Katherine & Matthew’s tornado-threatened mix-and-match wedding

The offbeat bride: Katherine, Cat Herder and Sometimes Comic Artist

Her offbeat partner: Matthew, Physics Graduate Student and Juggler

Date and location of wedding: Itty Bitty Hotel in Plano, Texas — October 23, 2010

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: Money was our first challenge. We were determined to not go over a set amount for our wedding. We decided to get married at a really crazy time in our life. We'd both lost our jobs in July, and when we decided to get married anyway and simultaneously make sure my husband could begin graduate school, any preliminary ideas either of us had about a large, fancy, traditional wedding went out the window. From there, we just tried to figure out what both Matthew and I were both comfortable with when it came to a wedding.

One or the other of us would usually have an opinion while the other wouldn't, so we'd just go with the one opinion. This resulted in a very “mix-and-match” wedding, with us in hats, train ticket invitations, and my bridesmaids having parasols and serving our guests cupcakes before the reception. If we had a running theme, it was that we didn't have one by the end of it.

Tell us about the ceremony: It got interrupted a lot. I was so out of sorts at a last-minute change in venue, that I'd forgotten to make sure copies of my vows were given to the audience. So I stopped and looked around, not sure how to begin my very visual vows. Abruptly, the handouts for the audience appeared, and we got back on track.

Then, when we were supposed to do the “I dos,” my three-year-old (bonus) son ran down the middle aisle, after being entirely disinterested for the most of the day, and demanded our full attention right then. This meant we exchanged our “I dos” while alternating who held the kid as he slurped on a bottle of Sprite.

Our biggest challenge: The Saturday we'd picked for our outdoor park wedding not only had rain, but tornadoes and sirens all around. My photographer came in soaking wet! Matthew came in while I was still in a corset and underwear and asked me what I wanted to do. I just told him we could get married in the lobby and have a flash mob wedding if we had to. This resulted in the hotel flipping their breakfast room into a very beautiful traditional wedding setup (with lots of books!).

It took everyone to make this happen. My brothers were on both of our phones, calling the entire guest list about the change in location. All of the groomsmen and bridesmaids were involved with rearranging the breakfast room and setting up the cupcakes and drinks. My mother-in-law became the musician the night before when our musician had to turn around go home because his pregnant wife was sick. It took a village to make sure our wedding happened, and that's what made it so special to us.

My favorite moment: The first was the small moment my husband and I snatched to sit down and wait for the wedding to start in the “green room” we'd made of the hotel's formal dining area. I had been largely left to myself for the entire day as everyone else scrambled about making sure we got to have a wedding. So him finally getting to sit down with me and give me a kiss and quick snuggle before everything got serious is something I will always remember.

I also loved when we went back down our makeshift aisle after the ceremony. I thought my heart would explode from happiness, a reaction I was not expecting out of my pragmatic, no-nonsense self.

My funniest moment: At the beginning of our ceremony, I had just about made it down the aisle without crying. Then, as I was standing in front of Matthew, I was about to lose it. Seeing this, Matthew decided to stick his tongue out at me. It's something we do, rather than being kissyface in public. I promptly responded with my own face and the crowd roared with laughter and Rob, our pastor, asked if we were through acting like children. And it wasn't caught on camera.

My advice for offbeat brides: Make decisions! I was awful about that, and I think it often stressed people out. Even if it's something you don't care about, make a neutral decision so that people know where you stand on something. Saying “I don't care about flowers” is much harder on everyone than “I do not want flowers.”

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? I learned that I could apply myself to something so personal wholeheartedly and put it out for the world to see. My vows were drawn by me, and exposed a sappy part of my love for Matthew and the kiddo. I drew the comic because I knew Matthew would know how sincere I was since I'm always serious about comics. If it meant embarrassing myself by putting out my personal memories for everyone to see, so be it.

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

• Bride's dress: I bought my wedding dress on consignment from Anonymously Yours, a local shop. They have a great selection and were a great help to me with picking out my dress.
• Bride's reception dress: A limited edition dress called “Swan Lake” from Metamorphose Temps de Fille.
• Restaurant venue: Cafe de France was superb. They had an amazing price for renting out their entire restaurant and serving a full course meal with wine and beer provided. They also let my husband and I order off the regular menu when I was dying for a mimosa and some key lime cake.
• Bridesmaid dresses: A limited number dress release called “Vintage Cherry” from Metamorphose Temps De Fille.
• Parasols: Innocent World (brown) and Angelic Pretty (red and pink)
• Bride's accessories: Etsy seller brendasbridalveils, except my rose necklace which I made.
• Bride's peach hair: Achieved by mixing Directions Flamingo Pink and Mandarin.

Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!

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@offbeatbride @offbeatwed

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