Posted byWe saw Becky's killer robot shoes and boutonnières in a Monday Montage. Here's the rest of this robot-filled party.
The offbeat bride: Becky, scientist/grant editor (and Tribe member)
Her offbeat partner: Aaron, iPhone software developer
Date and location of wedding: Heather's Glen, Conroe, TX — May 14, 2011
What made our wedding offbeat: Robots. That and the fact that we made our wedding exactly the way we wanted it. We looked at all the traditions and decided to use only those that were meaningful to us — the rest got dumped. From a distance, our wedding looked like most small, southern weddings. There was a bride in a white dress and bridesmaids in matching dresses and men in tuxedos. Up close, the traditional wedding started to get fuzzy.
I chose not to wear a veil. My dad walked me down the aisle, but he sat down when we got to the end. He didn't give me away (in fact, I walked the last six feet or so by myself). We didn't do a bouquet or garter toss and I didn't even wear a garter. Aaron and I spent the night before together, and the whole wedding party got ready together (we had donuts and kolaches and the XBox set up for playing Portal 2).
I incorporated robots any chance I got, but mostly subtly: they were on the boutonnieres and I had robot shoes and a robot charm on my bouquet as well as robot charms tied to all of the centerpieces. All of the boutonnieres were hand-made by me because boys don't generally care about flowers and I always hated seeing them get trampled on the dance floor later. I did all of my own flowers and centerpieces. My sister did my hair. We had three different kinds of local beer to choose from at the reception.
Tell us about the ceremony: It was very short. It was performed by my grandfather, and was the exact same ceremony he used when my parents were married 30 years ago.
The wedding party walked in to “Concerning Hobbits” and then I walked in to “Storybook Love” from The Princess Bride. I was so focused on Aaron that I didn't hear the music when I walked in and had to ask someone later to see if they actually played it. We did our promises, vows, and rings, omitting any sort of unity ceremony (we felt it was redundant, since the wedding itself is a unity ceremony). Our recessional music was “The Way I Am” by Ingrid Michaelson.
Our biggest challenge: Our biggest challenge was the guest list. We wanted a small wedding, and our venue had an 80-person limit. So we took our lists and our parents lists and, after some minor cutting, made it work. We even had a secondary list to send invites to once we had a feel for who was and was not coming. Invitations went out, but most of the RSVPs didn't come back. I have a lot of family from out of town who were unable to make it. Unfortunately, by the time I got all of my numbers sorted out, it was too late to send a second round of invites.
I let my wedding day bliss overtake me and didn't care about any of the things that went wrong (several things that would have sent me into a minor rage just a couple of days beforehand). I was gloriously happy and married my best friend and that was all that mattered.
My favorite moment: Mine: Everything about the ceremony. My grandfather, an ordained minister, put together his version of the wedding ceremony from bits and pieces of all the different Christian ceremonies 30 years ago when he performed my parents' wedding. He used the same ceremony, word-for-word, for both my parents' wedding and mine (and countless couples in between).
Aaron's: “Our first kiss as a married couple, and seeing Becky in her dress for the first time.”
My funniest moment: When my dad was walking me down the aisle, he told me to slow down because I didn't want to get there too fast, and then took it back with “well, maybe you do.” I totally did.
After the recessional, the whole wedding party went back into the bride's room while the guests were dismissed to the reception. My sister, the maid of honor, immediately teased out our first post-ceremony kiss with the phrase “What was that? Church tongue?” which was followed by a high-five for not crying. I have cried at every wedding I've ever been to, except my own. I never would have guessed that.
Was there anything you were sure was going to be a total disaster that unexpectedly turned out great? I expected to have to fight more for some of my offbeat ideas. I was prepared to argue with parents and with the venue coordinator (the venue is fairly traditional). It turned out that everyone was totally supportive of our ideas. Everybody made things happen the way I wanted, no fighting needed.
In fact, the venue coordinator blew me away with how wonderful she was. She stayed completely in the background and still managed to make everything happen the way I wanted it, when I wanted it to happen.
Also, I was worried that it would be too hot. Most of our reception was outside, and in Houston, May is summer. We had had several 90 degree days already. It turned out that it was a lovely 80 degrees with low humidity(!) and a cool breeze. It was perfect, and the last nice day we had before summer officially set in.
My advice for offbeat brides: Be true to yourself. I kept finding myself wanting to make my wedding more offbeat, more awesome. At some point, I realized that, while offbeat weddings are awesome and amazing, I needed to have a wedding that reflected me and Aaron. Don't reject tradition for the sake of rejecting tradition, and don't try to be offbeat for the sake of being offbeat. Think about who you are and what you really want.
Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?
- Photography: Moxie Studios
- Venue: Heather's Glen
- Dresses: Alfred Angelo
- Shoes: Etsy seller NoraKaren
- Cufflinks: Etsy seller CosmicFirefly
- Ring sperm: Giantmicrobes
- Flowers: Fifty Flowers
- Cake: Chocolate Passions, Conroe, TX
- Jewelry: Naugi
- Becky's ring: Gemvara
- Aaron's ring: Meteorite from Boone Rings
- Tuxedos: Men's Warehouse
- Vases: IKEA
- Robot charms: Amazon
Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!
jewelry: Gemvara
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.
