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The offbeat bride: Erin, cocktail server (and Tribe member)
Her offbeat partner: Ash, club VJ
Date and location of wedding: 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis, MN — September 4, 2011
What made our wedding offbeat: We got married in a bar attached to the night club where we both work. There was no other place that I wanted to get married, and it all had to be done on a very tight budget. Some of my favorite bands have played on the same stage where I wanted to get married and that really meant a lot to me. I wore a black vintage-style dress and Ash wore a custom-made anime cosplay outfit.
We had a very quick ceremony and a short, two-hour reception with cupcakes and opera squares. It was all family and co-workers, who really are like our second family. At first we were only planning on having a maid of honor and a best man, but in the weeks before the wedding we kept adding people. We added the last groom's dude two days before the wedding!
Everyone was allowed to wear whatever they wanted, so there was a mix of suits and ties along with people in metal shirts and jeans. I even asked one of the groom's dudes to wear his cat ear hat. Formal just isn't our thing, and we wanted everyone to be as comfortable as possible!
Tell us about the ceremony: We decided against having an aisle, we just came out on stage from the back. Our cue to come out was a death metal version of the “Imperial March.” A good friend of ours performed the ceremony that we wrote (mostly!) ourselves. We incorporated a lot of our favorite things into the ceremony, including Adventure Time and Arrested Development quotes and things about how much we love video games (and each other!).
We did a handfasting ceremony that turned out beautifully. It was a very short ceremony with no readings or music, and after it was all over “The Final Countdown” by Europe played. We really just wanted something short and sweet since we both don't like to be the center of attention.
Our biggest challenge: The biggest challenge for us was paying for everything. When we started planning we had no money to work with, and every paycheck that I got in the three months of planning went to wedding things. When it got closer to the date, more people started helping us, and we couldn't have done it without them. We were lucky enough to have friends help us with things like photography, music, decorations, and even someone to help us out on the day.
The biggest challenge the day-of was the fact that the hotel wouldn't let us check in before the wedding because we didn't reserve the room ourselves! It was a challenge because we were planning on getting dressed and doing “getting ready” pictures over at the hotel before we walked to the venue. Since that didn't work out I had to get ready in a bar bathroom. Thank god the bathroom was clean.
My favorite moment: For me, the most meaningful was being on stage telling everyone how much I love Ash. The ceremony was so personalized that we had everyone laughing and crying along with us. All I could see onstage was Ash, and I kept thinking that he was so far away and that I wish I could reach out and grab him. Luckily, the ceremony was short so I didn't have to wait too long.
The handfasting part of the ceremony was really beautiful. We had our friend tie the knot. She had to practice beforehand because she had no idea what to do! When I asked Ash to be my husband after I read my vows, and he actually said yes, I was so happy I thought I was going to explode!
My funniest moment: The funniest moment for me was when I was looking out onto the dance floor, seeing all my friends and family and one dude who looked a little out of place. I know I had seen that guy somewhere before, but I couldn't think of where, until a friend pointed out that that was the lead singer of Soul Asylum. He had been drinking in the restaurant next door and just sort of wandered over.
Another great part was right as our formal pictures were done, a cook from the restaurant next door came outside with a “cake” (I use the term loosely!) made from every deep fried item in the kitchen! It was a tower of onion rings, tater tots, and cheese curds. I got about two cheese curds and a tater tot, and the next time I saw that cake, all that was left were the dipping sauces.
Was there anything you were sure was going to be a total disaster that unexpectedly turned out great? Everything! But really, 80% of the people we invited didn't RSVP, so we had no idea how many people were going to show up. I was so afraid that we wouldn't have enough cupcakes that I made Ash make “cupcake tickets” the night before so everyone would get one. Turns out we didn't need them at all. Most guests got at least two cupcakes and three opera squares. We were eating the leftovers for weeks.
My advice for offbeat brides: Stay true to yourself and vision, but don't be afraid to scrap things at the last minute if it isn't working out.
If you have a friend who is reliable and great at ordering people to do things, ask them to be your day-of coordinator! I was lucky enough to have an awesome friend volunteer for that position, and without her I would have gone nuts.
What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? No matter how important your wedding day is to you, it's not necessarily going to be that important to everyone else.. And that's okay. People have lives, let them live them. If someone would rather go to the cabin, or attend a birthday party instead of going to your wedding, let them. It's really not that big of a deal. The ones who took the time to come to your wedding are the people that matter.
Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?
- Dress: Bettie Page Clothing
- Cupcakes: Cupcake Bakery
- Opera squares: Wuollet Bakery
- Venue: 7th Street Entry at First Avenue
- DJ: Tony from Midwest Sound
- Rings: Etsy seller Titanium Knights
- Handfasting cord: Etsy seller The Magick Hearth
- Cupcake stand: Save-on-crafts.com
Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!
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I checked out OBB and said to myself, “Wait, is that a picture outside First Ave.?” So awesome. Congrats from a fellow Minneapolisite!
