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The offbeat bride: Emily, OBT Member
Her offbeat partner: Benj
Location & date of wedding: Valley of Fire, Nevada — April 26, 2009
What made our wedding offbeat: My husband and I had planned two weddings that both failed miserably due to family fueds and a sad loss. So, my groom, our son and I decided to run away and elope. So, we went to Vegas! 
But it wasn't your everyday Las Vegas wedding. We still did it our way! We drove out to the Valley of Fire, climbed out onto the red rock, and said our “I do's” on a cliff at sunset.
I wore a untraditional, plain white dress with black trim. The Groomsie wore all black with white accents. The best man, our one-year-old son, wore an adorable baby suit! The three of us all wore chucks. Chucks are the only shoe you will ever catch me wearing, so I only saw it fitting to wear it on my big day!
Our biggest challenge: The hardest thing was keeping it a secret. The wedding went great! But once we got home and told everyone, it was kinda hard to hear all the negative comments about how upset everyone was that they weren't there. 
But we decided to throw an offbeat party to celebrate. We are threw a three-for-one party. We recently bought a house in November, our son turned one on the 28th of April and our wedding was on the 26th. So we had a housewarming/birthday/wedding celebration!
My favorite moment: The one thing that is the most burnt into my brain is hiking up my dress and hopping across the rock to this cliff Benj wanted to climb. It was a huge challenge to climb the cliff in a big ol' wedding dress, but it made amazing pictures!
Also, on our way down, while off camera, Ben gave me a diamond tennis bracelet, it was perfect… 
My advice for offbeat brides: Let your wedding reflect who you are, and don't stress… If people want to criticize things a little, just let it go, after all it is just a day.
Oh and also, don't bend over backwards to be different. You don't want look back on your wedding day and think “What was I thinking?!”
Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!
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Absolutley awesome. You guys are the cutest family.
The people who matter most – you, your groom, and your adorable son – were there, and that’s all that matters. Congratulations, you had a lovely wedding! Best wishes for the future and thanks for sharing!
I love Chucks with a wedding dress..you two are adorable..
The Valley of Fire is one of my favorite places in America, it is just so gorgeous! I’m so glad you were able to have a wonderful, right-for-you wedding after facing so many problems – and those are some amazing location shots 😀
Perfect location for photographs and what wonderful memories you will have. Hooray for more babies at weddings, it’s a wonderful celebration of a family !
A HUGE congrats to the three of you! My husband and i eloped last Friday, we only had my sister and his best friend as witnesses (in Australia you have to have 2 witnesses) when we announced what we thought was our good news we had mostly positive reactions, my family was so happy for us, they said it was our day and as long as we were happy they were happy, his Grandmother was downright horrible to us when we told her, she really ruined what should have been the happiest time in our lives so i totally sympathise with you! Don’t let anyone get you down!
I love your dress Emily. Where did you find it?
My husband and I got married in Vegas too, and lordy, the comments we got from some people. “You clearly aren’t taking your marriage seriously if you’re getting married there!” (Thanks, future MIL.)
Anyway, you guys look like you had the day YOU wanted, which is the most important thing. Hooray for sneakers with your dress, and your son is so danged cute!
Ha! I wore white converse at my wedding and my girls all wore bright colored ones. Your family is absurdly cute!
I LOVE the family pictures before the wedding ones! Your son is ADORABLE and clearly so loved. Fabulous wedding, amazing kiddo, awesome family!
SUPER cute. Y’all are darling. Congrats!