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The Offbeat Bride: Jenna, Travel Agent
Her offbeat partner: Scott, Electrical Engineer
Date and location of wedding: Houston Museum of Natural Science, Houston, TX — October 20, 2012
Our offbeat wedding at a glance: When we started planning, we were on a mission to make every detail meaningful to us. After weeks of driving myself crazy trying to pick out meaningful shoes (I told you, crazy!), I figured out that just the big things needed to be important. We picked the date that Scott thought was our anniversary — that way he would be right from now on. We wanted to have the reception at the place where we had our first date. We also wanted to have trivia at our cocktail hour.
It was important to us to have a trivia hour, because our weekly pub trivia was where our relationship really blossomed. A friend of ours is a trivia host and he put together the whole thing including several rounds just about us, weddings, and our favorite things: Disney and Back to the Future.
The winners got fun Hawaiian hats for first place, and leis for second place in honor of our honeymoon destination.
Tell us about the ceremony: Our ceremony was traditional, right up until our pastor mentioned trampoline aerobics (it is way harder than it sounds). We also had two readings, Romans 12:9-17 and 1 John 4:7-12.
Our biggest challenge: It never occurred to me that the quotes for the food and bar did not include tax. It said it right there on the paper, but I just did not factor it in. My defacto wedding planner/catering manager Melissa helped me scale back once I put two and two together. I bought things on sale, made them myself, or asked for things for my birthday when I needed to pinch some pennies.
The guest list was also challenging. When we first spoke to our families about their guest list estimates we came in at 150-180, so that is what we were planning for when we researched venues. When the lists were actually handed in, we were well over 220 and we hadn't even put our friends on the list. We went back to our families and explained that they could not invite everyone they ever met. If they did not know Scott or me, they had to go. Some family members took it better than others, but once we talked it out, they were very understanding.
My favorite moment: I loved when we walked back down the aisle right after the ceremony, and it was just us. Scott gave me the best face and a big kiss. It was my favorite kiss of the night. My dad's speech was amazing, too, especially since he is not a big public speaker. But he nailed it!
I had wanted to walk down the aisle to “Somewhere over the Rainbow,” but the church only allowed religious music, so I had to incorporate my inner Dorthy Gale somehow. I picked out some Toms ruby red slippers, which worked perfectly!
My funniest moment: Our flower girl was not happy with the way the petals fell, so she went back and fixed them. This confused our ring bearer as he was on a mission to bring those rings to Scott. He knew he was responsible for a very important job and he had to get it done. We did not have the heart to tell him they were not the real rings.
My advice for Offbeat Brides: You are going to stress and freak and worry, but in all likelihood, it will be fine in the end. Your wedding will be the only one like it because you are the only you. Try to have a sense of humor about the things that go wrong.
Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?
- Dress: Alfred Angelo
- Garter: Sophia Unique Boutique
- Hanger: AntoArts
- Earrings: Lisa Argenton
- Venue: Houston Museum of Natural Science
- Church: First Presbyterian Church
- Decor and catering: Swift Events
- Cakes: Finale by Glenna
- Makeup and hair: Luxe Group
- Photography: Andi Salinas
Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!
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Your flowergirl and ringbearer are just too precious! And ugh, I am so jealous you got married with a T-Rex presiding over. Even if I could afford to marry in such a place, our mutual best friend/poss Maid of Honor is dinophobic and would refuse to attend XD
“Your wedding will be the only one like it because you are the only you.”
This is a perfect sentence.
Ummm … Getting married in a park so I donno how we are gonna do the whole “entrance/ exit music” thing but … if I get it figured out … could I steal “Somewhere over the rainbow?” I am in tears about how perfect that is (my FH i s looking at me like I’ve lost my mind)!!!
Back to your wedding … I too wish I could party with the dinosaurs!!! Looks like fun. Trivia and prizes, very cute. Also the first pic … is that the fortune teller thing from the movie “Big” or am I crazy???
We’re getting married outside too. Our celebrant has a PA system with an inbuilt CD player for entrance/exit music. Another option would be putting a trustred friend in charge of one of those ipod docking stations with speakers. You just need to work out when you start the music, because theres no door for a dramatic entrance 🙂
If all else fails the Ipod is a great idea! But the celebrant (also best word for the person marring you. I keep saying minister even though we are going a more secular route) had all that!!! How on earth did you find them? My FH is kinda gromzilla-ish about the celebrant and the ceremony.
ZOLTAR!
Oh man, I love museum receptions SO MUCH. I better hope that my partner doesn’t see that DeLorian cake, though, because he would absolutely want to redo everything to work that in!
So side note, something I’ve been wondering about in this whole planning process is the guest list. You said that your family gave you lists and you got back to them about pairing down. Do you know if this is a regional/cultural/religious/other tradition? Because it didn’t even occur to us (secular living in MN, raised in CA and WY) to ask our families to put together lists. We did ask if they had anyone in particular they wanted us to invite, and they seemed surprised that we asked at all. His parents suggested one couple if we had room, but that was it.
Oh my goodness that adorable flower girl! Fantastic wedding! Congratulations!