Very cool! The robot details are so neat, and your dress is just beautiful. Congratulations!
I love the guys pins things. That’s such an adorable idea!
This is great! I am also having my bridal party walk in to “Concerning Hobbits”. It’s such a charming melody. I love the way you incorporated subtle details like the robots without feeling like you had to make it into an overwhelming theme. Everything looks amazing.
I really love the cake it looks gorgeous! Congratulations!
I love your true-to-yourselves approach as well as the subtle robot touches and keeping your glasses!
…but….well….what is that your rings are on in that photo????
That’s my ring sperm. I have a slight obsession with GiantMicrobes (Giantmicrobes.com) and thought it would be funny to put the rings on the sperm’s tail. I tried to incorporate the egg too, but it just ended up sitting on a table.
giantmicrobes are fun!
again, love your authenticity.
congratulations and best wishes for your marriage!
Is that Alfred Angelo 801 you’re wearing? It looks gorgeous and makes me super excited to wear it on my wedding day (if indeed my eyes are correct and we have the same dress).
🙂
Beautiful pictures and it looks like you both had a total blast and are super in love!
It is indeed an Alfred Angelo 801. It was the very first dress I tried on and after several hours of trying on other dresses, I had to go back for it. I had them add on extra train because I really wanted a long train.
I loved my dress so much and I’m sure you’ll be gorgeous in it too!
Love it! The train almost threw me off, but I figured you added length – it’s beautiful.
I’m wearing that dress too! I love it and you look fantastic in it!
I’m now going to ask a personal question and hope it’s not too personal. Where did you find a bra that was low enough in the back to go under this dress? I’ve tried two bras already and no luck yet.
I was never able to find one and decided to go without. The dress had enough shape and coverage on it’s own. It was actually nice not to have one more layer of stuff under there too.
Thanks! I’ve been thinking about doing that but was a little leery. I’ll have to give it a try.
You’re going to feel really silly when those robot overlords conquer us! 🙂
i lol’d
As an attendee and witness to this grand event, I have to agree that it was fantastic and unique, and we (my fiancé and I) were very glad to have made the short list!! (I think the red velvet iPhone cake was my favorite). -Brian
Ps Robots rule!
This is totally the wedding I would have if I ever got married. I’m a robot nerd. But really, I just want her shoes and cake 🙂
OMG, I work at HobbyLobby and nearly peed my pants seeing the computer chip pendants! I rigged mine (no easy feat) to blink when I wanted it to. That is so freaking amazing, kudos from a fellow Houstonian!
her advice was SPOT ON!!!! this is what makes it so fun! 🙂
As the sister, and much more traditional bride only two months prior…i must say I had concerns about my sister’s robot’s in the garden wedding. Nonetheless, she pulled it off…this wedding was unique, tasteful, romantic, and had just enough tradition…besides the robots were subtle. As a member of the wedding party, I can truly say this wedding was purely Becky and Aaron and every bride should take the risk of making their wedding their own even if it means venturing outside the traditional box.
“Don’t reject tradition for the sake of rejecting tradition, and don’t try to be offbeat for the sake of being offbeat.”
Thank you so much for saying that! It’s taken me most of our engagement to grasp that concept and stop feeling like our wedding’s going to be boring because it isn’t totally outlandish.
You guys are SO insanely cute! This looks like such a fun, relaxed and beautiful wedding. My favorites: the beautiful bride looking adorable in her glasses (love it when brides leave their specs on!), the groom’s cake (my fiance’s a fellow software nerd), and the beakers that held flowers. I tip my Storm Trooper helmet to you.
Well as mother of this bride. I was somewhat sceptical as I saw these non traditional ideas coming out, But I know it was her day not mine. The Cake topper was the ugliest thing I thought I had ever seen until I saw it on the awesome cake and it was perfect. It was a beautiful day and we are proud! To all you Brides, be brave and make it your day!
OMG! You guys got married right down the street from me (almost, maybe a mile or so). Wish I knew you so I could have personally told you how fantastic your wedding was! I love the little details that you put in! And how awesome is Heather’s Glen?! So many fond memories of that place! Congratulations! Your anniversary is only a few days past International Star Wars Day, Your hubby (who also has the same name as my fiance) sure can’t forget that now!!
Your wedding was amAAAAZING. I loved every detail! You said “From a distance, our wedding looked like most small, southern weddings. There was a bride in a white dress and bridesmaids in matching dresses and men in tuxedos. Up close, the traditional wedding started to get fuzzy.” and that just about describes what we are striving for in our wedding. You have no idea how much better I feel after reading your post. We’re two months out from our wedding and I’m starting to second guess myself on everything “offbeat” but honestly after reading this I feel a lot better. 😀
Such a beautiful wedding! I’m totally in love with the cake.
Can I ask where you got your button holes made – more to the point I love the PCB leaves in them and was wondering where they were sourced? 🙂
I made them myself from things I found in the craft store. The leaves came from Hobby Lobby.
Thank you 🙂 x