Michelle & Quinn's musical and colorful wedding • Offbeat Wed (was Offbeat Bride)

The last wedding in Rock Your Wedding theme week features the groom playing the pre-ceremony music and lots of friends pitching in, musically and otherwise. -Becca

The offbeat bride: Michelle, Music Therapist and Early Childhood Music Teacher

Her offbeat partner: Quinn, Guitarist, Music Teacher and Film Music Composer

Location & date of wedding: Poplar Grove, Sharpsburg, GA — July 25, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: Since we're both musicians, Quinn performed the pre-ceremony music and we both performed at the reception along with friends and family.

We scored every moment of the reception like a movie and included everything from bluegrass and orchestral to jazz and Frank Zappa.

We held open mic which got people playing music, doing special dance moves and telling jokes.

Our gift registry read: “We'd like your talents and creativity to put on an awesome reception instead of household objects.”

We only hired two professionals: A DJ and a minister. Photography and videos were done by family friends. Flowers and decorations were done by my mom and aunts. Food was made by family and local friends. The cake was baked and decorated by Grandma. Our keg was borrowed from a night club — we had the entire refrigerator unit and taps — we worked our connections!

We said, “I Will” instead of “I Do” then we danced to Alison Krauss's redo of the Beatles song I Will.

I wore a black dress, but added a white veil, and wore shoes I had from high school prom. I did my own make up and my Matron of Honor pulled my hair back quickly and casually 20 minutes before the ceremony.

I told everyone else to wear whatever they wanted — AND THEY DID!

Oh and, there was a dog at our wedding to symbolize fidelity — but to be ironic we played a song from Eyes Wide Shut during a silent-movie style cake cutting!

Our biggest challenge: Although Quinn and I didn't care how things coordinated (color and style wise), some family members did. There were several differences of opinions that surfaced, but all I had to say was “I love it!!” and that seemed to work.

My favorite moment: My tiara fell off during our pre-rehearsed and choreographed dance. Quinn doesn't like to dance, but he did practice several times before the wedding. When the tiara fell off, we let loose a little and had a lot more fun!

My advice for offbeat brides: Enjoy the planning process. It doesn't have to be about fussing over matching the napkins to the linens and starving yourself to fit in the “perfect dress.” I got to spend a lot of quality time connecting and re-connecting with family friends as we talked about what the flowers, food, pictures, parties, music and dancing would be like. It wasn't just one day — it was many days of shared experiences. There's no price tag on that either!

Ask the husband-to-be to help with the planning! Quinn thought of ideas that I never would have imagined and we enjoyed planning together! He actually picked our first dance song — we were planning on singing it and he said he wanted to dance to it instead! If you ask friends and family to pitch in, don't be picky or disappointed — your entire wedding will be a surprise, but at least your credit card bill won't be!

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

Dress: Dillards — $114
DJ: DJ Leo
Venue: Poplar Grove. Since the venue was rented out for 16 hours on Saturday, we had rehearsal, a luncheon, ceremony and the reception all in the same place which saved a lot of money

Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!