Shyn & D’Angelo’s laid-back recycled wedding

The Offbeat Bride: Sheilynne (aka Shyn), hair stylist and makeup artist

Her offbeat partner: D'Angelo, Actor

Date and location of wedding: Small Cottage Rental in Olympia, WA — August 16, 2013

Our offbeat wedding at a glance:
Shortly after our fifth anniversary, D'Angelo proposed on New Year's. Then for eight months, I was planning, pinning, painting, gluing, and recycling (from lots of friends' recycle bins). D'Angelo knew he wanted a laid-back wedding, I knew I wanted it to be pretty, and we both knew we didn't want to deal with shit after. So we decided to make everything recyclable. We had been talking a lot about making our white-walled duplex rental into a home, and it needed more color. So everything in the wedding that we spent money on was to be used in the house after, which helped me wean my way off of the post-bridal DIY blues.

We were on a budget, which meant we had to sit down and decide what was the most important to us for the wedding — food and booze! We rented a small, two-bedroom cottage on the ocean in Olympia, WA. We wanted the cabin for a few reasons: we weren't rushed, no designated driver needed, everyone was welcome to spend the night, and everything could be cooked, prepped, and sorted at the location. But even then, I'd have chosen to have a day-of coordinator if given the chance!

We decided not to have a first dance, cake cutting, or garter toss. We spent months creating recipes for the food, and D'Angelo made an unbelievable pulled pork sandwich, along with other yummy picnic choices. We are also beer drinkers! My uncle gifted us two home brew mini kegs for us for the wedding, and they were gone by the morning, as were 16 bottles of champagne (for only 23 guests – HA!).

For decorations, I had all my friends keep Mason jars, jam jars, jelly jars, and sauce jars. I then made these into lanterns with yarn wrapped around them and some with handles. A few were also used as flower vases. Most of these I still have around the house.

I had a wedding vendor who I've worked with before, Geneva Sipes, contact me about my wedding flowers. I wasn't planning on getting any, but she sent me some sample photos of what she thought I would like, and my payment was in before the email was finished. She nailed the bouquet — it matched my hair, nails, tattoos, and dress color perfectly (and this is why I always hire a pro and let them do their job).

We used a mish-mash of lawn chairs, kitchen chairs, and even a wicker chair and a bench for seating. I purchased multiple pieces of fabric to drape over the chairs, which means I now have new curtains, pillow covers, and a couch cover! We used wooden wine boxes as coffee tables that are now stained and on my walls (one of them holding a hot sauce collection!).

Everyone saved their wine corks to make a cork board to be used a a guest book. They used fancy pens, stickers, and stock paper to write well wishes, sarcastic remarks, advice, and love notes that we made into a book after the wedding.

Many of my friends are actors and artists, so you can imagine what happened when I posted “Prohibition Era” on the invite with a link to a Pinterest board with ideas. Everyone came dressed up, which was awesome!

Tell us about the ceremony:
The ceremony was in a back yard, in front of an ivy-covered brick fireplace with candles it in. It was lush and green and beautiful. We had no bridal party — just us and the officiant. My son walked me down the aisle and gave me away. We exchanged rings, written vows, and invited our son up to receive a ring as well. D'Angelo vowed to love him and be there for him forever, followed up by a hug and a falcon punch to the stomach, a typical greeting in our house.

We focused most on how our marriage is not the beginning, but another adventure. We walked in to “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None The Richer, and we walked out to “Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen, a choice D'Angelo made on one of our many evening porch-sitting, beer drinking wedding planning sessions.

My funniest moment:
Open mic speeches were not a good idea for us! A friend of ours that we met on a film set gave the first speech. Luckily, I don't have family and D'Angelo's family is pretty cool, but our friend opened with how he met us and nonchalantly told everyone he walked in on us having sex. To make it worse, our seven-year-old son said, “That's silly. Next time just lock the door.”

My favorite moment:
D'Angelo and I wrote our own vows. I'm a visual person and he knows his way around a thesaurus, so if I had to give the vow writing a winner, I'd have to say it was him. His vows were amazing, thoughtful, and really hit the mark.

Another meaningful moment was when our photographer, Carly Bish, gave a speech for the first time ever at a wedding she photographed, and we cried.

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

• Photography: Carly Bish Photography
• Bride's dress: custom-made by Kimmi Designs
• Hats: custom-made by Boring Sydney
• Bouquet: Geneva Sipes
• Bride's son's pink tie: Bri Seeley
• Makeup and hair: Pacific Brides Mobile Hair and Makeup Artistry

Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!

About the Author: Catherine Clark

@enidjcoleslaw @bijouxandbits @bijouxandbits

Catherine Clark loiters at her local library, makes art, watches movies en masse, plays video and tabletop games, poorly cooks healthy things, cuddles with her feline fur babies, and blogs at BijouxandBits.com.