3239088391 1346df4542 m alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)The Offbeat Bride: Adair, Grad Student

My Offbeat Partner: Christiaan, Grad Student

Location & date of wedding: Bartlesville Community Center in Bartlesville, Oklahoma — 01/03/2009

What made our wedding offbeat: We both had very different conceptions of what our wedding should be. The groom was very keen on much of the symbolic tradition of weddings, while I was much more into the aesthetic expression of our personalities.

The brides awesome shoes.
The bride's awesome shoes.

The mix we ended up with was a fun, colorful, highly personalized wedding that maintained the basic framework of a traditional wedding.

For example, we had processional to the traditional “Here Comes the Bride,” but chose to have both sides come down the aisle simultaneously and with both sets of parents — we were “given away” to each other. Additionally, we had a clergical officiant but used secular readings and vows (T.S. Eliot and self-authored vows). We even chose the signing of the marriage license, the secular act which technically joined us in marriage, as our “unity ceremony.”

3239088563 c2da499fe9 m alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)Aesthetically, we managed a similar blend of tradition, fun and personalization. The groom/groomsmen wore dark grey tuxedos, while the bride and bridesmaids opted for bright, colorful dresses. Subtle Asian themes ran throughout reflecting my upbringing in Japan. Boutonnières, corsages and headpieces were silk kanzashi (Japanese hair ornaments). Centerpieces were origami squirrels (his nickname) and cranes. The invitations were Japanese inspired 11″ by 5″ scrolls. Colorful garden lanterns and Christmas lights hung overhead, creating a garden-party sort of atmosphere reminiscent of Oklahoma summers.

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Sweet photo of the groom being walked down the isle by his parents.

On the whole, our basic idea was to strip down the traditional wedding, keeping to the parts that seemed most crucial. We kept the ceremony short (under five minutes) and did away with most of the traditional post-vow tossing of accouterments and awkward dance exhibitions. We also made it a point to budget for a healthily stocked bar, a dance floor and a DYI photobooth for our guests.

Bottom line: we wanted this to be a CELEBRATION of our JOINING and so tried to weigh the two parts equally.

I love their bridal party group shots!
I love their bridal party group shots!

Our biggest challenge: Negotiating the different views of what the wedding should look like and/or include. After all, the list of people who have to be appeased does not just include the bride and groom. And it did not help that the bride was living in New York, the groom in Oklahoma and the bride's parents internationally.

In the end, we learned perhaps the most important lessons of married life: negotiation and communication.

Guests DIYd the centerpieces used at the reception.
Guests DIY'd the centerpieces used at the reception.
My favorite moment: When my grandmother came to see me 15 minutes before the wedding and I was chomping down on an onion-filled sandwich. “Adair! You're not eating ONIONS are you?!?” She handed me a whole roll of Certs.

My advice for other offbeat brides: Being creative doesn't necessarily mean wholesale rejecting tradition.

Also, on the wedding day, just relax — things will happen that you can't control. No need to get upset. Have fun.

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?:

Enough talk — show us the wedding porn! Click on the photo below to see more photos from this wedding:

3239970464 6ceeb4b980 alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

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Comments on Adair & Christiaan’s Japanese-Inspired, Summer in January Wedding

  1. I think the photos in the set aren’t all set to “public”. I only saw the invite too until I signed in to Flickr. (It also gave me some notice about SafeSearch which I’ve never seen before.)

    Flickr technical problems aside, I LOVE the dresses. Colorful and festive while still being beautiful and elegant. And yay for mutual giving aways.

  2. Beautiful! I especially love the dresses – bride’s and bridesmaids’. I’m also having a Japanese theme for my wedding, since my fiance and I met in Japan and are still living there now. It’s great to have such lovely wedding porn for inspiration!

  3. Beautiful dress! And I love the idea of a DIY photobooth. I’ve seen that on other OBB weddings and I would love to hear any tips you have on making them fun and successful. Thanks!

  4. The dress was a 2008 prom dress from Alyce Designs, right? Yay for you for picking a prom dress – they’re a great price point and sooo pretty! Congrats!

  5. that is a really unique dress – i love it.
    i also love the way you photos show how much fun you are/had 🙂
    congrats!

  6. Being a former Okie, I really enjoyed seeing your pics. Your dress was so pretty. I have cousins that live in Bartlesville. Have a great life.
    K. packard

  7. Wow, an Offbeat wedding in the Sooner State! (I'm a native Tulsan.) This made me smile. I love the colorful dresses. Looks like you both reached a great compromise between tradition and personal.

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