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The Offbeat Groom: Kevin, owner at DirtyPillowz.net
His offbeat partner: Mark, Director of Exhibitions at Museum of Sex
Date and location of wedding: Calico, a friend's home in Cottekill, NY and Moresca Clothing Factory, Ulster Park, NY — August 31, 2013
Our offbeat wedding at a glance: What started as a DIY affair snowballed into a full-production, three-day event. We have lots of friends and a huge family, so people came from all over the world for the ceremony. It seemed right to create a weekend of festivities in two of the most magical places we've known: Calico, the home of Katwise and Moresca, a Renaissance fair clothing factory surrounded by lush wild gardens that includes a medieval banquet hall.
In the weeks before the wedding, we sculpted Kat's land to create a beach around the pond, a parking meadow, a backwoods party clearing, an outdoor bathroom with hot and cold running water, a swan boat, and even a waterfall covered in My Little Ponies. It was a ridiculous amount of work by a dedicated crew of amazing friends.
Friday night arrivals were welcomed at Calico with a “Backwoods Bridesmaid Discoteque” with bonfire, lasers, and mandatory bridesmaid dresses for everyone.
The Saturday festivities at Moresca included a stilt-walking parking director, six flower girls, a turtle ring bearer, and a post-ceremony talent show that knocked everyone's socks off! On Sunday morning, Calico hosted a lovely farewell brunch before everyone packed into Kat's schoolbus and headed to the swimmin' hole.
Tell us about the ceremony:
The ceremony was officiated by our dear friend Fennel Skellyman who charged the air with pure magic and made sure there wasn't a dry eye in the house. The flower girl dresses were custom-made by the amazing Machine Dazzle, who Skyped with each of our nieces to help them create their “dream dresses.” He also dressed Fennel and himself before escorting Princess Bucket (our pet turtle and ring bearer) down the aisle.
We walked down the aisle to Spiritualized's “Ladies and Gentlemen we are Floating in Space.” Fennel opened the ceremony by asking everyone to be present, and to avoid looking through devices or camera lenses. Everyone joined hands, took three deep breaths, called out the names of the ancestors we wished could be present, and the magic started.
Our three best friends gave readings and told stories including “The Invitation” by Oriah Mountain Dreamer, a reading by Adrienne Rich.
Our favorite band played a heartbreakingly beautiful song, Daniel Johnston's “True Love Will Find You in the End.”
The rings were a team effort: a neuroscientist friend measured our brainwaves with a portable EEG machine while we listened to each others heartbeats. The brainwaves were then etched onto a palladium band by our friends at Silver Bonsai Gallery.
My favorite moment:
The wedding brought together all our different worlds. Everyone helped and actively participated by serving food, building stages, making bouquets, performing, decorating, and cleaning up. We loved that everyone was an integral part of pulling off the most ridiculously colorful lovefest spectacle we could have planned.
We also loved our friends in Not Waving but Drowning singing during the ceremony, and then backing up Kevin during his first (and only) time singing in front of an audience!
My funniest moment:
During Mark's vows a very long, very loud freight train passed by. The crowd exploded into hoots and hollers for several minutes… then Mark calmly finished his vows.
Watching every silly costume we've ever made get worn by our friends and family in the photo booth.
What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding?
The word “impossible” should be removed from the dictionary.
Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?
- Photography: Tod Seelie and Sean Carroll
- Catering: Hickory Restaurant and New World Home Cooking
- Rings: Kat and Ben Stewart
- Music: Not Waving But Drowning
- Venues: Kat O'Sullivan and Moresca
- Officiant: Fennel Skellyman
Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!
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.
This is batshit, bonkers and totally beautiful!
I just…I don’t know where to start. Is it the way every space seems to be welcoming and party worthy? Or the fact that those rings are FREAKIN AH-mazing?! Or the carnival atmosphere or the inclusion of the kids to the extent that the flower girls designed their dream dresses?! This whole event is so beyond fabulous, I love it! Congratulations on creating a beautiful three day love fest that obviously represents what must be a very colourful life together 🙂 x
This is SO COOL!!!! it looked like it was a blast — I love all of the colors and your nieces’ dresses are awesome
Amazing couple, memorable wedding, fabulous weekend. This is one for the ages.
Yes to ALL of this! Holy fucking Hera, you guys win. You just do.
