Becca & Michael’s era-bending Vegas wedding

The Offbeat Bride: Becca, Creative Director

Her offbeat partner: Michael, Systems Architect

Date and location of wedding: Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, NV — May 11, 2013

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: Michael and I both have unique senses of style. I am drawn to vintage, '60s-inspired looks, while Michael has amassed a collection of shirts nearly as large as his arsenal of brightly colored socks. So we took our love of bygone eras as our cue for the theme.

At the reception, our 75 guests were treated to a buffet lunch featuring options for vegetarians and carnivores alike. Following lunch, we were surprised by a performance from Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin impersonators, which my mother had secretly arranged with the DJ. This was a great way to break the ice and get everyone on the dance floor. For a moment, surrounded by the crooners, with Michael's and my era-bending apparel, it felt like a scene from Las Vegas in 1963.

I found my ideal ensemble at BHLDN: an ivory knee-length, open-back dress, a matching beaded bolero jacket, a blusher veil with Swarovski crystals, and robin's-egg-blue leather pumps.

Michael took a similar approach in his apparel. He chose a vintage-inspired Ludlow suit in light gray Italian chino. The look was completed by a navy and white gingham button-down, a navy tie, robin's-egg-blue pocket square and socks, and dark brown shoes. He also included a handmade boutonniere of paper flowers wrapped in twine.

Michael and I have always been huge fans of video games, too, so I designed a cake topper featuring 8-bit renditions of us made out of LEGOs. We also had a unique photo booth that captured a few seconds of video and printed out the frames in a keepsake flipbook that animated the whole scene. The covers of the flipbooks were decorated with the same 8-bit likenesses that were atop our cake.

Our grand entrance was to “When My Boy Walks Down the Street” by The Magnetic Fields. Our first dance was to “Sweet Avenue” by Jets to Brazil. The father/daughter dance was to “I Used To Dance with My Daddy” by Datarock, which came as a surprise to my father, who was expecting a slow dance.

Tell us about the ceremony:
The ceremony took place at the Venus Garden at Caesars Palace. We chose this location because of its open, airy feel and natural beauty. Always a fan of subtle jokes, Michael walked down the aisle to a violin rendition of “The Glory of Love” (the theme from Karate Kid 2). I do not believe in the tradition of a father giving his daughter away, so I opted to just walk down the aisle with both of my parents. There were no bridesmaids or groomsmen. After five minutes, we were married and ready to party. Michael and I are both atheists, so there were no religious undertones or traditions.

Our biggest challenge:
Michael has a fairly large family and it became clear that it would be difficult to manage seating arrangements at reserved family tables. As a workaround, Michael and I elected to sit separately at a sweetheart table and provide open seating for everyone else.

My favorite moment:
As we were eating, the DJ opened up the floor to anyone who would like to share a few words. My two best friends both delivered incredibly sweet toasts, but my younger brother brought me to tears with his words of adoration and encouragement. He relayed a story about how, five months into Michael's and my relationship, I drunkenly told him I was going to marry Michael someday… and then immediately threw up.

My funniest moment:
After my parents walked me down the aisle, the officiant instructed Michael to shake my father's hand and kiss my mother on the cheek. Always the jokester, Michael did the opposite.

You can see it in this highlight video:

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding?
Go as low maintenance and stress-free as possible, if you're looking to keep things simple. We didn't know what our wedding venue even looked like until two days before our wedding, but it all turned out great. We were able to show up 30 minutes prior to the ceremony and literally every component was taken care of. Wedding planners can be the key to avoiding stress.

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

• Venue: Caesars Palace
• Photographer/Videographer: Imagine Studios Las Vegas
• Event Coordinator: Rachael Gabel and Lindsay Desantiago from Caesars Palace
• Makeup and hair: COLOR Salon
• Cake: Caesars Palace Catering
• Caterer: Caesars Palace Catering
• Florist: Pavilion Florist
• Officiant: Brian Ross
• Ceremony Musician: Carlene San-Filippo (violin)
• DJ: Harry O Productions
• Wedding Dress: Hitherto for BHLDN
• Veil: Debra Moreland for BHLDN
• Jewelry: My mother's pearls
• Shoes: Hey Lady
• Groom's Suit: J.CREW
• Groom's Shoes: Allen Edmonds
• Stationery: Minted
• Boutonnieres: Morgann Hill Designs
• Flipbook Photo Booth: A Little Scene

Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!

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