This costume wedding is full of nerds and joy

nobo and jo best crossover ever 27 — *Photography by Chris Wojdak Photography*

Offbeat Couple: Nobo and Jo

Date and Location: 8/06/2022, Hungarian Cultural Center, Los Angeles CA

From the photographer: Nobo and Jo work in the film industry, and since their community is comprised of creatives who LOVE a good excuse to get costumed up, they wanted their wedding to reflect them by showcasing their creative skills and allowing all of their loved ones to play along with them.

The setting they chose, the Hungarian Cultural Center, is rife with photo possibilities and has a lot of cool backdrops and lighting, as well as divided spaces to allow people a quiet moment if they need to chill for a minute.

Jo designed and put together their entire ceremony ensemble. Nobo made her cape. They built the entrance arch and designed their centerpieces. Their guest book was homemade. The champagne glasses were customized with their crest.

And their guests! I have never seen so many people go all out on a costume in one place. It was delightful seeing their guests express their love for them through the intention they put into their presentation.

From Nobo and Jo:

We met on the battlefield at a LARP (Live Action Role Play) event. So we knew we were going to do something strange when we got to planning our wedding.

Our inspiration was a fantastical nexus of realms – where royalty, rogues, mages, merfolk, extraterrestrial beings – really, any denizen – gathered to witness the joining of our kingdoms.

We wanted people to feel comfortable in what they were wearing, so we kept the theme pretty catch-all with the costume guidance of “whimsical”. We had guests from other galaxies (that are both far away and long ago) to creatures ruling parts of the Unseelie Fae Court, and then, like, clowns. Two friends that couldn't attend sent a scarecrow and a taxidermy squirrel as their proxies, independent of each other.

It was that kind of crowd. Everyone bought into it and it really lent itself to the immersive magic! We had gotten married in 2020 over a video call, so when we were finally able to gather everyone (vaxxed and tested), we had a lot of pent up celebrating to do.

The wedding was the first time our families met, as well as for many of our different communities and friend groups, who all got to interact. You never know how people are going to get on, but my apprehension was completely unfounded – I heard a friend tell me the wedding was basically “the best crossover episode ever.” High praise in the nerd community!

Family, friends, coworkers, and people I owe a life debt to, all getting along and mingling. My heart grew three sizes that day. Honestly the wedding day was eerily stress free thanks to a lot of front end labor and being generally chill the day of. It was a very casual formal event!

We set up the venue ourselves with a ragtag group of assembled worthies (friends) and had just put some of the finishing touches on the space as our photographer and early guests started to arrive.

The way the venue was set up, the guests had to walk through the dressing area to get to the main space. So while we were getting ready, together, people stopped and chatted us up, congratulated us or even joined us on the floor putting the finishing touches on their outfits or makeup. The vibe was very much “hanging out backstage” and comfortable. I appreciated the intimacy the space created.

We ended up getting dressed together, did each other's hair…

…and walked down the aisle together to meet our parents and our officiant, my cousin “Uncle”.

The ceremony was short and sweet. We handed our cords to each other's families, and my Uncle said some appropriately nerdy words as our mothers tied our hands.

Thankfully the handfasting aspect of the ceremony meant there weren't any awkward thumbs up or finger guns. With that, we were officially acknowledged by our fellowship and eagerly escaped the literal spotlight as the ceremony had taken place on a stage.

The rest of the night was a joyful rush of seeing people we hadn't seen since before the pandemic, good food, sword fights, shots of questionable content, and so much laughing.

Seriously, looking at the photos you might think we were pumping nitrous oxide into the venue. It was nice not having to be performative or feel pressured for our wedding to be anything but what we wanted it to be. It was such a wonderful night.

Everything just worked out. The tablecloths were too short? They looked better gathered around the centerpieces anyway (texture baby). The cocktail was made without two of its ingredients the entire night? No one cared, it was an open bar. Forgot to plug in our playlist for music? The guy running the spotlight at the venue plugged in his own phone and put on the Lord of the Rings soundtrack because we “looked the type”. Honestly. Magic. The night was just a series of favorite moments. People were telling us we need to get married every year!

After everything we can say that we're glad we had a spreadsheet for everything. Doing all the front end work and preplanning and coordinating let us enjoy the night. We actually were able to spend time with each other and allowed us a bit more time with guests. Accepting that whatever happened, happened, and moving on was really freeing.

We were so glad we hired a photographer that understood the assignment. We were lucky to have such an amazing bunch of people to celebrate with, who were excited to celebrate our way.