I’m in love with your rings, BTW. I mean, I’m kind of in love with everything, but the rings are the cake-taker in my book.
The accordion player in the Ms Richfield 1979 glasses made me goofy smile.
Personality oozes from this wedding and it looks like everyone there really got caught up in the delightful goofiness. Wonderful!
Everything about this is just magical. I got chills reading the description of the wedding bands. What a lovely weekend you had!
This wedding…WOW! There is just so much joy and love in all these photos. From the grooms to the guests. It just screams happiness and life!
This is spectacular. It’s stupendous, even! I would love to go to a wedding like this… I’m in total awe.
I saw pictures of this wedding on Katwise’s facebook and LOVED it! I’m so happy to see it in more detail here. STUNNING
This just might be my favorite wedding recap ever.
This wedding is so crazy it’s awesome!!! there is nothing i don’t love about this wedding 🙂
My jaw is on the floor. This is FREAKIN AMAZING!
This is clearly the BEST, most colorful wedding ever! I love you guys and the energy and love that emanate from you and your friends. LOVE!
I don’t even have words for how freakin’ awesome this is! How do I get invited to a wedding like that? Because I wanted to crawl inside those pictures and be there.
All I have to say is this makes me want to get married again! I am a rather traditional person with insane risings, and to me this is what a wedding should be. Just a huge joyful display of love from every where. I can’t find a spot in these pictures that doesn’t scream happy love and joy. Wishing you many many many years of love and joy. I feel it isn’t a wish you already got it going!
Oh my… This is the most thoughtful and magical thing I’ve ever seen. YOU WIN.
I am really, really bummed out that I wasn’t at this party. It looks AMAZING.
HOLY FUCK!!!!
You guys created the most amazing wedding weekend ever!
Your wedding looks like so much fun! Kudos!!!
The nieces’ dresses!!! My gawd you are the best uncles EVERRRRRR.
Big, hairy guys in ’80s-tastic bridesmaid dresses? A costume photo booth? The shinyshiny flower girls? (Especially the one in the rainbow dress. I’m sure they’re all fabulous girls, but she gets extra props for wanting a SHINY RAINBOW DRESS!) The only thing wrong with this wedding is that I wasn’t invited.
LOVE the rings! Such a gorgeous idea. And the lit pathway thru the trees in the dark, beautiful!
Interesting , lovely !
Ohmygod everything is amazing! The grooms look so beautiful! I’m never going to get over this.
This is incredible, I think this looks like the most amount of fun anybody has ever had.
I want to talk about why I love this wedding, but I feel like I’d be communicating much more effectively if I just copy/pasted all of the photos into the comment box. Soooo…. THIS ROCKS.
This is FABULOUS, guys:)
This is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen on OBB! I love how much love is living in these photos. I LOVE seeing a couple getting married their way! OMG. I’m tearing up. And the flower girls! So wonderful on all levels. Long live this marriage.
Kevin and Mark are friends of mine! I didn’t attend their wedding, but I saw them a couple of months after they got hitched and they were still BEAMING and told me all about how insanely awesome their day was. I love that they’re featured on OBB! Congrats to the happy couple! ??????
OMG A RING-TURTLE? Also, my cold stony heart never allows me to tear up when I read a wedding profile, but I must have something in my eye over here. I want to be at this party in the worst way!
Omg this is the most amazing wedding so much love and looks like so much fun. And gorgeous to boot.
“The word impossible should be removed from the dictionary.”
I volunteered on the Tangueray NorthEastAIDS Ride from Bear Mountain, NY to Boston, MA in 2002 and still wear a hat that I traded from a rider. On the front is an apostrophe and on the back is the word IMPOSSIBLE. When you insert the apostrophe, it changes to I’mPossible… Your amazing wedding is our apostrophe to life! You will always find happiness because of the love you share with the people in your life 🙂
This might be the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen!!! I don’t even know where to begin. It’s like you captured a whole lifetime of joy in one amazing weekend – I can only imagine the joys to come for a couple so full of creativity and passion. Congratulations!!
What a fantastic wedding! Everything is beautiful, stunning and just amazing! Congratulations to both of you, best wishes! 🙂
OMG THIS LOOKS AMAZING. I wish I was there! Congrats to the two of you!
This wedding makes me wish I was invited and friends with the grooms.