The Offbeat Bride: Teri, retail
Her offbeat partner: Bill, retail
Date and location of wedding: The Hill House Museum and The Children’s Museum, Portsmouth, VA — October 18, 2012
Our offbeat wedding at a glance: Our wedding was a strange mix-up of tradition (some a little modified), and things that made my mom raise her eyebrows in that “if you say so” kind of way. I’ve never been a huge fan of flowers (they are beautiful in the wild, but I if I surround myself with them I will have an asthma attack), so we had candy centerpieces and pinwheel bouquets, corsages, and boutonnieres. The pinwheels also served as table numbers and place markers, and we gave everyone a little box to take candy from the centerpieces home. By the end of the night, people were taking entire centerpieces!
Tell us about the ceremony: Our ceremony was pretty short and simple. One of my good friends is a minister and agreed to do the ceremony for us. During the ring exchange, I was so nervous I messed up the words (which made everyone laugh).
Our biggest challenge: The wonderful man who helped raise me passed away in 2009. I had a lot of trouble trying to figure out a way to honor him at my wedding, and I also had to figure out who was going to walk me down the aisle. In order to not upset my biological father (who I love dearly) or my mother, I had my brother do it. It was one of the best choices I made in the whole process. He made me giggle and relax, and at the end, we high-fived! It was perfect.
It was also super tough finding a venue, since I was wheelchair-bound during most of our search. I had a partial open nephrectomy the month before I started the serious wedding planning. Even trying on dresses was tough because any binding/zippers or laces were extremely painful.
My favorite moment: Bill and I first met when he bought a Star Wars shirt from me, so we had a few Star Wars references, including our handmade cake toppers. My friend Jack made a Princess Leia version of me and an R2D2 version of Bill.
This was also the first time I had seen most of my friends after having had surgery. Some of them flew from California, Georgia, and even England. It was amazing to feel so incredibly loved.
What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? Relax, relax, RELAX. No one is going to know what got messed up and what didn’t because you are the only one who knew the original plan. I also learned that planning a wedding, even a small one, is not at all easy, but is a little better if you can get all the people helping you on board with your crazy ideas. Be nice to vendors, and remember: it’s a celebration, no matter which tiny details might get screwed up.
Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?
- Photography: Lynn Cox
- Catering: East Beach Catering. These ladies were awesome, and I would recommend them to anyone!
- Cake: Incredible Edible Desserts. This bakery made a cake that many other bakers had decided was impossible to make.
- Pinwheels: Rule42
Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!
