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The Offbeat Bride: Hope, Teacher
Her offbeat partner: Nate, Software Engineer
Date and location of wedding: Brookside Gardens, Berthoud CO — June 26, 2017
Budget: $10,000
Our offbeat wedding at a glance:
The theme of our wedding was literary nerd. We wanted to include as many different aspects of us as possible: Doctor Who, LEGO, Lord of the Rings, books, quotes from all of our favorite fandoms about love, a photo booth with nerdy props, and even a dragon cake topper!
Tell us about the ceremony:
Our ceremony was performed underneath a book arch on top of two TARDIS bases. All of the music for the ceremony was nerdy, instrumental versions for the processionals and nerdy songs for the reception. I processed to “Clara's theme” and we recessed to the Superman theme.
Each section of our wedding ceremony was named for a chapter from the Lord of the Rings and there were literary elements throughout. There was a rose ceremony where we each presented our own mothers with a rose and then our mother-in-laws with another rose. We assembled a memory book of the pages from our lives leading to this point. Our dear friend read Pablo Neruda's Sonnet XVII as our ceremony reading.
Our flower girls petal baskets were made of books, and our guest book was a painting of a TARDIS and Up mash-up.
Tell us about your reception:
Our reception had nerdy mash-up coloring pages waiting on tables. The tables were decorated with stacks of books topped with a single red rose and a love quote from different fandoms. We had a photo booth with a plethora of nerdy props. And desserts! Overall, the reception was light, fun, and nerdy with a lot of literary elements.
What was your most important lesson learned?
The biggest wedding planning challenge was trying to stay under budget. We overcame it by enlisting our crafty friends to help with the DIY. My grandma-in-law wrote an article after her daughter's wedding that said, “when putting together a wedding, you can either do it easily, elegantly, or economically. You have to choose two of the three.” These words are beyond true. However, I would not have changed to an easy wedding. All the little details that came together, the countless hours I got to spend with family and friends putting together this special day, made it all the more memorable.
Vendors
- Florist: Petals from Heaven
- Venue: Brookside Gardens
- Photographer: Crystal Scheidies Photography
- Officiant: Truly Yours Ceremonies
Gallery
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Holy crap where do I start?! The No Admittance sign. The book arch. Those shoes. That dress. The coloring pages and colored pencils. The Evenstar necklace. The freakin’ blow-up dragon! Just… agh! EVERYTHING!
What a gorgeous and fabulous wedding. I am lodging so much of it away as inspiration for my own and I wish this truly epic couple all the best!
Thank you so much! We really wanted to make it our own and couldn’t settle on one theme so we went for Nerdy as the theme.
Need to know who made your dress and where I can get it!! I’m plus size and that is stunning
I know the pain of being plus size and trying to find a wedding dress. I had to go custom. My mother actually made the dress. I still bow down to her excellence. She hand re-embroidered all the lace. We found the lace at a shop in Boulder. Under the dress is a custom cupped corset made by Crimson Rose Corsetry in Denver.
https://m.facebook.com/CrimsonRoseCorsetry/#!/CrimsonRoseCorsetry/
Ahhhhgh, yours is the first dress for plus size I actually liked!
I’m sorry. Believe me I felt your pain. When ended up deciding that the amount we would need to spend on alterations wasn’t worth it and custom made was the way to go. If you are looking for a seamstress local to you I would be happy to help. I have connections.
this is insanely gorgeous. i looove the dress and the book arch..and…and.. just so lovely!! all the best!
So beautiful and so full of whimsy and heart. I love this wedding so much!
In giving credit where credit is richly due, the awesome geeky coloring pages at the reception are the work of Karen Hallion, and the guestbook painting was inspired by her work as well. You too can get the coloring pages and more by supporting Karen on Patreon for a pledge of as little as $1 a month.
https://www.patreon.com/KarenHallion/posts
Superb attention to detail! That Tardis book arch was amazing! Congrats, on a beautiful, nerdy, & fun wedding!
Thank you so much. My engineer father and brother put a lot of hours into the Arch. It signified two very important aspects of our lives. My husband and I met at the Doctor Who 50th anniversary event and we both love love love reading.
If there’s a Geek Heaven, this is what it would look like. Thank you for sharing. The dragon cake topper is too cute for words! That dress and that color are MAHVELOUS, DAHLINK! And I’m sure Tolkien is applauding you.
Thank you! I truly bow down to my mother with her phenomenal sewing skills. We couldn’t find just the right dress or pattern so she made it up. And the lace comes from Elfriede’s in Boulder, CO. The cake topper is an etsy creation. https://www.etsy.com/shop/ClayMeeples
I was lucky enough to be at this wonderful wedding. It was all this and more! You could feel the love in all the special touches, and in the way the Bride and Groom looked at each other! The dress was truly a one of a kind, and as beautiful in person as it looks.
This is beyond beautiful and amazing to see posted here on Offbeat Bride! We’re trying to get our vision of an elegant horror/Halloween wedding completed by the 21st of October, so your quote about choosing one of two out of easy, elegant, and economical really rang true. Y’all pulled it off and it looks like you’ll have many memories to treasure with each other for the years to come!
Okay I have so many feelings about this wedding – this is absolutely incredible! I am going between awwing and being crazy jealous and wanting to scrap my whole wedding because mine’s gonna suck now that I’ve seen this. Also – it makes me happy to see another bride in lavender – and it’s such a BEAUTIFUL dress for her! Then I saw – SHE HAS THE SHOES I BOUGHT! Okay, now it’s official – gotta start my whole wedding over! LOL (sarcasm). This wedding made me so happy to look at – I really wish I’d been a guest!
EDIT: Crisis averted – I was debating between 2 designs and bought the Maurder’s map shoes and not the book page shoes in the end! My wedding can continue as planned! lol