We aspire to be as fun and stylish as this chill San Diego wedding

The Offbeat Bride: Leslie, Technical Writer

Her offbeat partner: Shannon, Storage Consultant

Date and location of wedding: Backyard ceremony, brewery reception at Wavelength Brewing Company, Vista, CA — October 16, 2016

Our offbeat wedding at a glance:

We didn't have a theme, which seemed to be pretty unusual — our friends kept asking us what our theme was and colors were. We told them the theme was "getting married." Shannon stayed at their BFF's place the night before and invited local friends and out-of-town guests over for a sleepover and it was too much fun. We all made breakfast together the next morning, too.

Shannon wore a mix of custom and off the rack: their shirt and vest were custom, pants were off the rack, and their jacket was from Nordstrom and tailored. My dress was plain ivory satin from David's Bridal, and I wore custom ballet flats in a soft, nude leather. I wore a two-layer pale pink cathedral-length veil for the ceremony, and switched to a simple ivory fingertip-length one afterwards. Our regular hair stylist did my hair and makeup. My BFF made my bouquet out of roses, sage, and basil, and I made Shannon's boutonniere out of the same ingredients.

Tell us about the ceremony:

We had a little backyard ceremony in my now in-laws' lovely backyard. Shannon's mom has a serious green thumb and the backyard was way nicer than any actual venues we looked at. It was also nice because I could get ready in their master suite, surrounded by all my friends (and a couple mini whiskey bottles).

My father-in-law did our processional music, “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen, and the minute he started playing, I started weeping. I cried pretty much all the way down the aisle, which would be fine but I missed my spouse's finger guns!

The ceremony itself was short and sweet. I wrote it myself, and combined our sensibilities with elements of a Buddhist ceremony I really liked. Our good friend Jason officiated for us, and he did a beautiful job. Our favorite thing about the ceremony was that it involved some audience participation, and it was important for us that the day have a strong theme of community, rather than just being about us. We didn't have rings as part of the ceremony, largely because we forgot to buy wedding bands.

Tell us about your reception:

We had it at a science-themed brewery that we go to all the time. The staff kept continuous video of rocket launches playing on the projector playing throughout our wedding, which was totally unplanned and completely awesome. They seemed so happy to have us, and were overall just perfect.

First, though, between the ceremony and reception, we made a stop at In-N-Out. We showed up to the reception, burger bags in hand, and my BFF/master of ceremonies announced us and we had our first dance. We started out dancing to “Never Can Tell” by Chuck Berry, but it turned into “Never Gonna Give You Up” halfway through. Yes. We Rickrolled our wedding guests.

We just served desserts. There was a selection of bite-sized treats from a local bakery to go with the beer. We also provided a tub of non-alcoholic drinks.

I bought a "Shannon and Leslie" glitter banner and a bunch of photo booth props to serve as a DIY photo booth in one corner. One friend, who was part of the setup team, found some hilarious balloons somewhere that said things like "HAPPY FUCKING WHATEVER" and those fit in quite well.

It was just an amazing night of our favorite people, tasty beers, and just a ridiculous amount of happiness.

What was your most important lesson learned?

I know everyone says this, but LEARN TO DELEGATE. I made a Google doc listing every task that needed doing and let my friends pick and it worked out fine. I think we did a really good job of supporting each other and just skating past all the stereotypes and assumptions and giving as few fucks as possible.

Vendors

* Photographer: Breezy G
* Reception venue: Wavelength Brewing
* Shannon's Cuff Links: Pet Stones USA
* Leslie's shoes: The White Ribbon
* Leslie's lingerie: On The Inside
* Leslie's earrings: Wander and Lust Jewelry
* Ceremony veil: Veils by Rebecca
* Reception veil: Bella Bridal Veils
* Dress alterations: Miryani's Alterations

Gallery

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