Lara & Steve’s colorful DIY geek-fest wedding

I am SUPER excited that we're finally featuring OBT member Lara‘s wedding. You might remember Lara from when I featured her custom drawn “Geeky Love” invitations and then again when we featured her very meta wedding favors. Yay for Lara and her awesomely geeky wedding! -Megs

The offbeat bride: Lara, Illustrator (and OBT member)

Her offbeat partner: Steve – Project Manager

Location & date of the wedding: Le Gothique restaurant in London, UK — June 19, 2010

What made our wedding offbeat: We wanted our wedding to be personal and to reflect us as we really are. And that is geeky! So we decided to stop fighting it and just embrace our geeky natures with the ceremony and decorations and called on the fabulous skills of our friends and family who are amazing and really made the day.

I illustrated all the invites and made the decorations (hurrah paper cranes!), and favors, which were little scrolls with favors inside — such as us making them cupcakes or helping them move house! We had pixel images of characters like Pikachu and Tails instead of table numbers, family members played live music (including the Windwaker theme tune!) during the ceremony and in the evening. We had a film, tv and general knowledge quiz during dinner and did a joint speech. The Mario and Yoshi cupcakes were a big hit and a six foot cardboard cut out of the Laputa robot managed to arrive at the reception as did Han Solo and Leia!

Tell us about your ceremony: Mum and Dad walked me down the gravel path “aisle” to meet Steve. It meant a lot to me to have them both there.

In England you cannot have a civil ceremony outside. It has to be inside a registered building or structure. Luckily, we were able to have most of the wedding outside. We sat the guests in the cute little garden of our venue and stepped inside the doorway for the legal part of the ceremony!

The Registrar who conducted the ceremony was great. She was very easy going about the changes we had requested and our choices of readings. Steve's brother read A Lovely Love Story by Edward Monkton and Steve's Mum read I'll be there for you by Louise Cuddon.

While we signed the register my Mum and three of my brothers played the Windwaker theme tune. Fantastic!

My favorite moment: Lara: standing in the hallway with my Mum and Dad just before walking in to the ceremony and feeling really supported and loved as they tried to make me laugh! Seeing Steve waiting for me and realizing that I wasn't nervous at all about actually getting married. Listening to my family playing the Windwaker music (I know it probably seems a bit odd, but the effort they put into learning this music for us and doing such a brilliant performance of it brought a lump to my throat).

Steve: my brother Andy doing a really good reading during the ceremony. The actual, you know, wedding bit! Our first dance because it was so geeky and fun.

My funniest moment: The speeches from the chief best man and my Dad were genuinely funny and sweet. During the quiz everyone got really competitive which was hilarious to watch! There was also some quality dancing later on in the evening.

Our biggest challenge: Keeping the various interested parties happy! Lots of people gave advice and suggestions, which were great but sometimes conflicted with each other or our own ideas. We took everything they said on board and tried our best to find ways to compromise because we wanted everyone to enjoy the wedding! At the end of the day if it was something we felt really strongly about, we stuck to our guns, if not, we let it go. Many of the things we compromised over ended up being all the better for it.

Was there anything you were sure was going to be a total disaster that unexpectedly turned out great? We were nervous about the first dance as we're both a little clumsy and made up our dance moves the week before the wedding! We really wanted people to dance while my brother and his wife did a set of brilliant cover songs. We figured the best way to get them to dance was to start it off ourselves! We danced to the James Bond Theme tune!

Luckily on the day it all came together (with help from the dress which swished out very satisfyingly when I spun around!) and I only forgot one of the moves which hopefully nobody noticed apart from Steve! Everyone was laughing and clapping so I think they enjoyed it too, which was the main thing we were hoping for! And it did the trick, everyone danced the night away!

Advice for offbeat brides: Sit down with your partner and make a list of things that are really important to you both and see how you can fit those in. Ask for help from friends and family – you will be amazed how awesome they are! It meant a lot to us and I think they enjoyed being part of the day too. Stop worrying, it will be a great day!

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? Teamwork! When Steve and I work together we get cool stuff done! Obviously we had worked together before this for various things, but nothing so complicated. It was great to see that when we use our powers for good, we are able to create something special!

It was also great to learn how supportive and enthusiastic all our friends and family were. I was a little nervous that some would find our wedding too strange and think we were not taking our vows seriously. I should have had faith in them from the very beginning because they were all fantastic.

Care to share any vendor/shopping links?

• Our lovely photographer: George Marshall.
• Bride's dress: Vivian of Holloway.
• Bride's shoes: Irregular Choice.
• Groom's suit: Moss Bros.
• Amazing cake makers: friends and family!
• Invites and thank you cards: Toast Monster

Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!

About the Author: Offbeat Weditors

@offbeatbride @offbeatwed

Working tirelessly to bring you stimulating content day after day, the Offbeat Wed editors will not sleep until you've gotten your offbeat fix.