WEEK IS THE BEST WEEK.
Amen sister! *snort* 😉
Wow, I love the theme, it is so much fun! And your littlest viking was awesome!
And one more bit of admiration, I completely love your dress! Thus, I have a question… who makes it? It kind of exactly what I was looking for!
I bought it 2 years ago… I'll have to run downstairs and check it was less that $500.00 new.
http://www.rayliadesigns.com/gallerydetails.asp?m…
Mine is the one pictured in Light Gold
I don't think I have ever gushed over a wedding as much as I did this one. Every picture brought more awww's from my daughter and I. And though he probably won't appreciate it (being a Viking and all) I just want to pinch your hubby's adorable cheeks! Yay you for having a truely memorable wedding.
Brilliant ideas,the most original idea ive seen in a long time,you looks like it was sssssssssssssooooooooo much fun 🙂
guys this is beautiful.. LOVE the feathers in your bouquet!!
omg i love love love your wedding!! i want to be there! regardless of if we know eachother or not lol. i have to rate this as the best wedding evar. the spears instead of flowers was fantastic for the bridesmaids aak!! too much to comment on. thank you for posting!!!!
This wedding is so awesome! I especially love the detailing on the car! I must also agree with the previous posts about how amazing the bridesmaids' spears and your cloak are. Did you purchase these items, or did you make them? Congratulations on a wedding full of win!
The sheild on the car we made out of poster board and tin foil. The dragon head was paper mached by our goddaughters and their mom. The also made a goat pinata for Seans Stag party and a viking helmet for my bridal shower.
The spears were made for a dollar store curtain rod ($2.00 each) and a 10cent finial from a liquidation store. I spray painted the finials silver. I had to use some black electrical tape around the top of the spear because the finials were a tiny bit to big. I wrapped the tape around the top of the rod a few times and then sqwished the finial onto the rod for a tight fit.
The cloak was purchased (which is wierd because we sewed everyone elses… I think it was uber cheap) but my mother and I did sew on the fur trim to match the wolf pelt that we made for Seans costume.
Hope that helps. If you have any other questions please let me know.
Thanks for all the wonderful comments!
Loved the video of the battle for the buffet!
Thanks! We actually made our own trilogy and soundtrack.
We have the Wedding ceremony, Reception and Honeymoon on dvd and we also did a soundtrack.
We sent them out to our friends and family for Christmas.
We light scribed the disks and printed covers for each that fit into the dvd cases to make them a little more "professional"
I've been in love with this wedding since I saw it in the photo pool! It's hilarious, loving and completely fantastic. It also added more inspiration for my wedding cape! Thanks for posting it 🙂
This is an AWESOME wedding! I have no interest in vikings whatsoever but MAN I wish I was invited! Well I wasn't interested, but looking at those shields has just opened a huge google-frenzy. Way to inspire!! I also wonder how I can incorporate a Battle for the Buffet into our non-themed wedding….hmmm
Need to say more? Fun!!! – Congrats!
You lucky bugger, you're allowed helemts with horns on!
We're having a viking wedding too as we and half of are guests actually are vikings and therefore I would be crucified if I allowed such an unauthentic, inaccurate item at me wedding!
My mother side of the family is Danish and they had no problems with the horns… Weddings are supposed to be fun! Why worry about being completly historically accurate? Is your husband going to have a house full of thralls at his beck and call after you are married? I think not… Wear the horns! 😛
This wedding makes me go YEEEAAAH!!
Bravo!
I love this! Very very fun, and the photos are stunning. ps. I love that a Kamloops wedding is shown here! Represent!
Total agreement! Kamloops is the hub for fun and unique people – and weddings! 😉
I LOVE her dress. I'm curious where that came from?
http://www.rayliadesigns.com/gallerydetails.asp?m…
It was under $500.00 new
This is my favourite Offbeat Bride wedding.
I know I’ve said this before on the OBT, but I absolutely *love* everything about your wedding! It just makes me so very happy.
Brilliant ideas – love this totally – hate to say the word awesome again, as it’s been said so many times but it was AWESOME – wish I could have been there xx
I absolutely love your wedding! Brilliant! Loving, fun and representative of your lives. I’m from the Isle of Man and, if you ever make a trip to the UK, you should visit. We have a replica of Odins Raven in our museum. We have viking longboat racing every summer – brilliant day. We’re proud of our viking inheritance! Have a wonderful and happy life together! Tris
OMG! My fiance and I have just wept with laughter at your awesome wedding! I love all the fun you had, looks like an incredible blast!! Love it!
You have given me a new lease of ideas for our wedding, why not do what I want!! YAY!!
SO many memories for you to drool over = epic wedding, congrats!! x
As a lucky vendor who wrote the ceremony for these two awesome people, I have to say this wedding looks like SO MUCH FUN, and I wish you two all the best for what will undoubtedly be an amazing, fun-fulled marriage!
So cute! I love the Abbey Road picture too. Yay for geek weddings (mine was the samurai/Lord of the Rings one last year)!
What a great wedding! I’m a fellow Kamloopsian, and I can’t believe I didn’t come across this before! In addition to being comic book fans, do the two of you also happen to be SCAdians? You look really familiar to me!
Apparently you didn’t see us on the front page of the newspaper 😛
No we don’t LARP and we arn’t part of the SCA. We’re just a bunch of dorks who like to play dress up!
First off, I absolutely LOVE your dress! I have to admit, I’m envious of your halloween wedding, my partner and I decided to do it in peak wedding season instead. Just looking at your pictures and reading your story makes me wish I could have been there myself!
Would love to see a where are they now of this couple!