Angie & Marc’s fairy tale chapel red hot wedding

The offbeat bride: Angie

Her offbeat partner: Marc

Date and location of wedding: St. Catherine's at Bell Gable, Fayetteville, AR — March 10, 2012

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: Marc and I met in 2007 when he was DJing on internet radio. We were both going through some tough times, and somehow fate brought us together. When we decided to get married, I came across this adorable chapel on a photographer's website. Then I received a text message from my mother with a picture and web link to that exact chapel. I knew it was meant to be the place.

I'm not the traditional type so I opted for a bold red wedding dress. It was custom-made by Dressilyme.

My youngest son just had to have a fedora to go with his pinstripe suit, so we decided to outfit all the guys with them.

I handmade all the origami paper flowers for the decor. It kept me busy while I awaited Marc's visa to be approved so he could return from the Netherlands to the U.S.

I decorated a hat box to serve as a cake stand. It gave the cake more impact without having to have a huge cake.

I purchased several headpieces and couldn't decide on one, so I disassembled them and created my own. I made polka dot ribbon roses that I added to my shoes. I'm not sure that I saved a bundle, but I got a lot of satisfaction from doing things myself. We opted to have our reception at Hog Haus Brewing Co. because it was a cool place and they gave us a great deal on the food. They really did a wonderful job setting everything up.

Tell us about the ceremony: My two sons walked me down the aisle and gave me away. That was really special. The actual ceremony was quick and meaningful with traditional vows. I didn't decorate the chapel because it would have ruined the atmosphere. It is such a beautiful place, straight out of a fairy tale.

Our biggest challenge: Since we opted for a small, intimate chapel for our venue, we were only able to include 40 people. It was a real challenge to choose who to invite. We made list after list and finally narrowed it down to who we could not invite and not offend.

It was also difficult trying to plan a wedding together when we were 5,000 miles apart and we weren't quite sure just how long it would take before his visa came through. We had to pick a date or the venue would be booked, so we picked a date at random and lady luck turned out to be on our side.

My favorite moment: The most meaningful moment was when I saw the tears of joy in Marc's eyes. It was a long journey to get where we were and it was finally happening!

My funniest moment: When it was time to kiss the bride, Marc surprised everyone by pulling breath spray out of his pocket and giving a quick spritz before he kissed me. That got a lot of laughs.

Have you been married before and if so, what did you do differently? For my first wedding, I opted to let others make all the decisions because I didn't want to mess with all the hubbub. This time, I made all the decisions and really made the wedding match our personalities.

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

• Photography: Derek Riggs
• Bride's dress: Dressilyme
• Bride's jewelry: Kohl's

Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!

About the Author: Offbeat Weditors

@offbeatbride @offbeatwed

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