Bookworms and gamer girls marry in style in New York

Offbeat partner: Monique

Offbeat partner: Pamela

Date and location of wedding: Highlands Country Club, Poughkeepsie, NY — June 24, 2018

Our offbeat wedding at a glance:

We wanted the wedding to have vintage/library feel. Our escort cards were library due date cards and the centerpieces were books on the bottom with a lamp on top from IKEA. We came up with the decoration for everything and kept the tables as exposed woods to bring the vintage feel out — the venue sold itself!

We placed books on the fireplace mantle and above all, since our wedding was also on Pride Day for NYC, we provided our guests with pride ribbons to wear upon arrival.

Tell us about the ceremony:

We had a ceremony done by the amazing writer and Latina Author Alicia Anabel Santos. She made it very intimate and shared the story of how we met. We had a song play by Jussie Smollet in the middle of the ceremony called “Freedom.” It was absolutely beautiful.

The entire ceremony culminated in a sand ceremony that we poured into an hourglass and received affirmation from our guests (which included our students who graduated from our respective high schools since we are teachers). We loved every moment — it was truly a special and magical day for us both.

Tell us about your reception:

The favors were Skittles in a rainbow pattern inside a small jar. The venue provided passed hors d'oeuvres which consisted of street corn, sushi, bruschetta, and more. The music was salsa and bachata because my wife is Dominican, and Brasílian Funk and Samba because I am from Brasil. We danced the night away with our friends and family.

What was your most important lesson learned?

We planned our wedding and came up with the decor through Etsy ideas and our own creative spin. We were also working at the same time so we mainly used our weekends to sit down and really plan out everything. We printed out an online agenda for our timeline and had an immense ton of help from my best friend who also is an event planner and is extremely creative and organized, The Gourmet Witch.

We learned that allowing for both our personalities to be reflected in our ceremony was extremely important. Pamela loves video games so Princess Bride and Zelda were part of the cake decoration. We had one issue with clothing for my wife’s suit, but Banana Republic came to the rescue and helped out tremendously in getting her into an affordable and amazing white suit which she adored and it made her fears go away.Keep in mind, the force of love makes everything work out in the end; the universe and our loved ones held us up and made our dreams come true.