Posted byMay the fourth be with you during one of our favorite times of the year: Star Wars week! Get ready for Star Wars-themed weddings and a few other geeky tidbits all week long.
The Offbeat Bride: Heather, School Psychologist
Her offbeat partner: Matt, adjunct physics instructor
Date and location of wedding: The River Company Restaurant and Brewery, Radford, VA — July 13, 2013
Our offbeat wedding at a glance:
After finding a hodge podge of things we liked (but didn't necessarily go together) we decided to dub our theme “geek chic.” We love beer and wine so choosing a microbrewery as our ceremony and reception site was an easy choice.
Our save-the-date cards were decodables that came with decoder glasses. We found a design for our wedding invitations that was Mario-themed. However, we are HUGE Doctor Who fans so we wanted to include this as well. We had an incredible wedding cake created by Our Daily Bread and Bakery.
Our bridesmaids wore TARDIS blue and our groomsmen wore bow ties and unique suspenders. Our wedding programs also contained a nod to our favorite show.
During the reception, our guests used 8-bit-themed escort cards to find their seats. We cut wine corks in half to make a stand for the cards. Our guests put their wedding cards to use in an old Nintendo that had been gutted. Matt and I danced to “Mario Kart Love Song” by Sam Hart.
Tell us about the ceremony:
Our wedding party walked down the aisle to the song “Concerning Hobbits” from The Lord of the Rings. I walked down the aisle to “All I Want is You” by Barry Louis Polisar.
We had a secular ceremony with a wine box where we placed a bottle of wine and love letters to each other into a box that we locked. We will open it on our fifth wedding anniversary and share the wine and read our letters. We have an incredibly talented friend who offered to make our box and created a spectacular TARDIS.
Matt and I wrote our own vows and both made each other cry happy tears. We also had a close friend officiate. He did an incredible job personalizing our ceremony because he knows us very well. It was beautiful.
Here were my vows to Matt:
I can't believe we're FINALLY standing here on our wedding day. I knew this day would come and I must say, it was well worth the wait. I knew that I loved you and wanted to spend the rest of my life with you because you are “the most half decent man I've ever met.” I love your beautiful smile. I love that you are a drummer. I love that you're so intelligent and that we share the same values. I love that you're a fantastic cook. I love that you like watching the same TV shows that I do (and that you will watch things that you don't enjoy). I love that you truly listen to me when I talk to you. I love that you challenge me. I love that you accomplish all the goals you set for yourself. I love that no matter how neurotic I become, you help me see my irrationalities. I love that you make me want to be a better person. But most importantly, I love that you love cats almost as much as I do.I am so read to start our new lives together. I am so excited to call you my best friend, my husband, and my one true love. So today, in front of our family and friends I make this vow to you. I promise to be there and support you in all that you aspire to do. I promise to try and learn from my mistakes and not ruin any more pans. I promise to scratch your back when you are itchy. I promise to eat something before I get mad at you. I promise that I'll always “want to want to do the dishes.” I promise to laugh and cry with you and stand beside you in the good times and the bad. I promise to love you forever and I hope to make you as happy as you make me.
With this vow, I give you my hand, my whole heart and my true love. I love you.
And his vows to me:
Heather, the universe is vast and complicated, but somehow we managed to find each other. For the past six years you've been my lover, my best friend, my precious. You are my bright passenger, you make me better, and I love that you have that effect on me.I love your smile. I love that you nerd out about statistics. I love the pouty face you give me when you want me to do something that I don't want to do. I love when you accuse me of being a Vulcan. I love the way your nose crinkles ever so slightly when you laugh. I love that you love me and all my flaws. I love the way you are always there to help me even when I am too stubborn to admit that I need help.
I love… you.I cannot express how happy I am to be standing here, looking into your eyes, while I make this promise to you.
I promise to never go to bed mad. I promise to always be loyal, truthful, and supportive. I promise to make bad puns … frequently. I promise to bring you waffles in bed. I promise to make obscure movie references. I promise to take care of you when you are sick and make ice packs for you when you pull your back. I promise to make mittens for Momo and Potus [our cats] if their walking becomes too loud. I promise to keep you safe from the crab people. I promise that I will not let a day go by without letting you know that you are loved.
You are my light, and I will never let you go. I can't promise that it will always be quiet, I can't promise that you will be safe, and I can't promise that it will be calm. But I can promise you that it will be the adventure of a lifetime and that I will never leave your side. I make this vow to you: to the end of space and time, I am yours. Geronimo.
Our biggest challenge:
It seemed like one bad thing after another kept happening. I thought I lost Matt's wedding band and after a half hour of freaking out, I finally remembered where I put it. The wedding party did a fantastic job of remaining calm and keeping me as calm as possible (that was the tough part). Thankfully, I had a great group of girls helping me keep my cool through some wardrobe mishaps as well.
My funniest moment:
We had a last-minute change of aisle runners. It was originally supposed to be plastic but they ran out and I had to have one that was lace. My giant train on my dress ended up eating the aisle runner as I walked down the aisle. After all the other mishaps I had had that day I just laughed the whole way down the aisle.
Vendors
- Photography: Laura's Focus Photography
- venue: The River Company Restaurant and Brewery
- Dress: Chantilly Lace
- Hair: Inside Out Salon
- Suits: Men's Wearhouse
- Dresses: David's Bridal
- Cake: Our Daily Bread and Bakery
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Losing my marbles a little at the napkin/dining utensils arranged like blue bowties there. Oh man, how is there a Philasoraptor there?
I would love to know where you got your invitations and save the dates from!!
we got the template for the save the dates from this Martha Stewart website. Then my husband used photoshop to add in text. We bought decoder glasses from a website that were fairly inexpensive. The invitations we got the idea from a website that I can’t remember and my husband made them from scratch in Photoshop. We had them printed by kinkos. We had several trial and errors and I can’t remember which paper we ended up actually using. It was printed on one sheet of paper that we folded and glued. I think we used a paste with a brush. We used a very light layer of glue around the edges so the paper didn’t look like it had been wet. I highly recommend a paper folding stick and a craft mat. We used some card stock paper purchased from Michaels and we cut folded and glued them. It took quite a while, but it was totally worth it!
oops! Forgot to paste the Martha Stewart website: http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/226967/encrypted-save-date-how
We also made the escort cards in Photoshop.
I love the photo with the raptor! I just told my fiance that I think we need to borrow this idea. Great wedding, looks like a blast. 🙂
Ahh, I love all of the geeky little details! Very nicely done.
I’ve always loved the idea of the wine box ceremony, but from practical experience I’d suggest one alteration – Also have love letters to each other stashed in a special place that you’re allowed to read whenever you need to. By the time my ex and I finally agreed that we were in trouble and it was time to break into the box early, it was too late. Before that, I found myself looking at the box in frustration, wishing I could open it for a reminder of why we got married in the first place.