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The offbeat bride: Corinne, Researcher
Her offbeat partner: Mike, Office Manager
Date and location of wedding: The Regal Ballroom in Philadelphia, PA — October 22, 2011
Our offbeat wedding at a glance: We had our friend marry us, there was no garter or bouquet toss, no line dances, no limos, and no real flowers. We wanted to make it fairly cheap because we needed to pay for it on our own.
I love to craft, so I made most things that I could, including the save-the-dates, invitations, ceremony cards, centerpieces, headpiece, my necklace, and the bouquets. We didn't have a real “theme” to our wedding, we just added a little bit of everything we love.
The ceremony and reception were in the same building, an old Regal movie theater, since Mike and I are big movie buffs. The place cards we made were film reels, and each table name was a name of a movie we both love with accompanying quote. For example, the Wayne's World table had this quote: “Garth, marriage is punishment for shoplifting in some countries.” The quotes meant a lot because that was how we started to get to know each other.
I had a lot of fun DIYing elements of the wedding. I worked until the day before, when I finished the bouquets and made all the boutonnieres (or “BATonnieres,” as the boys called them, since they were made with Batman fabric). Early on in our relationship, we used to go out with friends to a place that played a lot of Motown. It's my favorite music to dance to, so all of the music was Motown at the reception.
Our first dance was to “You Never Can Tell” by Chuck Berry, one of Mike's idols. And of course we did the same dance moves as in Pulp Fiction.
We are both Irish and Mike's favorite food is mashed potatoes, so one of our must-haves was the mashed potato bar. We are also big video game fans, and we had a Mario weds Peach cake topper. We got married in the fall, the best time of year for pumpkins, and we took advantage and had a pumpkin pound cake that was to die for. There was a little bit of everything that makes us happy.
Tell us about the ceremony: Our ceremony was short and sweet. We had our friend Jon marry us. We wrote the script and our vows to each other. It was serious but it got a few laughs because we are just silly and can't help it. When Mike said “I do,” I ran my hand across my head and mouthed “Phew!” During his vows he said “If you have a bad day, I will be there to cheer you up, and if you have a good day, I want to be at least 98% of the reason why.”
Our biggest challenge: The day went pretty smoothly, but the one big challenge that came up was when we were getting ready. My cousin's dress broke. The zipper on the dress wasn't lining up. My friend and our photographer, Lindsey, the bridesmaids, and my mom were trying to fix it, but in the end we had to sew it on her. Since none of the girls could sew very well, I sewed it up for her. I'm happy to say it stayed on her all night. She is one bridesmaid that I know will never wear her dress again!
My favorite moment: The most meaningful thing about our wedding is that we got to share it with our whole family. My dad has been really sick for the past few years, is currently on a liver transplant list, and was in the hospital the week before the wedding. Mike's dad was battling lung cancer. We didn't know if both of them would be able to make it when we were first planing, and we were so happy when they were both able to come. Mike's sister had our first nephew, and Mike's dad got to wheel him down the aisle as our little ring bearer. Unfortunately, Mike's father passed away just a month after the wedding. Having the pictures of Mike and his father, both wearing their Irish hats and looking so happy, is amazing and something we will cherish forever.
My funniest moment: One of the funniest things to see at the reception was Mike dancing to The Temptations' “Shout.” Mike doesn't really dance, but it came on and he just had to get out there on the dance floor with us. As “A little bit softer now…” comes on, I see him laying with his face touching the floor, trying to get lower with nowhere to go!
My advice for offbeat brides: Don't stress over everything. I was worried about so many things, and all that mattered was our love and the people that were there to share the day with us. I loved everything about my wedding, even the things that didn't turn out the way I expected.
Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?
- Photography: Lindsey Tweed
- Dress: Monique Luo at David's Bridal
- Bridesmaid's dresses: NY&Co
- Invitations, flowers, centerpieces, headpiece, programs, and necklace: Handmade by me, Etsy seller CorinneHanna2
- Fingerprint tree guestbook: Etsy seller LoveFromtheThumb
- Venue: Regal Ballroom
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Photos of groom and father = tears. Animated gif of groom running at bride in excitement = tears. Love everything about this. ;w;
What a fabulous wedding, it looks like they had the mmost fantastic time!! And loving those fabric flowers….
I love the invitations! Do you have a template that you used?
I used this site for the front and RSVP cards, the rest I made on my iPad or sewed together haha
http://www.weddingchicks.com/freebies/invitation-suites/
Ok I have to know how she made the fabric flower bouquets. I AM IN LOVE!
For real. Pretty please post a tutorial!
I don’t have an existing tutorial right now but you can contact me on my etsy account where I am selling them, send me your email and if I make one soon I’ll send it to you
Love the picture of your husband and his dad!
so sweet!
I’m a little embarrassed to admit, but I am INTENSELY curious about the mashed potato bar.
Haha don’t be embarrassed! You should have seen how excited we were when we found out that our venue offered it! It was delicious. Martini glasses an you can fill it yourself with 3 kinds of mashed potatoes (including sweet potatoes) and then they had toppings in huge martini glasses including cheese, sour cream, bacon, chives, mushrooms, gravy. It was awesome at our cocktail hour, a big hit
That’s amazing. I am definitely going to try to talk a caterer into this.
The sheer glee on your husband’s face in the animated gif is so sweet!! It’s also making me reconsider the waiting-til-the-ceremony-for-him-to-see me thing. I think I’d rather have a running hug than a slow walk up the aisle!! Thank you so much for sharing, your wedding looks like it was awesome!
Thanks! It took a little while to talk him into seeing me before the isle but we both loved it this way, we got to gush and express how awesome we look to eachother right away and this way we had our pictures done and could spend the whole rest of the day with everyone at the venue
Your groom and his guys are all so *adorable* in their suspenders and caps!
It looks like your wedding was so much fun and you can see the love between the two of you!!!! I am having my reception at the same place on June 1,2012 I was wondering where you went to take photos of your bridal party?
We took our pictures at FDR park in south Philly, the one right near the stadiums. It’s not so close to the Regal Ballroom probably about 25 mins away but it’s near where we live and we went there before the ceremony. Congrats on your wedding! You’re going to have a great time, the ballroom was awesome!