We have a tag archive here on Offbeat Bride called overcoming adversity, and it’s all about couples who’ve dealt with significant challenges on the path to the altar. Now, I don’t mean challenges like, “My divorced parents don’t get along; how can I do the seating chart?” or “What if it rains?” Not to diminish the reality of these challenges, but they’re just on a different level than, say, “My mother is dying so we organized the wedding in a month so she could attend” or “my partner survived a shark attack.”
In the name of perspective shifting and reality checks, let’s take a wander through some of our overcoming adversity posts… because there’s nothing like cancer, premature babies, peg legs, hysterectomies, and tornadoes to help you get your seating chart woes in perspective.
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ElisaBethe & Chris’ casual wedding… and a baby!?
“I loved that when I went into labor and delivery… Read more
Our biggest challenge was my suffering liver failure due to HELLP syndrome at the reception. I was seven months pregnant, and at our small restaurant reception I started feeling bad and so I cut it short to go to the hospital, along with the nineteen family members and my new husband. I was taken by ambulance to a bigger hospital, and spent my wedding night there. The next morning I had an emergency c-section, still with the feathers in my hair, and gave birth to a 3lb. 4 oz. baby boy! It was quite the wedding weekend.
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This nontraditional hospital wedding will probably make you cry
Rebekah and Shayne’s decided to move up the wedding when… Read more
Shayne and I knew as soon as we started dating that we would be together for a long time to come. About six months prior, we packed up everything we owned into a van and moved to Brooklyn. I was going to Parsons to get my MFA and Shayne was taking a leap of faith to become a full-time musician. A few months later, Shayne was diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma and we decided not to wait any longer. We got married in the hospital a week after we got the diagnosis.
- Read more: Rebekah & Shayne’s Hospital Wedding
Our wedding was special because it was the first time I walked in eighteen years. I walked down the aisle on a broken toe and a peg leg!
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Julie & Paul’s farm fresh and sassy wedding
After two years of life and natural disasters delaying the… Read more
We had planned to wed two summers earlier, but then my dear old granddad suddenly became ill at 92 and passed away. We thought we would postpone for a few months, but then our Justice of the Peace also suddenly died, and that was followed by a tornado that ripped through our property and knocked about our house. Rescheduling for the next summer was nixed when my dear old dog Lucille died, and our house still wasn’t repaired from the storm. It seemed to be never-ending.
- Read more: Julie & Paul’s farm fresh and sassy wedding
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Danielle & Carl’s magically weird weekend wedding
Danielle & Carl had a magical reception at a special… Read more
Due to a previous medical condition, two days before our wedding, I started hemorrhaging and was told I’d need to have a hysterectomy.
“ACK! But I’m getting married tomorrow, going to Mexico for a week and moving to Florida a month after we get back!” My fantastically wonderful MD gave me heavy doses of estrogen and scheduled me for surgery 2 days after our honeymoon.
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Theresa & Anderson’s LuvFest 2010 camping music festival wedding
LuvFest 2010 was an amazing homespun music fest featuring live… Read more
I am a breast cancer survivor (cancer-free one whole year, YAY). We relocated to Michigan from the Washington, DC area after I was diagnosed with cancer, mostly because my body doesn’t process pharmaceuticals properly, so we knew I would be needing Mother Nature’s medicine to help me get through chemo. Michigan is a legal medical marijuana state where I am a patient and a caregiver and very active in the “green movement.”
Jeremias suffers from emetophobia and has a problem with being the center of attention. So standing up in front of all 66 of our guests during a long wedding ceremony? Not gonna happen.Related Reading
Anna & Jeremias’ Old Hollywood Swedish wedding
Old Hollywood meets Stockholm in this short and sweet ceremony… Read more
To be honest, I had prepared myself for the possibility of not getting married that day. [Due to his emetophobia,] Jeremias was a mess before the ceremony so there was a risk that he wouldn’t be able to make it. I was okay with it though. I had told him beforehand that if he felt he couldn’t go through with it, we’d just come back another day. He managed to pull himself together beautifully though and felt great the rest of the day. All this just made me appreciate him more, because I knew that he went through all that for me.
