Michelle & Sharky’s top-secret shark-infested wedding

The Offbeat Bride: Michelle

Her offbeat partner: Sharky

Date and location of wedding: The Battle House in Mobile, AL — August 25, 2012

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: My husband's nickname is Sharky, which is what the majority of people call him. We decided to incorporate this into our theme. This led to secretly hiding sharks everywhere that I possibly could. This top-secret plan had the code name “Operation Shark” with only a few people in on it.

I love being crafty, and with it being so hard to find shark items along the Gulf Coast, I set out on my own crafting quest to make as much as I could. I had a blast crafting everything from our cake topper to our welcome signs.

Tell us about the ceremony: Out of a fear of losing our rings, we enlisted Scartail, our beloved hand-crafted shark-shaped ring pillow. When our minister started the ceremony, out came Scartail from our best man's pocket. Fremont, our best man, is a big guy, so seeing him pull out this stuffed shark for people to pass around turned a few heads.

I made shark cards from which we read our vows. Of course on the day I was completely caught off guard when it came to my part that I rambled off the vows without the card. I don't think I have ever seen Sharky's eyes get so big when he then had to pull this big shark card out of his pocket to read his like we planned. It took him two times to say my name before he could shake the nerves off. But we did it.

Our biggest challenge: Our wedding was a destination wedding for everyone but ourselves. The military can be a blessing and a curse with friendships. Unfortunately, with our friends being all over the country and the world, we couldn't have everyone there that we wanted. But thanks to the wonderful power of the internet, we found an amazing website that let us design our own newspaper that we used as our program and wedding announcement. We filled it with all the events of the day so those who couldn't be with us could at least read about it.

My funniest moment: The surprises we planned were fun. Everyone came thinking that because the location is rather fancy, that everything was going to be stiff and formal. Our minister, who has a wonderfully thick southern accent, starts off the ceremony talking about everyone taking a journey on the flight that is marriage and making sure that “all seat backs and tray tables are forward with the threat of being thrown off of this flight if so much as a camera is lifted.” Then later on guests were able to find all of the hidden sharks.

Was there anything you were sure was going to be a total disaster that unexpectedly turned out great? We spent time in Europe and wanted to showcase some pictures at the wedding, but we hadn't taken any! I know this bummed Sharky out, so with a bit of photo editing magic I chose two pictures of us and put us in our favorite locations. We got a big kick out of it when people saw them and asked why we always wore the same clothes when we traveled.

My advice for Offbeat Brides: Make sure someone knows your vision as well as you do. Thankfully, I had an amazing maid of honor who understood the who's who and what's what. And try not to regret the small things that didn't or should have happened when you remember or look at pictures later.

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

• Photography: Wendy Wilson Photography
• Shark Buttons: Busy Beaver
• Newspaper Programs: Newspaper Club
• Shoes: Hey Lady
• Lace Shrug: Tulip Bridal

Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!

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