Posted byMay the fourth be with you during one of our favorite times of the year: Star Wars week! Get ready for Star Wars-themed weddings and a few other geeky tidbits all week long.
The Offbeat Bride: Jennifer, Pharmacist
Her offbeat partner: Alex, video game programmer
Date and location of wedding: Jade Asian Palace, Flushing, NY — March 14, 2015
Our offbeat wedding at a glance:
Our wedding was a Star Wars-themed wedding with elements of Chinese and Jewish traditions. We had a lightsaber choreography show put on by Empire Saber Guild, a charity performance group we are apart of, right in the middle of the reception.
Our groomsmen were dressed as Imperial Knights and the groom was dressed as Emperor Fel from the Star Wars: Legacy comics. The bridesmaids and I were a bit more subtle, but had many of the elements seen in the Star Wars movies, including complex braided hairstyles, headbands, and long fingerless gloves. And of course, everyone who attended the wedding received a lightsaber that was raised and lit at the end of the ceremony, echoing the scene in the comics when Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade were married.
Tell us about the ceremony:
Our ceremony was officiated by our friend Aaron, who was dressed as Warlord Zsinj from “The Courtship of Princess Leia.” He did a great job incorporating elements of all sci-fi within his speech about marriage. As with Jewish tradition, we had the breaking of the glass happen right before we kissed.
The music leading up to the ceremony was a combination of some of our favorite video game and movie music. We included the Tetris theme, Star Trek soundtrack, Sherlock Holmes soundtrack, and Portal's “Still Alive.” We had Darth Vader be our witness along with the best man, Joaquin.
Tell us about your reception:
The reception was the main event. Keeping with Chinese tradition, we had a banquet-style menu that featured 10 courses. Because the bride's mother is Italian, the menu included six dishes that were Chinese and four dishes that were Italian.
For favors, we got custom-made 10-sided dice that had our names and wedding date on the one pip side. Empire Saber Guild put on a full light saber choreography show complete with recorded dialog and a plot similar to Gladiator, but was also a play on WWE wrestling with characters like The Asteroid (the Rock) and Macho Man.
The music of the reception was keeping with the theme as well. The first dance was “Left My Heart In Republic City,” a Legend of Korra song that has the feel of East meets West, which Star Wars is itself an East meets West tale, combining science fiction, cowboys ,and samurai/Buddhist themes. The mother/son dance was to “Oogway Ascends” from Kung Fu Panda.
What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding?
I think the biggest challenge we faced was getting everyone queued and dealing with people who were not very well organized. I had so many diagrams, emails, and face-to-face meetings with our guild members as well as with Alex regarding the ceremony and reception. There were still a few mistakes, but in the end no one noticed and it was a great time. My advice is if you are doing everything yourself, for the day of the wedding, have someone there to make sure what you planned gets done. I used a day-of wedding planner and it was the best money we spent.
Vendors
- Photographer: Irshad Mustafa
- Videographer: The Candi Project
- Wedding Planner: Jove Meyer
- Pies: Pie Corps
- Hair: Stephanie Cannone
About the Author: Offbeat Weditors
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This is F’ing awesome!
This wedding was so much fun!!!