Steampunk burners meet family-friendly party at Liz & Chris’ wedding

The Offbeat Bride: Liz, Program Manager (and Offbeat Bride Tribe member)

Her offbeat partner: Chris, Data Analyst

Date and location of wedding: Canal 337 in Indianapolis, IN — April 25, 2015

Our offbeat wedding at a glance:

It was really important to us to be able to incorporate some of the things that we really love into our wedding without watering them down, so we were really selective about what we brought to the party, but we really brought those things. We are both burners, Chris has an engineering background, and I'm a sci-fi nut, so we went with a burner-bent steampunk vibe, but not so much that it freaked out our (very conservative) families. We're saving that party for Burning Man.

We made a lot of our own stuff and really incorporated saturated colors and metallic tones. Some of the things we made: copper pipe centerpieces, copper table numbers, cog-shaped favors made of seed paper, the groomsmen's boutonnieres and bridesmaids' fascinators, the bridesmaid necklaces, steampunk customized Nerf guns and foamboard props for the photobooth, our invitation and program suite, the cake topper (Chris carved it out of wood and it was AMAZING), the flower girl buckets, and our amazing seating chart.

Tell us about the ceremony:

We wrote our own ceremony with some help from our wordsmith friends. The officiant (our dear friend Jason) dressed fully steampunk, complete with goggles, a kilt and big stompy boots. He also dyed peacock feathers into the side of his head to match our colors. Our parents were a little freaked out, but we loved it and he completely won everyone over with his sweet personality and general awesomeness.

I walked down the aisle to the Prague Philharmonic's version of the theme from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. When my dad recognized the music, he started crying! We're a Trekkie family for sure.

The ceremony really highlighted the idea of marriage as a platform for freedom and self-exploration. We picked passages from “The Irrational Season” by Madeline L'engle and “Letters to a Young Poet” by Rainer Maria Rilke. My brother sang “This Will be Our Year” by The Zombies and absolutely hit it out of the park.

We walked out to “You Make My Dreams Come True” by Hall and Oates. I tend to serenade Chris with the song on road trips, so we felt it was appropriate.

One of my incredible, artistic bridesmaids also made a small heart-shaped effigy and had it up before and after the ceremony for people to sign. We are planning a small, intimate camping trip this summer to burn it.

Tell us about your reception:

We wanted a serious, SERIOUS party. We made a lot of our own decor instead of splurging on flowers and lighting — we really wanted to focus on having good music and good food. We served cotton candy (required by me!) and popcorn during the post-dinner dance party and they were both a huge hit.

Chris's cousin who is a Shakespeare professor created beautiful photobooth backdrop using a lot of his personal collection of props. It was a wonderful gift and we were blown away by how great it looked.

We also had fire spinners (part of the the Indy burner tribe) perform — it was our big surprise, and I was a little nervous about how our more conservative guests might react, but everyone seemed to love their show. They had planned to do three shows throughout the night but it was FREEZING, so after the first one, I told them to just come in and party with us.

What was your most important lesson learned?

I stressed about the weather leading up to the day of the wedding. It ended up being stormy and freezing cold. But the morning of the wedding, I did my yoga and calmed down. I decided to give zero fucks about the weather and everything worked out fine.

I also asked my boss Mary to be our day-of coordinator (she had done it before for other friends) and it was a great decision. I manage large projects for my job and produce burn events as my volunteer gig, so I didn't need any help planning, but I definitely needed help executing and coordinating everything the day-of. Mary was wonderful — she'd just find me every once in a while to let me know how things were going, she coordinated with our families and all the vendors to make sure things just went smoothly.

Vendors

• Venue: Kelly at Canal 337
• Catering: Lori at Thomas Caterers
• Cake: Sarah at Classic Cakes
• Photography/Photo Booth: Jamie from J. Scott Photography
• Music/DJ: Joel from Track 7 DJ
• Fire Spinners: Grant from Northern Lights Entertainment
• Flowers: Colleen from Bokay Florist
• Dress & Alterations: Michelle from Marie Gabrielle Couture
• Hair: Melody at Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
• Furniture Rental: Geralyn at Violet Vintage

: J. Scott Photography