Erin & Tadd’s quirky destination beach wedding

We've met Erin's cowboy-shaped rain boots and crinoline (and Tadd's ankles!) a while back. Here's the rest of the story!

The offbeat bride: Erin, Program Supervisor

Her offbeat partner: Tadd, Freelance Narrative Artist and Illustrator

Date and location of wedding: Beachfront vacation rental in Yachats, OR — August 22, 2011

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: Tadd and I were married on our eighth anniversary, and we had spent several years discussing what we wanted for our wedding. Outdoors? Check. Water involved somehow? Check. Small? Check. BBQ? Check. But most importantly, we wanted a wedding that encompassed us. And for those who know us, we're weird. We may seem outwardly normal, but we're just trying to fool you.

I wanted a traditional wedding dress, but I wanted to spruce it up with some color. First it just started with some funky custom-made jewelry and some rainboots shaped like cowboy boots. Then it expanded into some colored crinoline.

Tadd's an illustrator, so he created our monster movie-themed wedding invitations. He also created our cake toppers.

Speaking of cakes, we have both worked in bakeries/patisseries before and we knew exactly how much wedding cakes could run. So I made a tiered pavlova to save the money. The pavlova ended up being the start of a whole dessert table.

We also wanted personal wedding favors for everyone, and it turned into creating succulent terrariums for all of the families. And since our wedding had a monster theme going on, we had to include monster movie magnets, hand-picked by Tadd and me. We had a blast looking for the perfect movie posters! We arranged the flowers ourselves, and even my garter belt was handmade by one of the fabulous gals in my bridal party.

Tell us about the ceremony: We had decided almost as soon as we were engaged that we were NOT going to go with traditional wedding vows and we didn't want to write them ourselves. Instead we had our wedding party create our vows. The boys wrote mine and the girls wrote his. We ended up with vows that were perfect for the two of us. And somehow the vow writing turned into “Bedroom Rules of Engagement” writing, which we found in our bedroom that night.

Here were my vows to Tadd:

I promise to keep you honest and loyal, even if it means resorting to physical violence.

I promise to love and cherish you, even when your lips are chapped and disgusting, and you haven't cut your hair in six months.

I promise to forsake all others (except Squatch) and to keep you as my loyal companion forever, no matter what our lives may bring.

His vows to me:

My dearest forever love, on this day of our wedded bliss, I promise to always love, honor, and cherish your baking abilities. Oh… and you too.

I promise to walk myself every day along with the dogs and I will always clean up all of our foo-foos.

Ever since I was a little girl I have always dreamed of my perfect wedding. Thank you for making me the happiest man in the world.

Might I also add that he THREW AWAY the vows sometime during the reception without being aware of it. I don't recommend that being a tradition that anyone else upholds for their wedding. Thankfully my maid of honor and his best man have good memories and were able to recall the vows and send them to us.

Our biggest challenge: Our wedding was almost cancelled two days before it was supposed to go on. We had cleared having a wedding with the rental company more than a year before our actual wedding. But the owner of the house showed up the weekend of the wedding and was at the house when our chairs and tables were shipped. He informed the rental company that we were not allowed to have a wedding at the house and returned our tables and chairs. We got the message as we were headed there. The owner happened to still be at the house when my husband made it there ahead of me, and my husband politely, but sternly, gave the owner what-for and saved the day.

I cannot say enough good things about Oregon Coast Event Rentals. They are not open on weekends, but worked with us over the phone and offered to deliver our chairs and tables the next day, Saturday, due to the mix up. They rescued our special day with their generosity and time.

My grandfather had flown out for the wedding, but was unfortunately unable to make the actual ceremony due to ill health. Our absolutely wonderful photographer agreed to come with us to the rental house he was staying at so we could bring the wedding to him. His face, when we walked through the door, was priceless and I am so glad we were able to do it.

My funniest moment: That would be a toss up between the garter toss and the bouquet toss! The boys informed my husband that he wasn't allowed to use hands to get my garter off. Lets just say that boots make that situation MUCH more difficult. And the bouquet toss was amazing. Mainly because there was only one single adult female at the wedding, so it was my sister-in-law versus three girls ages five and under.

My advice for offbeat brides: DIY helps your budget (usually). Plus, they really personalize your wedding so much more. We weren't intending to have so much of our wedding be DIY, but we're so glad that we did, because it made our wedding reflect our personalities that much more.

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? I can't say I learned anything too new from my wedding after eight years of being with my husband, but I can definitely say it was a beautiful reminder of how much we love one another and how well our personalities mesh.

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

• Photographer: Jessica Watson Photography,
• Tables and chairs: Oregon Coast Event Rentals (Highly recommended!)
• Fascinator: Etsy seller 10eisha
• Crinoline: Etsy seller swankunderpinnings
• Jewelry: Etsy seller DazziDeb
• Bridesmaid Dresses: Etsy seller CoralieBeatrix
• Flowers: Swan Island Dahlias
• Catering: Busters BBQ

Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!

About the Author: Offbeat Weditors

@offbeatbride @offbeatwed

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