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The offbeat bride: Christina, Curator
Her offbeat partner: Marius, Artist & blogger
Location & date of wedding: Sister's garden in Oslo, Norway AND Galapagos Art Space, Brooklyn, NY — June 22, 2009
What made our wedding offbeat: He's Norwegian and I'm American, so we decided to have two parties — one in Oslo, Norway and one in NYC.
We got married at the City Hall in Oslo on the third anniversary of the day we met and had a DIY high-tea-proper-sit-down party in his sister's garden. The entire family pulled together to provide everything from a full seafood and meat menu complete with a cocktail bar, to four or five different sets of antique dinnerware to serve it on. Some of our friends made the trip from NYC to Norway and even came with us on our amazing journey of a honeymoon in Reykjavik, Iceland.
A month after the wedding we got to celebrate again (and wear our fantastic wedding clothes twice)! This time, many of the Norwegians came to NYC and we had a super sleek art fest at the incredibly cool Galapagos in Brooklyn, which quickly turned into a crazy get-down-and-dance party. They let us hijack their projector so that we could display the groom's digital artwork on the wall behind the stage, which doubled as our dance floor.
Every element of both parties was “us,” which is pretty neat considering how different the two parties were.
Our biggest challenge: Throwing two wedding parties is stressful and expensive so we relied on the special talents of our friends and family to make it all go smoothly (twice).
The groom's former graphic design partner gave the parties their visual style by designing the invitations for us and creating a super cute monogram for us to incorporate into the decorations. The groom's family in Norway pooled their resources together to provide gorgeous antique tableware, decorations, alcohol, and food prep. In NYC, our friend served as the photographer, my aunt provided the flowers, and the groom lent a special touch with his brightly colored and dynamic artwork. The Norwegians even transported a special Scandinavian liquor and cheese that our caterers integrated into our NYC party.
My favorite moment: Our friend Hilary said that she was in the middle of experiencing one of the best moments of her life at our party in Oslo. You know it's a great party when a guest is having that kind of moment at YOUR wedding! Being able to share a new culture with your lifelong friends — a culture that you've just married into — is quite a fulfilling and overwhelming experience.
My offbeat advice: Be as generous as possible to your guests, and not just by shelling out lots of money to feed and impress them. Remember that your party is both a celebration of your wedding and also of how you feel about your friends and new family. Tell them that and you will feel the love pouring in!
Also, try to step out of the wedding planning frenzy before you make any large purchases or agreements. Even if you have only a few weeks to plan your wedding, sleep on the big decisions for at least one night.
Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?
- Venue: Galapagos Art Space
- Cake toppers: dandelionland.etsy.com
- NYC hair done by Lilypad in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
- Hair fascinator: feathersandfrills.etsy.com
- Bride's gorgeous art deco wedding band found at Dumont Estate Shop
- NYC photographer, Julian Mackler
- NYC caterers (Kira rules!): Naturally Delicious
Enough talk — show me the wedding porn:
About the Author: Offbeat Weditors
Working tirelessly to bring you stimulating content day after day, the Offbeat Wed editors will not sleep until you've gotten your offbeat fix.
I LOVE the pic in Brooklyn Bridge Park! 🙂 Great spot.
Aw, your BB shot is right where I'm getting married – nice!
I'm drooling over all the beautiful stuff at that DuMont Estate Jewelry website… wow.
Awesome! My finace is from the Netherlands and I'm in the US and we might end up doing something similar. Right now we're just trying to figure out all the legal stuff… it is overwhelming. x__x
Words can't describe how awesome Galapagos Art Space is. I'm so glad they got an OBB feature for their kickass weddings!
I love her dress! Where's the bolero from?
Agreed w/Tera253, where'd you get the bolero?
In addition to the bolero, where is the dress from?
where did you get the dress? I/m in love with it!
Those cake toppers are heartbreakingly beautiful. Thank you for sharing all of this!
One more vote for info on the dress – the cut-out lacy-ness is blowing my mind!
Hi ladies, thanks for the sweet comments about the dress + bolero. Both were made by a small wedding boutique in the east village based on my own design. I was totally inspired by that gorgeous satiny lace they incorporated into their line and I knew exactly what kind of silhouette and colors I wanted before I walked in. But you know how Bambi's mother said that if you don't have anything nice to say about someone you shouldn't say anything at all? That's how I feel about the boutique, so it shall remain nameless. Despite having no weight fluctuations I had to have 8 (!) fittings, the dress maker didn't even show up for one appointment, AND she kept adding things I didn't ask for, which is weird. She must have sensed my dwindling patience so she threw in the bolero for free.
I love your dress! For those looking for something like it- I saw an awesome lace dress that is kind of similar when I was trying on dresses by Stephanie James Couture. The dress is called "Nadine" and you can find it on her blog.
I love the projected artwork! So gorgeous!
That's really nice of you Emily! You can see more of the groom's digital wonderfulness here: http://www.unlekker.net
Hey, does Galapagos provide the food or do you have to hire an outside caterer?
Galapagos provided all the drinks (alcohol, mixers, etc) + bar tenders and wait staff for drink passing but they do not include food. They have a functioning kitchen and plenty of space to stash the caterer's equipment. We hired Naturally Delicious to cater; they gave us exactly what we wanted. We were really concerned with having a party where our families would mingle since they most likely won't see each other that often (living on 2 continents and all). ND didn't push a sit-down meal on us, rather they came up with lovely and exotic options that added to the mingle vibe.
Awesome to see a part Norwegian offbeat wedding! It gives me hope ^^
And you guys look so happy together, the best of luck to you!
I agree with Faile, awesome to see some offbeat wedding stuff from Norway 😉
We live in a small town in Norway, and I think our wedding will stand out with the punk/rock theme and all the DIY stuff 😉