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The offbeat bride: Kelly, Game Designer
Her offbeat partner: Chris, Web Developer
Date and location of wedding: Phoenixville Foundry in Phoenixville, PA — April 2, 2011
What made our wedding offbeat: Since we both love video games, we made it an “8-bit” wedding. The biggest non-traditional undertaking was the centerpieces, each of which was a giant Lego sphere constructed by the wedding party. We used about 30,000 Lego bricks in all. All our decor and invites were “pixellated” — no curves allowed!
We also had Rock Band and Super Mario Kart going, and topped the whole thing off with a self-serve ice cream bar.
While we definitely didn't have a budget affair, we saved on the stuff we didn't care about, and splurged on what we did. We picked an upscale baker, and I got my dress for $100 during a Lord and Taylor online sale. In lieu of a veil, I got a cute white fascinator from Etsy.
Tell us about the ceremony: We had a pretty traditional Catholic ceremony. The priest was a family friend, and I think it was the fastest Catholic wedding I've ever seen.
Our biggest challenge: The Legos! Oh my god. The design I came up with was a huge pain to build. We recruited the wedding party and had an all-day Lego building party. Each sphere took six to eight hours to complete, and by the end of the day we were beat. Amazingly, almost all of them made it to the reception site unscathed. There was only a tiny bit of last-minute Lego repair.
My funniest moment: During the father/daughter dance, my uncle jumped up and cut in! I think my dad really appreciated it though since he doesn't dance much.
Was there anything you were sure was going to be a total disaster that unexpectedly turned out great? I was really worried about Rock Band — I wasn't sure how we were going to pull that off. And to top it off, right before the reception, our projector blew. Our amazing friends ran out to Staples to get a new one. I was super worried about the sound because we were having that in addition to the DJ. I thought it was going to be cacophony. But we set up Rock Band off to the side, next to a partial wall and it did an amazing job of separating the sound — there was almost no bleed! The dancers could dance all night and the rockers could rock out without any interruptions.
What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? Relax. These people are your friends. Anything that's not perfect they won't care, and anything that goes really wrong they'll help you fix. They're your friends for a reason!
Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?
- Photographer: Scott at Faith West Photography
- Caterer: Feastivites. They were amazing! I think I would have lost my mind without them
- Cake: Whipped Bake Shop
- Fascinator: Etsy seller Giant Dwarf
Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!
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 just want to say that this bride has great taste! The venue is gorgeous, her dress is divine, and her groom is HAWT! heee heee
Love the legos too, wondering how many of these spheres got deconstructed to play with the legos during the reception? And did it bum out the wedding party when they did?
Thanks!
Almost all of the spheres survived the reception in-tact. However since the wedding party so laboriously put them together, we opted to save them for the folks who made them rather than let the guests fight over them after the reception.
A few didn’t make the trip home, and those have since been disassembled, but the rest found homes with the bridal party, save a few which are still sitting on the floor in our guest room!
“These people are your friends. Anything that’s not perfect they won’t care, and anything that goes really wrong they’ll help you fix. They’re your friends for a reason!”
Yes yes yes a thousand times yes.
Love this!!! What an awesome theme, and you guys carried it out perfectly! I wish I could’ve gone to that wedding.
Aww how lovely! Looking at the pictures made me all fuzzy inside :DDD
I love the centerpieces and place cards. Like, whoa. LEGO!!
Hooray billion way wrap dresses! I intend to stick my mom in one of those so she’s unable to screw up but still looks good, lol.
I heart those invitations so much!
That is, hands down, one of the coolest cakes I’ve ever seen.
Love this wedding! I’m planning a wedding with Mario Kart and Rock Band myself, so it’s awesome to see someone else pulled it off.
The centerpieces and cake are crazy cute, but I think my favorite part is the lesson. Regardless of personal differences, your friends will be happy for you and will want to help you out if necessary on your wedding day. It’s nice to have the reminder.
Just beautiful! May I ask where you got your wedding dress? it took my breath away. Best-
Carrie
🙂
Thanks!
I got it at Lord and Taylor online, towards the end of summer when they were having a big clearance sale. It was marketed as a dress for a “casual beach wedding” but it worked really well for us! No huge train for me to trip on or anything.
As a big Lego fan, I just have to say – this is EXCELLENT. I embrace your epic Lego building adventures. EPIC WIN FTW.