Lacey & Vinod’s vegan, peacock, 1920s wedding

The Offbeat Bride: Lacey, Vet Tech

Her offbeat partner: Vinod, Banker

Date and location of wedding: Ceremony at Buntzen Lake, Port Moody, BC; Pre-reception photos at Trethewey House, Abbotsford, BC; Reception at Straiton Hall, Abbotsford, BC, Canada — October 6, 2013

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: Vinod and I aren't into showiness, over-spending, or finicky wedding details. We wanted low-key, stress-free, intimate, and most of all, affordable! We had a small ceremony with immediate family followed by a 1920s- and peacock-themed reception.

We ordered handmade custom wooden rings from Stout Woodworks. I don't support the diamond industry and wooden rings just seemed more authentic to me. We got ebony rings for all three, with a turquoise inlay in my engagement ring. My wedding band's inlay was made of crushed seashells from our first vacation together in Cuba and the year I lived in Africa. It also fit our budget with all three rings ringing up at about $500!

We wavered initially on whether we would serve meat at our wedding to please our guests. In the end, we decided that as we are both vegan, it would be our food. There were no complaints as our Sri Lankan buffet (Vinod is from Sri Lanka) was amazing, but our MCs thought it would be hilarious to auction off a bucket of fried chicken! We weren't bothered — all in good fun!

We had non-traditional wedding parties: I had my brother as my man of honour, and my cousin and best friend as bridesmaids. They wore black with purple tights or tie. My husband had his twin sisters and best friends on his side, with blue tights or ties. He had no official best man, as the role would rightly belong to his brother, who passed away.

We decided we would keep the reception upbeat and fun by having the wedding party read speeches from movies instead of making regular speeches. Our guests didn't expect it, and it caused a lot of laughs! Movie quotes were included from The Hangover, The Princess Bride, Love Actually, Gladiator, and O Brother Where Art Thou. Our moms were the exceptions as we couldn't deny them the chance to be sappy at the first wedding of all their children.

Tell us about the ceremony:
I wrote my wedding ceremony myself, using bits and pieces from a bunch of ceremonies I found online, and added vows and a moment of silence for my husband's late brother.

We did a rose ceremony for our mothers, and we were both raised primarily by our mothers and wanted to honour them. Our mothers also each did a reading. My husband is Christian, so his mother read a Bible verse.

I am a spiritual atheist, so my mother chose a poem. She refused to tell me what she had chosen as she wanted to surprise me. I was a bit nervous to see what she chose, but it ended up being a perfect poem for a vet tech with a ring bearer dog: “How Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog” by Taylor Mali.

Our biggest challenge:
The biggest problem I had was getting my extended family to accept that the ceremony would consist solely of the wedding party, and our mothers. Most took it well, but I still have to deal with the aftermath of that decision every once in a while.

My favorite moment:
Vinod's vows were my favorite part. He doesn't write much, so I was pleasantly surprised. I'm glad we had a videographer, too, as I was so nervous to read mine that I didn't fully absorb what he was saying at the time.

We also had a moment of silence written into the ceremony to honour my husband's older brother, who passed away. We felt something needed to be done to bring him into the day, as he was Vinod's best friend, and I knew he would be thinking about the brother who should have been his best man. I also made a photo charm of his brother to add to my bouquet.

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding?
I knew I wanted the whole thing to be low-stress, and it turned out that the easiest way to do that was to let go of control on certain things. I gave everything I had collected from thrift stores for the reception to my cousin and let her come up with the overall decorating plan from that inspiration. I sent my aunt who would be making the cake a couple pictures for inspiration and let her decide on a design in my colours. I sent my brothers DJ friend a short list of required songs and let him pick the rest. We let Vinod's friends band pick the songs with which they'd have the most fun.

It ended up that everything I handed over control on turned out perfectly, and the things I insisted on doing myself ended up not quite how I wanted them as I didn't have time for so many details. I'm so thankful to everyone who helped us.

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

• Photography: McDonald Photography
• Bride's dress: $14 on eBay
• Bride's reception dress: Vintage Leluxe Clothing
• Peacock tattoo tights: Tattoo Socks
• Vegan microfibre peacock tie: Cyberoptix Tie Lab
• Bride's and bridesmaids' headpieces: Owl La Mode (cruelty-free and bird-friendly)
• Bride's gold t-strap shoes: Light in the Box
• Rings: Stout Woodworks
• Hair and makeup: the bride

Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!

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