Posted byYou may remember Hannah from this post about being a fat bride. Her wedding confirms that she rocked it… want to see?
The Offbeat Bride: Hannah, assistant marketing director
Her offbeat partner: Brandon, clinical review lead
Date and location of wedding: Cottage Grove Ravine Park, Woodwinds Hospital, and Mancini's Char House, Minnesota — November 5, 2016
Our offbeat wedding at a glance:
From the start we wanted something smaller and personal, but still to include all of our loved ones and things that were important to us. We decided to get married in a park we had both gone to as children, and enjoyed together as adults. Being early November, we knew the trees would mostly be bare, but with the lake and scenery it would still be beautiful.
My dress was red and we both wore Dr. Martens. I didn't feel like a bride in a white dress. Oh, and it was also an unexpected hospital wedding, but we'll get to that later…
Tell us about the ceremony:
We had decided to have a private, non-family ceremony. It became too hard to not step on toes, so we just chose to have no toes to step on. We had written our own vows, and our friend Laura, who was officiating, had written the ceremony.
Brandon has a fainting disorder and started to feel faint right after we'd begun the ceremony. We sat down to give him a some time to recover before we continued, but he fainted anyway. Not once, but twice, which had never happened before. He was having trouble recovering, so we called an ambulance. After spending a couple of hours in the ER getting treatment, Laura rewrote her part for only the necessary parts, and we ditched our vows for the quicker "I dos" as Brandon was still feeling weak, and we were all a little emotional. (We did share our vows on our honeymoon though!) Our ceremony took place in the ER's cafeteria as two on-call surgeons looked on.
Our photographer offered us reshoots since we didn't get any wedding portraits, which was great.
Tell us about your reception:
We decided to have our reception at a restaurant my family has been going to for celebrations for decades. Everyone got a lovely dinner of their choice between steak, pasta, fish, or chicken. My friends and I had made the pumpkin centerpieces the weekend before by painting the inside of fake pumpkins gold, cutting numbers out, and putting lace and tea lights inside, and fake flowers on top. It gave it a great fall vibe while still being in our color scheme.
We had a simple cake that we threw matching flowers on as well. However, by the time we got to our reception, the guests had eaten our cake without us! They did save us the top tier though, which we ate on our honeymoon. I've actually only seen pictures of our cake.
It was great to see all of our family and friends after the stressful day we'd had, and hear how much everyone loved the food and venue.
What was your most important lesson learned?
I'm a fat bride
I want anything emblazoned with "bride" to be changed to "fat bride." My identity as a fat woman is no secret, and I'm not ashamed... Read more
Our biggest planning challenge was trying to figure out how to fit our families in without causing too much strife. At the end of the day having a private ceremony was more comfortable and easier for us, and we were still able to include our family where we felt it was important. I also struggled with my identity as a fat woman versus the societal image of a perfect bride. I've talked a bit about it here.
The Great Hospital Hiccup was the biggest challenge the day of (I thought being late was going to be the worst thing), simply because even if it's something you've dealt with before, it's always unsettling to see your loved one being loaded into an ambulance. But in the end we got married, which was the goal. No matter what happens, no matter where you get married, as long as you get married in the end, that's all that matters.
Vendors
- Original ceremony location: Cottage Grove Ravine Park
- Reception venue and caterer: Mancini's Char House
- Photographer: Umbrella Studios
- Dress: Luxe Curvy Bridal Couture
- Shoes: Dr. Martens
- Groom's suit: Michael Kors
- Makeup artist: Sarah Elizabeth Artistry
Gallery
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.
DAT DRESS :):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)
So glad everything worked out! Wish I could say I’ve never seen my DH loaded into an ambulance, but…
I have a question about the photos that were placed along with the cards. Did you have a printer on-site? Or were you using Polaroids? Or both? Thanks, and congrats!
We had a polaroid! It served as our guestbook, so people also signed the photos. It’s great since we weren’t there for most of the reception, we still got a lot of great pictures.
That first photo is STUNNING! Misty urban landscape, glittering rain, and that sensational red dress – it looks like something out of a gothic fairytale! And the couple look gorgeous!
I agree – so romantic! Gorgeous couple! You both look so happy and in love. It’s perfect.
Hannah, you are beyond gorgeous!
Glad your husband was ok, & it all worked out.
Thank you so much! It wasn’t at all what we expected, but it was still perfect
1. Your description of your wedding in the hospital is leaving my teary-eyed.
2. I LOVE the picture of you two with your umbrellas by the water! You look so magical!
3. How did you plan the wedding in the park? Did you just show up or did you reserve space ahead of time? In either case, how far in advance did you plan that?
1. Thank you omg.
2. Thank you! It was so cold and raining but it was worth it.
3. Basically we just called a couple months in advance and asked if we needed a permit or anything and they said no, but they couldn’t like hold space or anything for us, it was first come first serve, which was fine. So a couple days before the wedding we went and looked at different places we thought would be good for the ceremony in case people were there. We kept things like how well everyone would fit and ease of access in mind!
Ah, cool. Thank you! And congratulations!
Sooo emotional! I am glad to see a happy ending 🙂