Remember Kacey, the bride who wrote about last minute wedding stress? Well, wait until you hear how her wedding turned out. It's the warmest fuzziest ice storm wedding ever. -Ariel
Define Irony: A bride writes an article about keeping one's head and not stressing out when all the details are handled prior to the wedding. On the day that said article runs on a popular bridal website, an ice storm hits the bride's town, making it impossible for her much-anticipated photographer to be at the wedding. Cue Stress Machine!
Except that it wasn't that way. Everything was fine, thanks to Lindsay, my awesome wedding planner, Megan, my awesome (and stuck in California) photographer/OBB editor, and Ariel, my awesome wedding muse and the publisher of Offbeat Bride. Really, everything was more than fine. Everything was fantastic.
I hired Megan to shoot my wedding a little over a year ago. She was cutting me a fantastic deal, as it was her first year shooting as a professional photographer. I was extremely happy with all aspects of the contract. I liked Megan from interacting with her on Offbeat Bride and the Tribe, I loved her photos and style from her website, and I was so very happy to be able to afford her.
Fast forward to the day before my wedding. On that day, the aforementioned ice storm resulted in Megan's flight from California being cancelled. There was no way for her to get to DC in time to shoot my wedding. None whatsoever. She called Lindsay, my planner, and told her the bad news. And then she told her the good news. The best news, as far as I'm concerned.
See, when she heard about the weather situation, Ariel reached out to fellow wedding blogger Lara from So You're Engayed. Lara in turn helped Megan find a DC photographer who would be willing to shoot my wedding at the last minute and on a budget. In exchange, Ariel and Megan were offering the photographer a vendor listing on Offbeat Bride. [Editor's note: Yeah, us wedding folk have totally got yo' back!]
How planning my wedding was like being in the military
Y'all got to hear about how Kacey's wedding was rescued from an ice storm, but now you got to see how the wedding-photos-that-almost-weren't came out!... Read more
Talk about your win/win situations! I'm still floored that Ariel and Megan would go to such lengths for me. But more about that in a minute.
The photographer they found was a DC photographer named Mary Kate McKenna. She was fantastic. She's already given me a sneak peek at some of the shots. Both my husband and I are in awe of her talent, and we can't wait to see the full catalogue.
She fit seamlessly into the groove of our day. From the moment she arrived at our girls' get ready party, Mary Kate was fun, lively and full of ideas. She knew I was in love with Megan's style, so she'd taken the time to peruse Megan's website and get a sense of what I wanted from my wedding photography. She also took some time to scout out some truly awesome locales within the hotel venue. These worked out really well when it came time to shoot our pictures.
So all's well that ends well. Mostly. I still wish I would have had the chance to meet Megan in person, and I told my husband that now we really have to do a vow renewal in a few years so that she can come shoot it. 🙂 But even though she didn't shoot my wedding, I felt like Megan couldn't have taken better care of us. Ice storms fall under the heading “acts of God,” and therefore, she didn't have to do anything at all! But she did. She and Ariel (and Lindsay, my planner) worked together to get me a photographer and save my wedding photos.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is the definition of “above and beyond the call.” But it occurs to me that that is what Offbeat Bride does. Offbeat Bride is more than a book or a blog; we've become a web-family. And when one member of the family needs something, the others step up and get it done. They sure did for me, and I only hope I can someday return the favor.
Thank you.
Kacey Ezell
Offbeat Wed Vendor
This page features vendors from our curated Offbeat Wed Vendor Directory. They're awesome and we love them. If you're a vendor let's get you in here!
Yay yay yay! Gorgeous photos, MK! I’m so glad everything worked out.
Seriously! Thank you to BOTH of you guys for your help on this. So amazing how everything worked out. 🙂
I live in Arlington, VA and read her amazing article noting the wedding date. Then when all the ice hit, all I could think was, poor Kacey’s wedding! We’ve had snow storm predictions in our area all season, but this one actually hit!! I’m SO glad to hear that your wedding went off despite the storm, and your pictures are great!!! Congratulations!
And this is why I love the Offbeat and company corner of the web. Because it results in awesomeness like this, not faceless vendors who don’t care. 🙂 Those pictures are gorgeous!
MK has been a dear friend of mine for years! She’s followed my family through our engagement, our wedding, and most recently, family portraits. 😀 She has such a big heart to go with all that talent; it’s no surprise she jumped in to help! All’s well that ends well and I’m so glad you got such a great photographer!!
Heroes! It’s so reassuring to know that all of us OBTers have such amazing people to get our backs.
oh my gosh! that is an amazing story, and they are amazing pictures… OBB, you’re making me tear up (again!)!
awwwwwwweeeeee! yyyyaaaayyyy! *teary eyed at online family*
I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one who teared up @ this story.
OBB has become my sanity refuge & loose-knit family. It’s so wonderful to hear a story about people pitching in the save the day rather than just be out for the most money they can get because it’s a wedding.
I have to agree, I love how supportive everyone on OBB really is. It is hard to find this sense of community out here in the internet.
The pics are awesome, by the way!
It’s so very very true!! The OBB/OBT family has totally got our backs. Even if it’s not in such a dramatic fashion as my scenario, the fact that there’s a community of people on the web willing to say “you’re having a gay, faerie, star wars handfasting officiated by a dude with facial tattoos and only spending $10?! That’s AWESOME!” is, well, awesome. Thanks again!
I read the first article too (and live in DC) and was a bit worried about the storm and Kacey’s wedding. SO glad everything worked out so well and the photos are great! Congratulations Kacey 🙂
YAY!!!!!!!!A 1000000 times YAY!!!!!!
I don’t know why I should be amazed at the generosity of spirit of the OBT but yet again — it continues to blow me away. OBB Super Goddesses to the rescue once again! And yeah Kasey for such a wonderful wedding!
Rock on! Now that is what a community is all about!
What an amazing story. I started visiting this site when my bff got engaged, and make it part of my daily routine. Although I’m nowhere near the wedding stage in my life, I enjoy perusing others’ wonderful celebrations. Above all, I love the positive vibe in the community. This story really encompasses that…Bravo Ariel, Megan, Mary Kate and Kacey 🙂
So honored to have been a part of all this. Weddings are a big deal and I’ll always happily jump in the mix if someone needs help. Especially a kick-ass couple like Kacey + EZ! Great wedding!
I like some of you, are not to the marriage part of my life but I often visit the site to see all the wonderful weddings and people here. I also teared up at this amazing story. It warmed my heart that this community took charge to make Kacey’s Day. I hope that when it comes time for my marriage that OBB and the OBT will still be here for me and every off beat bride. And as soon as I have the pleasure of being engaged you can expect me to be here and become part of this wonderful loose knit family. Kacey, Congratulations on your wonderful family and day.
Oh my goodness, so much awesome!!! Love it all. Just read this and the following post. Wow. <3
Those shoes are to DIE for!