The musical marital tour: A Beatles-themed wedding

It's a musical marital tour that will take you away: A Beatles-themed wedding — Photos by Alma-Garcia Villarreal, Smile Loud Photography

The Offbeat Bride: Kaycee

Her offbeat partner: Raul

Date and location of wedding: Harlingen, TX — November 6, 2015

Budget: under $15,000

Our offbeat wedding at a glance:

The highlight of Raul and my first date was the discovery that we both loved the Fab Four with a passion, so when it came time to plan our wedding, there was only one theme that came to mind: The Beatles.

I wanted the wedding to be colorful but classy, so I stuck with black and white with jewel tones as an accent. The AMAZING wedding invitations were designed by my talented sister-in-law. We encouraged our guests to dress in '60s attire, if desired. Raul decided on a custom replica of the suit worn in a “Hard Day’s Night,” complete with Beatles boots.

My father and big brother both wore the khaki jackets worn at the Shea Stadium concert. My dress was a unique find at the Austin consignment bridal boutique, Second Summer Bride. $700 for my lovely lace sample dress, and it fit like a glove! My bouquet was a labor of love, as my mother carefully crafted it out of my collection of many vintage floral pins I had purchased over the years.

Tell us about the ceremony:

The ceremony was held at Valley Praise Methodist Church, which holds a special place for both Raul and me for multiple reasons. I have been a part of the worship team since I was a freshman in high school (2006), and when Raul and I started dating back in 2010, he joined the worship team on drums. Raul proposed to me during a church service in 2014, so naturally, it was the perfect pick for our nuptials.

We kept the decorations simple, putting together the paper flower backdrop the night before. The wedding party and I walked down the aisle to The Beatles “Something,” and we processed out to “All You Need is Love.”

We traveled to the reception in style, borrowing my friend’s baby blue Volkswagen beetle.

Tell us about your reception:

We chose La Cantera as the venue, being that it was one of the only venues to have a stage large enough for our gem of the reception: Austin’s premier cover band, The Eggmen. With multiple costume changes and a set list that had our guests dancing all night, The Eggmen was definitely the highlight of the reception.

The centerpieces were a variety of jewel-toned vases/glasses I bought on clearance, with Beatles coasters as table markers. Our guest book was a refurbished drum which also served as a prop for our Sgt. Pepper themed photo booth.

Raul and I decided to have our favorite local ice creamery serve up three of our favorite flavors (the flavors were given custom names especially for the occasion).

My father and I danced to “In My Life,” which is off of the “Rubber Soul” album, which was the very first Beatles album my dad gave to me. Raul and his mother danced to Lennon’s “Beautiful Boy,” which had everyone reaching for their tissues. Raul and I danced to McCartney’s “Maybe I’m Amazed,” and the night ended with sing-along to the classic, “Hey Jude.”

What was your most important lesson learned?

As a little girl, I pictured my wedding completely differently: poofy ball gown, chandeliers, 400 guests, etc., but when it came time to actually plan, WE picked a theme that ultimately captured the essence of US. This was never MY wedding, MY day — it was OUR day, and it was perfect for us. Cheesy as it is… love is all you need, and the rest just falls into place.