Heather & Kristopher’s fall backyard barbecue wedding

The offbeat bride: Heather, CSA (and OBT Member)

Her offbeat partner: Kristopher, Supervisor

Location & date of wedding: Our backyard, Happy Valley, Labrador, Canada — September 9, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: Our wedding was original scheduled for October 2010, but due to some medical issues, we felt it was neccessary to bump the wedding ahead a year. By doing this, we lost a lot of potential budget money. Our whole wedding (including my dress, a black Maggie Sottero) cost less than $1000. We had a lovely backyard BBQ with porkchops, veggie burgers, and twenty-eight of our closest family and friends.

All Kris's family lives out of town and were not able to attend. His best man couldn't come last minute, so he had a best woman stand in. Our photographer cancelled on us three days before the wedding, so I asked my closest cousin to take our photos, and she also named herself ‘head of decorating', which was all done by the two of us the morning of the wedding.

I finished my half sleeve of seahorses two weeks before the wedding, and we had the seahorse “Littlest Pet Shop” toys as our cake toppers. Our favors included homemade chocolate gingerbread men (all made by myself), and guitar picks which said “Heather & Kris 9-09-09.” It rained all morning, but cleared up just in time for our ceremony.

Oh yeah, Kristopher is a transman. I forget sometimes.

Our biggest challenge: Our wedding was scheduled to begin at 6:00PM. We told the guests to arrive at the courthouse at 5:45PM. When we got there, the place was locked. All of our guests were there by 6:10pm, and the judge (our officiant) still hadn't arrived. I was so worried that she wasn't going to show up. But she did and everything worked out fine.

Also, my husband did not received his tux until the afternoon of the wedding. We weren't even sure if it would fit properly. No one knew how to tie a tie, so we had to look it up on the internet.

My favorite moment: I'd have to say one of the most meaningful moments of my wedding were when I got to take photos with my dog. Also, when my biological father came and videotaped the whole thing. I wasn't expecting him to come at all. Finally, my dad left town the next day, and left a little note that said “Hope your and your husband have a great weekend.” It was really sweet!!

My funniest moment: My husband and I forgot to kiss after the ceremony. Our officiant finished the ceremony, and Kris and I just turned and got ready to leave. My former Girl Guide leader, (now a current co-worker) yelled out “You're suppose to kiss!” It had totally slipped our minds. So we gave each other a quick peck, and continued our way out the door.

Was there anything you were sure was going to be a total disaster that unexpectedly turned out great? The wedding cake. I made it myself. I bake all the time, and love it. But I had never made anything that large. When I took it out of the cakepan, the whole thing fell apart. I just slapped some icing and chocolates on there. It looked terrible, but tasted wonderful.

My advice for offbeat brides: Make sure you do what is fun for you and your groom! Our wedding had no overlying theme, and nothing matched at all. We had black, orange, green, seahorses, gingerbread men, skulls, tattoos, sparklers, glowsticks, no flowers, and it was on a Wednesday!

Also, don't freak out. Everything works out!

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