A flamingo-filled vow renewal at a renovated brewery (with unity pizza-cutting ceremony!)

Remember Minerva from her insightful guest posts? We've got her epic vow renewal that made us love her and her husband even more, if that's possible.

The Offbeat Bride: Minerva, disabled model and writer

Her offbeat partner: Max, brewery worker

Date and location of wedding: The Brewhouse Inn & Suites, Milwaukee, WI — July 31, 2016

Our offbeat wedding at a glance:

Our flamingo-filled vow renewal at a 19th-century renovated brewery featured a unity pizza-cutting ceremony, donuts, lots of rosé champagne, and a fun couple's boudoir shoot!

Tell us about the ceremony:

For my wedding, I went with a traditional, long, white dress that everyone said was very flattering on me, but I wasn't in love with it. My heart wanted a big, poufy tulle skirt, but my family and friends talked me out of it; they said that, as a plus size bride, I couldn't pull off a big skirt. This vow renewal was a chance to get the tulle extravaganza I wanted to wear from the start! I found this amazing skirt — which goes up to a size 32! — at Society+.

As far as décor, I'm obsessed with flamingos right now. They're the ultimate in John Waters kitsch to me (how Divine!) and I just can't get enough of them. I thought the refined, elegant, hundred-plus-year-old Milwaukee cream city brick hotel suite would look so visually interesting when juxtaposed with a few tchotchke elements like flamingos and crowns. I even found my husband and I matching flamingo-printed tops to wear!

I'm super allergic to most flowers, so we ended up getting baby succulents and putting the pots inside little gold and silver crowns and scattering them throughout the space.

We knew we wanted to do some type of unity ceremony, but none of the typical ones stuck out to us. We brainstormed things that we thought defined us as a couple, then it hit us: we both love pizza! A lot. It just made sense then that we'd have a unity pizza-cutting ceremony!

Tell us about your reception:

Our afterparty included drinking lots of rosé champagne and having a messy, fun, wild couple's boudoir shoot in the hotel room. We played around with my tulle skirt and confetti, and it was an absolute blast. My husband's flamingo boxers mismatched perfectly with the red, white and blue American flag-themed socks he chose to wear that day.

What was your most important lesson learned?

At the risk of sounding like a cheesy motivational poster, the most important lesson I learned from all this is to follow your heart. Babes: don't worry about whether or not an outfit is 'flattering'; worry about whether or not it makes you feel powerful and confident. I chose a 'flattering' dress for my wedding over the poufy one I really wanted, and I still regret it. Luckily, vow renewals exist, so this time around I stayed true to myself and chose an outfit that made me feel spectacular.

Vendors

• Photographer: Cayan Ashley Photography
• Tulle Skirt: Society+
• Flamingo Tops: CowCow
• Venue: The Brewhouse Inn & Suites

Gallery

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