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The offbeat bride: Kara, Corporate Fitness Management
Her offbeat partner: John, Manager
Date and location of wedding: The Mavris, Downtown Indianapolis, Indiana — April 22, 2011
What made our wedding offbeat: With only four months to plan, our wedding was not traditional. My mom wanted to work with a theme for our décor and I wasn't quite feeling the initial ideas. So I told her, “Mom… think Skittles!” From there the ball got rolling. We did most everything on our own and luckily had Becky from Lilly Lane to jump right in with off-the-wall ideas for floral.
Our décor and ideas were all circled around the idea of candy. Our save-the-dates were a jellybean background surrounding our wig-wearing selves for a picture postcard. Our invitations were all hand made by my mom, sister, and me, and delivered with a lollipop.
Candy balls served as aisle decoration and were made of Skittles, hand glued by my wedding team. My dad had drilled holes in theses amazing big glass bottles my mom found. We put wire lights in each of them for the aisle and topped them with our candy balls and the flower balls done by Becky.
We had a fabulous candy bar, “John & Kara's Sweet Shoppe,” created and completely done by my mom. The party favors were candy jars that served as escort cards, so when leaving the ceremony, the guests picked up their jar which was labeled with “Goobers,” “Nerds,” “Smarties,” etc. Our tables were candy-theme named instead of numbered.
The one thing I really wanted was a photo booth. We had Happy Snaps as our photo booth vendor. Everyone was running around with props and just having a blast and we have a wonderful scrapbook filled with all the photo strips from the night.
Tell us about the ceremony: The ceremony was held on the third floor of the Mavris on a Friday night. My sister and brother-in-law stood up with me, and John's sister and brother-in-law stood up with him. We thought it was a fun way to have our siblings be our Matron of Honor and Best Woman.
It actually rained that afternoon and into the evening, and honestly it didn't affect my mood at all. Following the cocktail party, I was anxious for the unveiling of my dress, since it was a surprise. The guests were seated and it was time to walk down the aisle with my dad. The doors opened and the reaction was great.
My dad gave me away and we were getting started with Pastor Dennie and a cell phone rang… and rang. Everyone was shuffling around and I just turned to our guests with my hand on my hip and scanned the crowd. The room erupted with laughter, and it really just relaxed us all. It was a great ceremony and just how I imagined it.
Our biggest challenge: Planning in four months! It took maybe a month to get the ball rolling, but once we did, we realized we had to kick it into high gear. If it wasn't for my mom, it wouldn't have all come together. I was so thankful she was open to the theme, and it being completely opposite of my little sister's wedding just ten months prior.
My favorite moment: John seeing my dress for the first time. My dad walking me down the aisle. My cousin Rachel reading my Grandpa's Prayer. Our closest family and friends being there to share the day.
My funniest moment: My mom and sister found my dress at a prom shop. It was prom season and being 30 years old, the girls were wondering what I was doing. When they asked what is that dress for, jaws dropped when I said, “My wedding!”
We decided a week or so before the big day that we were going to actually participate in our pre-wedding cocktail hour. Of course I couldn't wear my dress to the cocktail party. It would give away that element of surprise. So, I found a very simple white dress to wear. Right before the ceremony, I had to quickly change in to my wilder dress, and my personalized Nike iD shoes.
Was there anything you were sure was going to be a total disaster that unexpectedly turned out great? My stepdaughter was only a little over two and a half years old at the time and her moods were unpredictable. Once we finally got her to get dressed, I relaxed. John carried her down the aisle with him and then she sat there perfectly through the whole ceremony. She was the life of the party running around with bunny ears on her head from the photo booth!
What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? Enjoy every moment because it's over in a flash. I couldn't believe how fast the night went by. I was glad we ended up participating in our cocktail hour because otherwise I probably wouldn't have seen everyone.
Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?
- Photographer: JScott Photography
- Flowers: Lilly Lane
- Officiant: Pastor Dennie Mitchel
- Venue: The Mavris
- Videographer: Fordham Footage
- Photo booth: Happy Snaps
Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!
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Beautiful! Also, I think we are kindred spirits – what with the candy weddings. I loved your dress! I loved everything!
Oh my gosh… That dress. I have no words, beyond IN.CRED.I.BLE. I die, like, a lot.
i love that dress! It’s SO adorable!!
Absolutely amazing!!!
Wow! I love the color!
I love how fun and colorful this wedding is. I am having a photo booth as well and can’t wait to get a bunch of props for it. (Love the cop hat!)
Happy Snaps had great props, and we ended up getting a few extra things as dance floor props that ended up in the photo booth! Blow up guitars and a monkey were a hit! Make sure you get in the booth, because afterwards I realized I didn’t get in it enough with a variety of people!!! Enjoy your day.
OK, I normally hate weddings and all things marriage but I’ve been in love with offbeatbride for awhile now secretly since to all my friends i’m the “cynical” one. just wanted to say thanks so much for posting this! i love the colors! will be visiting again often and openly 🙂
Kristen L.
I have to say – your wedding is an inspiration!!! The colours and warmth from these pictures are breath-taking. AMAZING dress. AMAZING decor. Thanks for sharing your pics. Heartfelt congratulations to such a fun-loving and creative couple.
Thank you for your kind words, we are glad you enjoyed looking at our pictures… It was definitely fun loving!!! 🙂
I’m glad you liked our pictures!! Our photographer is AWESOME!!! JScott Photography out of Indianapolis. He did my sister’s wedding photos and has done family pictures for us. Wouldn’t pick anyone else!!! So much fun to work with.
What a gorgeous dress!
Thank you for all the wonderful comments!!! We really had a blast and I was so glad we decided to be OffBeat and different!!! The dress was the best, most fun part because it just wasn’t expected… and really tied in my personality!!! Thanks for reading! ~The Skittle Bride
The Mavris is pretty much my dream venue. I don’t think it’s possible to take a bad picture there. I’d decided against it because it’s a little pricey, but this is making me reconsider…
Lol… It was my Dad’s dream venue too! 😉 We were sold on doing everything at one location and the place is amazing!!! We had our wedding on a Friday night, it was a little cheaper!! They are also doing mid-week weddings!! Best of luck to you!
This wedding is just… everything. It’s amazing and making me more convinced of the awesomeness of a multicoloured wedding “theme”.
Favorite wedding and favorite dress I’ve ever seen. Amazing
Wow your pictures turned out amazing!! 🙂 so glad I got to come to your & johns wedding. It was so much fun & very unique. Plus I really really loved your dress and how it matched your shoes so cool that they got to publish this 🙂
Yay, an Indianapolis bride! I will echo the sentiments about the Mavris, it’s a great space. Also the sentiments about your superfantastic dress, and thumbs waaay up for doing custom kicks!
This is probably my favorite Off Beat Wedding today!!! Just beautiful.
That dress brightens my life! Care to give any info about it?
The dress was from a prom shop (Rae Lynn’s)in Greenwood, In. It was actually called the Dippin’ Dot Dress because the bead work at the top looked like Dippin’ Dots! 🙂 Very comfy, and much cheaper than a big wedding dress! 😉
Such a beautiful wedding! How fabulous and HOW much FUN!
Congratulations on being yourselves!
Seriously the best idea! Colorful and sweet! I thought I was the only one that loved Skittles that much! Thanks so much for sharing!