Courtney & Sam’s colorful hip-hop garden party

The Offbeat Bride: Courtney, Travel Biz Sales and Marketing

Her offbeat partner: Sam, History Student

Date and location of wedding: City Park Pavilion, Denver, CO — June 28, 2014

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: Our wedding had a lower budget, at least for the average Denver wedding. It was really important to us that everything be bright and colorful since I love bright colors. We are also both huge hip-hop and soul/R&B fans, so we wanted to include that element as well.

The wedding party and Sam walked in to the ceremony to “You're All I Need to Get By” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. I walked in to “The Happy Song” by Otis Redding, and then we walked out after the ceremony to “All I Need” by Method Man ft. Mary J. Blige (the hip-hop version of the first song). Then we had a DJ for the first couple of hours to play our favorite hip-hop and R&B along with our first dance song which was “Primetime” by Janelle Monea ft. Miguel. Then my bestie (and maid of honor)'s band took over and did some of their own songs plus some truly amazing covers of old school R&B songs.

Tell us about the ceremony:
We decided to include an audience participation moment in our ceremony. Our officiant asked if the guests would promise to love and support us and share with us all of their secrets for happy relationships, and then everyone said “we will.” It was a very simple promise, but hearing everyone at once was great and kind of broke the nervous ceremony fog.

Sam is Jewish, and so we included some of his family's traditions. His mom said a prayer that they always said over their kids wishing good things for them, and then laid her hands on each of us. My grandpa did a bible reading along with his own interpretation of each verse, and then Sam's sister read a couple of Bruce Lee quotes before our vows.

After we were pronounced married, we jumped over the broom together, and then Sam smashed the glass that had been placed right in front of the broom and everyone yelled Mazel Tov, as a way of honoring each of our cultures.

Our biggest challenge:
I think the biggest challenge was just letting go of the idea that everything had to be perfect and that everyone had to like everything. I'm pretty open about my opinions, so it was easy to decide what things were a must, but the hard part was making sure that we stood our ground when other people disagreed.

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My favorite moment:
The toasts, my mom is pretty loud and opinionated, but not very emotional, and in general we tend to not talk about our feelings. I didn't even know she was going to do a toast, but then she got up and talked — for no more than 60 seconds — but and it was one of the most touching things of the whole day. Sam's best man and my maid of honor were also so sweet, and I loved their toasts.

My funniest moment:
During our reception, the band was playing and I had originally thought people would be dancing all night, but at one point I looked around the pavilion and it was almost empty. Instead, everyone was outside listening to music and playing around. It was like an awesome laid-back garden concert. The kids were building pyramids, my aunts and uncles were just talking and bopping their heads along with the music, and we had even gathered a crowd of non-guests who sat on the grass and just enjoyed the sound.

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

• Photography: Anginet Photography
• Dress: Dolly Couture
• Catering: A Perfect Bite Catering

Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!

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