A geeky Moulin Rouge wedding with burlesque & a Doctor Who-themed first dance

Offbeat partner: Nicole, Manger Data Operations

Offbeat partner: Rob, Contract Analyst

Date and location of wedding: Georgetown Ballroom, Seattle, WA — January 21, 2018

Our offbeat wedding at a glance:

We had a Moulin Rouge theme! There was a cabaret group routine to kickoff the ceremony. We had a quick change from the ceremony to tango dress that had a Doctor Who Theme Song with a custom dance routine. There was lots of DIY crafted decor by my mother-in-law and bridesmaid accessories made by me.

Tell us about the ceremony:

After Midnight Cabaret did a custom opening number for our ceremony to “Sparkling Diamonds” from the Moulin Rouge movie soundtrack which included the wedding party dancing up to the ceremony area as the processional.

I had a curtain entrance to the Legend of Zelda chest opening song, then walked with my father to an instrumental song, “For The Dancing and the Dreaming.”

Rob's father performed the ceremony for us. The recessional was an instrumental version of “Stronger Than You” from Steven Universe.

We wrote our own vows, and Rob took no prisoners and made everyone feel all the feels with his vows in particular!

Tell us about your reception:

We stayed at the same venue for the reception which let the guest slide right into cocktail hour. The Georgetown Ballroom has a bridal loft area where Rob and I went up to, so he could change and I could prep.

About 20 minutes into the cocktail hour, we walked down from the loft to an instrumental version of Gorillaz' “Clint Eastwood,” then After Midnight Cabaret and the bridal party lead us to the floor to Pentatonix's Daft Punk Remix, where I did my quick change and into the Doctor Who Theme Song first dance which we had choreographed with our friend.

Our table themes covered our mutual geeky loves of movies, musicals, and TV Shows, and DJ Gumbeaux gave us the idea to have the theme song play for the table when releasing them for the buffet queue.

The toasts from our best man made us feel loved, my maid of highest awesome made Rob feel guilty for taking away her single girl time (as we had never been single at the same time), and my father made me tear up with joy. The food was delicious and so well executed, and, instead of a typical cutting cake gig, we just had a cake buffet with three cake flavors and frosting.

Then it was all about the amazing dancing (danced so much my feet hurt for the next five days!).

What was your most important lesson learned?

Just because most people get married soon after their engagement doesn't mean you need to. We had a literal five-year engagement, which let us spread the cost over multiple years along with the DIY/craftiness. With that, nothing felt rushed or stressed when it came close to the big day.

Also, if you can do your formal photoshoot BEFORE the big day, do it! This allowed us and our wedding party/family to enjoy the cocktail hour the day of.

Major Challenge: I had a moment I thought it would be so much easier to just do an out-of-the-box traditional wedding with one simple dress (instead of three), no major theme, and go along with what the wedding magazines and what TV shows showcase. Luckily, my husband helped me get past this by stating, "I know you will regret it if you don't go all out." That got me back to the wedding that came to be.

Lastly, find vendors who really click with you and who are not just there to do the job. We quickly axed potential vendors because of their lack of enthusiasm when we dropped the theme and plan of events. I get that this is the wedding industry, but would it kill some of the vendors to see past the bottom line? Truly, engaged vendors who really enjoyed what we wanted to do made all the difference for us.

Vendors

• Photobooth and Coordinator: The Great Surprisal
• Photographer: ixi Photography
• Videographer: Pixel Dust Weddings
• Ceremony Jacket & Veil: Sewly Yours Bridal (Miss Allaneous)
• Emcee and DJ: DJ Gumbeaux & Cho of Magnolia Rhapsody
• Hair and Makeup: Pacific Artistry
• Red Reception Dress: Light in the Box
• Wedding Bouquets Purses and Various Accessories and Rhinestone Detailing on Dance Dress: Crafty Hands Studio Crew

Gallery

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