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The offbeat bride: Jenna, Office Admin
Her offbeat partner: Kieran, Security Technician
Date and location of wedding: Chapel Farm, Middle Swan, Western Australia — March 19, 2011
What made our wedding offbeat: I am a tattooed, motorcycle-riding, roller derby-playing, book nerd who loves bright colours, skulls, and leopard print. My Husbo is a motorcycle riding, World of Warcraft-playing techy who loves Lego, guitars, and beer.
We knew that we never wanted a traditional wedding — more of a big party celebrating our love for each other. Good food and alcohol was a must. A relaxed atmosphere with lots of laughter was our main priority.
I am a cheapskate. If I can't get it on Ebay then it's not that important!
I had lots of help from my friends, which helped keep the cost down. My awesome celebrant, Sandy, made our vows totally amazing, fun, and from the heart. She gave us the service as a wedding pressent.
My friend, Caz, made the most delicious and fun cake as a wedding present, and my mates, Steve and Jade, did our make-up and hair as presents too. All this meant I could use the extra money I saved on fun stuff, like fancy dress bits which made the photos a lot of fun.
My wedding dress was $180 from Unique Vintage, and and it was bright red & covered in tattoo print. I wore purple shoes, and had Surroundings Online make the hair pieces and buttonieres. (If you look closely you can see they have little “rock on” symbols in them.)
A fellow roller derby girl made my flowers out of paper, and they looked amazing.
One of the bridesmaids (my sister) wore a second-hand cocktail frock, which cost $50. I had it altered to fit her and added the purple flowers and tulle. Sandy the celebrant made the little bridesmaid's dress. They both wore leopard-print shoes.
It was a purple, red, black, and leopard-print clashfest, and I loved it!
Tell us about the ceremony: We had a very simple ceremony, which included a handfasting.
The opening lines of the ceremony was:
Welcome family and friends to the wedding of Jenna and Kieran. Like me, you are here today partly because you are just a little bit scared of Jenna, but mostly to witness Kieran come good on his promise to “Wed this bitch.”
It made people relax, laugh, and listen to the vows instead of zoning out.
My favorite moment:
- Having our families there to witness our love was pretty amazing.
- Dancing the Timewarp in perfect unison with my family. So much laughter (and sweat).
- Watching Kieran dance with his little girl, twirling her around the dance floor, and seeing her giggling her lungs out!
- Singing Loveshack with my step-brother at the top of our lungs.
- Doing the wedding waltz to Smashing Pumpkins‘ “Today” and then following it with Outkast‘s “Hey Ya” and having everyone rush on to the dance floor to shake their asses!
My funniest moment: When my step-brother introduced his mum (my step-mum) as the Wicked Stepmother, and when my mum, who was slightly sozzled, decided she wanted to give a speech!
Was there anything you were sure was going to be a total disaster that unexpectedly turned out great? I thought my decor choice might be a bit of a mish-mash. I had star lanterns hanging, with purple and red luminaries on the tables, along with leopard-print bombinerrie bags. It turned out okay in the end, much to my surprise.
My advice for offbeat brides: I mandated that the photographer would only have one hour for shooting pics of K & I. We are not posey people and I knew I would get fed up of smiling for that long. I wanted pics of the actual event and people having fun.
What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? Be organized and it mostly takes care of itself.
The more you add to the wedding, the more you will have to worry about!
Don't get too serious. Make the mood light-hearted. Relax and enjoy your day. Your photos will show how much fun you had.
Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?
- Surroundings Online
- Dress: Unique Vintage
- Paper Flowers: Wire and Paper
- Photography: Geoff Kent Photography
Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!
About the Author: Offbeat Weditors
Working tirelessly to bring you stimulating content day after day, the Offbeat Wed editors will not sleep until you've gotten your offbeat fix.
YAY PERTH BRIDES. We rule.
I feel like we should be friends, because your wedding is basically me and my partner, in a nutshell. It’s gorgeous! Love the dress, decor, location, smiles… So radical. Congrats ‘n thingz! xo
This was so interesting!! I had never heard of a handfasting before (where have I been?). The little girl is adorable. Wishing you all much happiness. 🙂
Gorgeous wedding and oh my the wheel barrow garden is UH-MAZING!
Hi, um, does your wedding come in a kit? I’d like to purchase it because it’s EXACTLY what I want! 🙂
Your tattoo work is breathtaking. I adore your dress a million times over. The photo of you sitting near the ground drinking (a beer?) looking comfortable…Love! And the one of you twirling….fun!
Thanks Guys, we certainly had a great time!
Oh and its a hand fastening! Where you wrap rope or ribbon around your hands and tie a knot. Not handfasting, i didnt starve my hands or anything 😛
god i had a brain fart! it is handfasting! Do
Those bouquets are fabulous! Did you make them? Do you have a tutorial?
I didn’t make them no. I tried and failed. Instead I asked a friend 🙂
https://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/pages/Wire-Paper/172868976077815
Made them for me
Your dress is made of love and win. I’m getting a separate dress made for the dancing part of our wedding (decadent, eh?!), and I am totally basing the design on your dress! 😀
Oh, and yay for downunder weddings! I’m in NZ, and it’s always awesome to see weddings from our part of the world featured here. 😀
Thank you so much for sharing this Jen! It certainly was an awesome day! And you were such a fabulous laid back bride. I am honoured to have been a part of it. xxx
I LOVELOVELOVE that you did the time warp! We’re totally doing that at our wedding, as RHPS is a huge thing with some friends and I. But your whole wedding is just amazing!