Jeanz & Rich’s seaside New England jazz brunch wedding

The Offbeat Bride: Jeanz, architecture education programs assistant

Her offbeat partner: Rich, digital media analyst

Date and location of wedding: Maine Maritime Museum, Bath, Maine — 09/07/2014

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: We had a Sunday brunch wedding on the Maine coast at the Maine Maritime Museum. We wanted to have a nice meal, live music, and an open bar, but we also didn't want to deplete all of our savings. Brunch was the way to go! Seeing our family and friends come together to celebrate was really important to us. The day was not only to honor our marriage, but also the wonderful people who played a part in bringing us to the wedding day.

Tell us about the ceremony:
We used the book Sacred Ceremony as a guide to create our ceremony. It had a lot of helpful information about the various traditions.

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Our biggest challenge:
Managing everyone's expectations was difficult. Everyone seemed to have an idea of what we should do, but there's just no way to incorporate everyone's vision without losing the sense that it's your wedding day. We came up with a helpful rule: don't worry about what other people say when it comes to the things that are only going to affect you and your partner, but do take heed of other people's advice when it comes to things that are going to affect everyone else at the wedding. So when it came to things like what we would wear, what we would say for our vows, what we would dance to for our first dance, etc., we just did what we wanted without worrying about what others would think. However, when it came to things like the menu, venue, and seating arrangements, we recognized that other people's opinions were very helpful (even if they weren't always what we wanted to hear).

My funniest moment:
I was trying to get dressed into my suit the morning of the wedding when I realized that I had never tried my (very tight) wedding suit on with an up-do. My head got hopelessly stuck and I was actually starting to panic and believe that someone was going to have to get scissors and cut open the suit to get me out. At that point my mom, who is an obstetrician, came barging in and was like, “I've spent a lot of years pulling heads out of tight spaces. I got this!” and she somehow managed to squeeze my head through. Well done, Mom!

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding?
Hire some professional vendors if you can. DIYing and friendors can be great if applied to a few key things that are really meaningful to you and your partner, but at some point you'll be happy to have a professional who has done a billion weddings and knows exactly what they're doing and how to manage hiccups.

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

• Photography: Roger Duncan Photography
• Invitation illustrator: Paul Vanderberg — SO WORTH IT, he did an incredible job
• Caterer: Mae's Cafe
• Groom's suit: was from DKNY
• Bride's suit was from Armani
• Jazz musicians: Andy Pratt — from Chicago and were amazing

Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!

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