Kelly & Amie’s woodland picnic meets Rocky Horror Picture Show wedding

The offbeat bride: Kelly, Student

Her offbeat partner: Amie, Video Editor and Graphic Designer

Location & date of wedding: Old Flash Bush School House, Auckland, New Zealand — October 1, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: One major point of difference for us was the budget. We managed to get everything done — engagement, wedding, reception, honeymoon – for under NZ$10,000 (about US$7,800).

We wanted a really relaxed atmosphere, so everyone sat on picnic blankets outside with little tables that we'd hand painted and decorated ourselves and pitchers of champagne punch alongside little pink cupcakes.

We picked non-traditional wedding songs, too. We walked down the aisle (well, through the trees — we had no aisle) to Hallelujah I Love Her So by Gerry and The Pacemakers, which is a song we both enjoyed and since we are both girls, it worked very well! Our first dance was to The Time Warp from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which both of us love and was one of the first things we bonded over. It was a crowd pleaser and we got everyone up on the dance floor to avoid those awkward first dance jitters.

Tell us about the ceremony: We incorporated a rose ceremony into the wedding. We had two yellow roses each, symbolizing friendship, which we gave to our parents, and one red rose each, symbolizing love, which we gave to each other.

One of our readings was A Lovely Love Story by Edward Monkton:

The fierce Dinosaur was trapped inside his cage of ice. Although it was cold he was happy in there. It was, after all, HIS cage.

Then along came the Lovely Other Dinosaur.

The Lovely Other Dinosaur melted the Dinosaur's cage with kind words and loving thoughts.

“I like this Dionsaur,” thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur. Although he is fierce, he is also tender and he is funny. He is also quite clever though I will not tell him this for now.

“I like this Lovely Other Dinosaur,” thought the Dinosaur. She is beautiful and she is different and she smells so nice. She is also a free spirit which is a quality I much admire in a dinosaur.

“But he can be so distant and so peculiar at times,” thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur. “He is also overly fond of Things. Are all Dinosaurs so overly fond of Things?”

“But her mind skips from here to there so quickly,” thought the Dinosaur. “She is also uncommonly keen on Shopping. Are all Lovely Other Dinosaurs so uncommonly keen on shopping?”

“I will forgive his peculiarity and his concern for Things,” thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur, “for they are part of what makes him a richly charactered individual.”

“I will forgive her skipping mind and her fondness for shopping,” thought the Dinosaur, “for she fills our life with beautiful thought and wonderful surprises. Besides, I am not unkeen on shopping either.”

Now the Dinosaur and the Lovely Other Dinosaur are old. Look at them.

Together they stand on the hill telling each other stories and feeling the warmth of the sun on their backs.

And that, my frends, is how it is with love. Let us all be Dinosaurs and Lovely Other Dinosaurs together.

For the sun is warm. And the world is a beautiful place.

My favorite moment: It made my heart sing when Amie got so overcome that she couldn't read her vows. In the end, I had to cuddle her while she whispered them in my ear, which was a lovely intimate surprise.

Because we were on a shoestring budget, we did a lot of it ourselves, or had help from our families and friends. The fact that our dresses were both made by family members and that the cakes were made by family members really made it more personal and special for us both.

My funniest moment: The first dance! When the guests heard the dulcet strains of The Time Warp blasting through the hall, there was laughter aplenty!

My advice for offbeat brides: We saved a lot of money by doing things ourselves.

Our venue was a community hall, so only cost NZ$200 to hire for the weekend. We kept the table decorations simple and put them out ourselves.

The dresses were made by family members – mine by Mum, Amie's by her aunty.

Our celebrant was a close friend of mine, and the cars we used belong to my Dad and a friend of his.

Our wedding cake(s) were the centrepiece on every table. We simply got two supermarket sponge cakes (a vanilla and a chocolate), sandwiched them together with jam, smothered them in a french meringue frosting, and used slabs of pastel coloured chocolate around the outside. They were finished with a sprig of flowers on top (the same as in my hair and on the bridesmaids dresses) and a ribbon around the edge. They cost us about NZ$10 each!

By thinking outside the square and pulling in friends and family who wanted to help, we saved a small fortune without missing any of the elements we wanted to include in the wedding.

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? Stick to your guns — it wasn't easy to keep our wedding non-traditional when both families are pretty traditional, but I'm glad we did. It was worth it!

Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!

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