Beth & Cory’s artsy, nerdy, and elegant museum wedding

The Offbeat Bride: Beth, Publishing Director

Her offbeat partner: Cory, Process Engineer

Date and location of wedding: Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH — November 8, 2014

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: The venue, The Cincinnati Art Museum, was a dream wedding location for me, having graduated from the Fine Art program at University of Cincinnati. I know I'm not a white dress girl, and wore a black Vera Wang dress for the wedding. Cory wore white instead of the traditional black.

We are both big video game nerds, so that had to be incorporated somehow. All of the background music for the reception dinner was hand-picked by Cory from some of our favorite games such as Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy, Castlevania, and more. “Guile's Theme” was used for the garter toss, and “Jumper” from Castle Crashers was used for the cake cutting. Cory even had Foxhound (Metal Gear Solid) cufflinks! The logo used on the wedding invitation was also inspired by the Final Fantasy logo.

Cory is big into homebrewing beer and we are both major craft beer fans. Hops and barley, two major ingredients in beer making were incorporated into the bouquets, boutonnieres, and centerpieces. Hops were even sprinkled on the wedding cake for extra decoration. We brought in beer from our favorite local brewery MadTree Brewing for the open bar at the reception, featuring beers such as Psychopothy, Thundersnow, Pumpcan, and Lift. Each table at the reception had an assigned number but was also representative of a craft brewery. I created table cards featuring logos from breweries such as Great Lakes, Bell's, and Three Floyds. We also used bottle cap magnets printed with our wedding logo as favors.

Tell us about the ceremony:
Our ceremony was quite brief and to the point (about 15 minutes long). Beth walked in to the song “Ashitaka to San” from the movie Princess Mononoke. Everyone in the bridal party and I entered by coming down the staircase in the grand hall of the museum instead of the typical aisle entrance. We also presented roses to each others' mothers, which was a total surprise to them and not part of the rehearsal. The ceremony was also overall non-religious and focused the most on our friendship and devotion to each other.

My favorite moment:
For me, walking out in a black dress was an important step in remembering to be myself no matter what anyone else thought. It was a meaningful moment because I was really happy I made that decision.

The reception was full of great moments, including toasts from my dad, Cory's dad, and Cory's brother Pierce, the best man. There were heartfelt moments and hilarious moments. After dinner, everyone was dancing, drinking, talking, and having a great time. It was important to us that our guests have just as much fun as we did.

My funniest moment:
During the ceremony, after our kiss, we decided to high-five each other at the end. This caught a lot of people by surprise, but after it happened I remember a lot of laughter.

There were a few great moments during the reception. Cory's brother Pierce (best man) recounted a story of how Cory hit him with a nine iron when they were little kids, during his toast/speech. The delivery was great and resulted in a lot of laughs from our guests.

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding?
There are tons of ways to do a wedding, so just go for what you want. It's easy to fall into traditions that you have to do just because. The coolest thing about how we approached our wedding with all its elements is how supportive our friends and family were. We learned just how much they were willing to get behind everything we wanted.

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

• Wedding gown and bridesmaid dresses: David's Bridal
• Venue for ceremony and reception and catering: Cincinnati Art Museum
• DJ: Music by Request DJ Butlers
• Invitations and stationery (design is homemade/custom): Wedding Paper Divas
• Cake: Bluebird Bakery
• Flowers: Glendale Florist
• Photography: Laura Fisher
• Tuxes: Men's Warehouse
• Rings: Hudepohl Jewelers
• Officiant: Kathryn Siefert
• Lighting Services: Goodwin Lighting
• Hair and Makeup: Statements In Hair
• Spiked Heels: NLY Trend “Forget Your Ex” from Nelly.com
• Filigree Finger Armor: Cuties4you
• Chain and Spike Ear Cuff: Raveneve Jewelry
• Foxhound Cufflinks: Trinket Geek

Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!

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