Our semi-offbeat mostly Mormon wedding

The offbeat bride: Kynslie, Office Assistant

Her offbeat partner: Taylor, Photographer & Recent College Graduate

Date and location of wedding: Music Venue, Salt Lake City, Utah — April 9, 2011

What made our wedding offbeat: We had all of our wedding festivities at a really awesome music venue called One Mind Studio. The funny/cool thing is that it's the same place my dad was when I called and told him we were engaged. My main goal was to make this wedding special to us, and a wedding that people would enjoy, and remember.

I always thought that cutting the cake was an odd tradition, and honestly, we don't even like cake. So, we opted for a wedding pinata instead, which I spent tireless nights before the wedding making with my cousin (we also made a buttload of paper pompoms).

We had a photo booth guestbook, with chalkboards and Bieber and Bush cutouts. I thought it would be more fun than looking at signatures.

I would actually describe our wedding as “offbeat lite.” We stuck with the typical wedding outline, but I wasn't afraid to fill in the blanks the way I wanted or color outside the lines. (This was basically going where not many Mormon brides had dared to go before.) And I say “I” because my husband and our entire families (except my dad) were a little wary of doing things differently. But in the end, he loved it because it was OURS and it was special.

Tell us about the ceremony: Typically, Mormons get married in a Latter-day Saints Temple, or are married outside of the temple by a Mormon bishop. But, most of my family isn't Mormon, and Taylor's brother was ordained online and had done some weddings for his friends, so we asked him to perform our ceremony for us, and he agreed.

We compiled a script for him, and he added some stuff. We walked down the aisle to “Sweet Disposition” by The Temper Trap.

We wrote our own vows. I read mine off of a piece of paper and Taylor read his off of his phone.

We were married within ten minutes and we walked back down the aisle to “Little Secrets” by Passion Pit.

Our biggest challenge: When I was fifteen, my mom died. It was a very big challenge not having my mom during the planning process, or during the actual wedding, but I was fortunate enough to have a GREAT support system.

I knew that I wanted to do some kind of memorial for my mom at my wedding, but I didn't want a table filled with candles and a photo frame — not really my thing. Instead I had a locket wrapped into my bouquet and put a picture of me and my mom on one side, and a picture of my late great-grandparents on their wedding day on the other. And it turned out beautiful and meaningful.

My funniest moment: As a tween I had told my dad that I was never getting married, and he was, of course, elated. So he had me put it in writing. He wrote out a contract that I said I wouldn't get married before I was twenty-five or he got to punch the groom in the nose. And I, knowing that I was never getting married, signed it.

When I got engaged, my dad was all over that contract: he pulled it out and insisted that he was going to punch Taylor in the nose, which Taylor chivalrously accepted. Honestly, my dad is the nicest guy in the world, but I was unsure if he was really going to do it or not. At the end of the night, before we were about to leave the reception, my dad got on stage with the mic and called Taylor up, and had him read the contract out loud, and continued to lead us to believe that he was going to punch him. But, instead of punching him in the nose, he hugged him and welcomed him to the family.

My advice for offbeat brides: Elope. 🙂

Somehow I tricked myself into thinking that getting stressed out meant you weren't doing things your way. But I guess I realized that planning anything as big as a wedding (if you are doing a big wedding) is going to stress you out to some degree, no matter what. The important thing is to not let the stress overwhelm you and turn you into a crazy person.

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? That the most important thing was that we were married. And if little details didn't work out, it was fine. We were having a wedding and party afterward to celebrate our marriage, not to freak out about things we couldn't control.

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

• Dress: ML Tailor
• Decorations: Luna Bazaar
• DJ: Sky Effect Sound
• Venue: One Mind Studio

Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!

decor: Luna Bazaar