It's guitars & malt shop love at this retro diner-themed wedding • Offbeat Wed (was Offbeat Bride)

Offbeat partner: Sara

Offbeat partner: Cody

Date and location of wedding: Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket, RI — November 10, 2018

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: I am a retro pinup and my husband is a phenomenal guitar player. What better way to combine the two passions with a retro diner theme wedding? With tabletop jukeboxes and condiment caddies on every table, an electric guitar as our guestbook, ice cream sundae wedges on my feet, 45s lining the aisle, my bridesmaids carrying albums down the aisle instead of bouquets, guitar pick place cards, and a working jukebox at the front of the ceremony space, and guitar pick flower boutonnieres, our wedding was a combination of retro style and rock 'n' roll. Oh and did I mention we had a table full of donuts instead of cake?

Tell us about the ceremony:
I searched for MONTHS to find a retro jukebox to showcase at the front of our ceremony space. It was surprisingly hard to find. But I managed to track one down from a DJ in Connecticut and it was absolutely beautiful all lit up and bubbling. Our ceremony was as much funny as it was sweet and we incorporated the lyrics from our song into our ceremony.

I also had a paper flower bouquet made using sheet music of our song.The song is "Meet Me Where You're Going" by Cloud Cult. My mother-in-law also spoke. She read "He's Not Perfect" by Bob Marley — definitely a more unique reading than what many choose for their wedding but it was 100% us.

Tell us about the reception:
Our cocktail hour was held in a bar upstairs from our reception space that had antique duck-pin bowling lanes! After bowling for an hour, guests moved downstairs where we had burgers, fries, and milkshakes for dinner and rocked out to a live band all night long. We also had signature cocktails at the bar (“The Sara” was a Dirty Shirley Temple and “The Cody” was an Apple Whiskey Sidecar) and a variety of decadent donuts for dessert. We opted out of a cake and took huge bites out of our favorite donut instead — it was such a fun moment since the donuts were so large!

For decor, we had vintage ice cream sundae prints hung on the walls (I mounted the prints onto cardboard), tabletop jukeboxes on each table along with a condiment caddy, napkin dispensers, and straw dispensers. We also had an electric guitar as our guestbook and its guitar case as the card box.

We had a caricature artist drawing portraits all night long and halfway through the evening, I surprised everyone (including my groom) by joining the band for one song (I've loved to sing ever since I was a little girl). I sang "Be My Baby" by the Ronnettes to my husband, who was totally surprised!

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding?
I learned to not sweat the small stuff. Especially toward the end as final details are wrapping up, so many things pop up unexpectedly and it's so easy to freak out over everything. I learned to focus on the bigger picture, prioritize what REALLY matters, and to fluff off the small things that wouldn't even be remembered years from now.

I also HIGHLY recommend hiring your own wedding planner for day-of coordination. While I did not need a wedding planner for the entire process, I knew I needed someone who could essentially be a clone of me on the day of to handle all the setting up at the venue while I was getting ready. Not having to worry about a THING that day was AMAZING and I am SO glad I had someone that had my back. The venue provided a day of coordinator but I knew they'd be so busy with venue related priorities that details would go amiss and I knew having someone there to handle it all would be beneficial. It was SO WORTH IT and I am so glad I hired someone so that all my family members and friends could just relax and get ready with me.