Posted by
The Offbeat Bride: Crystal, Office Manager
Her offbeat partner: Denny, Assistant Manager
Date and location of wedding: The Hard Rock Cafe, Seattle, Washington — November 23, 2012
Our offbeat wedding at a glance: Denny and I come from vastly different backgrounds. Despite those perceived differences, we are a lot alike: hard working, loyal, determined, fun, creative, open-minded, musically and artistically inclined, with a complete love for animals and respect for equality. We decided to go with a musical theme, as that is something that brought us together and keeps us together in good times and bad. So, The Hard Rock Cafe seemed like the perfect spot.
From there, we narrowed the theme to rockabilly. We both love that genre of music and style. We scaled down on decor and emphasized our respect and admiration for Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, and Johnny Cash. We wanted festive colors, so red and turquoise were perfect.
Tell us about the ceremony: We didn't want a super religious ceremony. To start off, my dad walked me down the aisle with The Cult's “Wild Flower” playing — a song he picked out. Then the ceremony began with my dad reading a quote from Dr. Seuss (it was featured on the wedding invitation). Next, the bridal party read excerpts from “Oh, the Places You'll Go!” Then Denny and I did readings. We wrote our own vows. Our friend read Taylor Mali's “Falling in Love Is Like Owning A Dog.” Finally, my dad closed with an Irish wedding blessing.
Our biggest challenge: About a week and a half before the wedding, our beloved blue merle Australian Shepherd passed away suddenly and tragically. It was devastating. We still had not planned the ceremony, so our whole ceremony became dog themed. We read two dog poems to honor our baby, Jack Angelo. They were “The Loss of a Heart Dog” and “The Rainbow Bridge.” We also had a continuous slideshow of our dogs. Our dear friend read a poem entitled “Falling in Love is Like Owning A Dog.” It turned out well.
My favorite moment: The best moment was when we were finally married and we walked down the aisle and hid from everyone. I cried and he held me so tightly. That was the best… just melting into his arms. After the ceremony, we went to Seattle Great Wheel to enjoy the views of our city. We also took the family and bridal party to an awesome '50s diner for dinner.
My funniest moment: Definitely my dad. He was ridiculous. He was our officiant and made such a difference. I think the consensus is that his humor, constant carriage of a Jack Daniels, and loud nature brought everyone to life. My Dad took the honor of creating our wedding playlist. We told him it had to be Rockabilly and he did a fantastic job; however, some of the song orders were messed up. So after he pronounced us husband and wife, he planned for a song (not sure which) to play, but what ended up playing was “(Hey Baby) Que Paso” by The Texas Tornadoes. We all cracked up. It was perfect.
Was there anything you were sure was going to be a total disaster that unexpectedly turned out great? Since we lost our dog, we weren't very focused on the wedding. We threw the ceremony together the night before and I was nervous because we didn't practice. There were a few awkward moments, but the emotions, the readings, and the love during the ceremony was priceless and perfect.
My advice for Offbeat Brides: It's totally ok to go through a million different ideas and themes. I suggest finding something that brings both of you together and narrowing it down. We had key pieces that were totally authentic to us (Denny's robot cufflinks and my awesome shoes).
I can't express how happy I was that we came up with a ceremony that was indicative of who we are. That was a very tough challenge. Do your research ahead of time, discuss, personalize, and let it roll.
Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?
- Photographer: Rebecca Erickson
- Etsy. Seriously. The whole thing was planned on Etsy. If I found a piece that I really connected with, but wasn't the right color or whatever, I talked with the vendor and they customized everything for me. I didn't have time to navigate through the craziness of Seattle to find the right things. But, Etsy was perfect. Made me happy to help people with their Etsy shops.
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.
Ahh! I’m in love with the dress! Was that an Etsy find, too?
Yes, even the dress was from Etsy!!
Could you tell me the name of the store? I want that dress so hard… and the petticoat…
Congratulations on being married, it looks like it was a beautiful wedding and you’re both looking so happy!