Awesome venue I’ve seen so many good shows at first ave!
ZOMG… first off, I love that these ladies got married where they work. Means they love what they do and that is such a great thing. Adds so much happiness to your life when your work is a wonderful place.
Second… Soul Asylum!?!?! Looking out and seeing a rock star at my wedding would be like WOAH…hahaha what a fun, random and interesting moment that had to have been.
Rock on ladies! Much happiness to this lovely couple ^_^
Erm, this isn’t a lesbian wedding. 😉
“All I could see onstage was Ash, and I kept thinking that he was so far away and that I wish I could reach out and grab him.”
Oh. My. Shit. PLEASE tell me how you incorporated Adventure Time into your wedding. I managed to work it into my proposal (I drew a picture of me as Fionna and my partner as a cross between Marceline/Marshall Lee) but I would loooove to throw an AT reference into the wedding itself.
Looks like a fuckin’ WICKED party, y’all are definitely my kind of people. 🙂
Our vows included the words “royal promise” for the Adventure Time reference.I think we said something like “I royal promise that you’ll always be my favorite.” I don’t remember the exact wording cause I can’t find my wedding notebook but it was something like that.
You can’t break a royal promise!
What is an opera square?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opera_cake
This is all I want to eat, ever again.
grrrr! looks so cute, but the slideshow won’t load on firefox or exploder…
that said, you two look supercute, and the pic of you crying after all was said and done is what i imagine at least one of my pics will look like 🙂
oh and…DAVE PIRNER WANDERED INTO YOUR CEREMONY!?!?!? CAN ANYONE SAY EPIC?
Great. “The Final Countdown”–thank you so very much for the earworm! But you’re both super cute, so I’ll forgive you.
There is so much win this this wedding. I mean, how can it get better than the Trigun suit?
Ash had no idea what he was going to wear, and I had always told Ash that I was going to marry Wolfwood. As a joke I said he should wear that outfit and he actually agreed with me. We had to get it custom made from China and it all turned out great.
Congratulations!
I am delighted by so many details of this wedding. I love the Venture Brother’s cake toppers and that you included bits from Adventure Time!
I only JUST saw the VBs cake topper and I am now even more sure that this amazing couple desperately requires my friendship.
Dr. Mrs. The Monarch!!
YES! I got super excited when I saw those. So, so awesome.
Those cake toppers were one of my favorite parts of our wedding. The first Halloween I worked at the club I went as Dr. Girlfriend. Next year we’re going to go as The Monarch and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch… but then we say that every year and it never seems to happen!
Congratulations Erin and Ash! Your wedding sounds amazing, and I’m so glad you enjoyed the cupcakes. It was so nice working with your mom, Teri. We love to see how our unique and off beat brides enjoy the cupcakes! We wish you all the best.
It’s so fantastic to see other people from my town! And your wedding was the awesome-est (?) I’ve seen in a while.
The picture of these 2 hugging totally made me cry! Not even joking… Maybe I’m a little emotional (as in a lot!) because my own wedding’s only 3 weeks away. But I absolutely LOVE seeing a couple so happy and so in love!!
I know these have already been mentioned but ADVENTURE TIME AND VENTURE BROTHERS CAKE TOPPERS??!! Be more awesome, I dare you! I also have a more specific question. It’s about your gorgeous dress! I have been debating about whether to get the same dress in the pencil skirt version for my wedding next year and I just was wondering if you’d be willing to share some information about it? Like how you liked the material, if you thought the fit information they provided was good, that sort of thing? Regardless, congrats on your totally wonderful wedding!!
I am still so in love with my dress. The material is a little stretchy, so it can handle things like weight gain/loss and still look awesome. I wore a corset underneath and the little clasp things didn’t show at all. I was able to try the dress on before I bought it since there is a Bettie Page store near my house. I also tried on the pencil skirt version, but I’m a little too hippy to be able to pull it off. All in all, it was the perfect dress for me.
That’s really helpful! Thank you so much and congratulations again 🙂
i was wanting a copy of your dress and I’m getting married next Halloween. I’ve seen it in another offbeat wedding. would really like to know a band name if at all possible. Pretty please and thank you.
Easy peasy:
http://www.modcloth.com/shop/dresses/with-only-a-wink-dress-in-navy
More colors here:
http://www.modcloth.com/shop/ourdesigners/bettie-page
Dude. When my fella and I first got engaged, we immediately started talking about wedding plans. One of the things that I came up with (he’ll insist it was his idea) was that once we conclude the ceremony, we should face our guests, he’ll throw a smoke bomb, and “The Final Countdown” will immediately play as we make a sneaky escape. We’re still trying to figure out a way to incorporate a dead dove…
Anyway, it’s nice to see that other people love Arrested Development enough to attempt to incorporate it into their wedding, and you two look marvelously happy.
Congratulations and thanks so much for sharing such a special day with everyone!