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Offbeat partner: Breeann, recreation therapist
Offbeat partner: Zach, landscaper
Date and location of wedding: Tracy Aviary, located inside of Liberty Park in Salt Lake City, UT — August 18, 2018
Our offbeat wedding at a glance:
Zach has always been a lover of comic books, and as long as we have been together (seven years!) we've always known that we wanted to have a comic book themed-wedding. I am a huge lover of vintage style, so it made sense to merge the two into a huge party of comic book awesomeness. Having a vintage aesthetic also helped to ensure that our decorations wouldn't be too child-like (we definitely had to tow a fine line with that!) and give our day an old-fashioned feel.
Our main colors were red, blue, and yellow, since those are dominant colors in many comic books. We made most of our decorations from scratch, using discount comics from the comic store to Modge Podge our centerpieces and make other paper products such as our seating chart and fans for our wedding arch. Our wedding arch was completely made from scratch using PVC and spray paint. The yellow/white fans we bought from Amazon but the comic book fans we made ourselves. My favorite decoration was our card box which as an old suitcase we bought online. We re-upholstered the inside with a fun red fabric and left the outside worn. It definitely helped to tie in our vintage theme! For our guest book, we bought vintage comic book postcards that people could write sweet little messages for us to read and later put into a scrapbook.
Tell us about the ceremony:
Our ceremony was held in the amphitheater behind the beautiful old Chase Mill, located in an aviary in Liberty Park. In a turn from tradition, I chose my mom to walk me down the aisle. She is my absolute best friend and biggest fan, so it was really important to share that special moment with her. I loved the fact that her dress had the same blue as the bridesmaids' dresses but was also a little different. I chose to walk down the aisle to "Ho Hey" by the Vitamin String Quartet because to me it sounded like Zach and I were embarking on a great adventure, and isn't that what marriage is?
Our officiant was actually our good friend who got ordained just for our wedding. Going with our theme, he read his speech from a comic book. My absolute favorite part of our ceremony were the vows that we repeated to each other. They read "please take my hand. I give it to you as a gesture of friendship and love, and of faith freely given. I give you my hand and welcome you into my dream."
Our officiant told us later that this line is actually quoted from the comic Wonder Woman, issue #167. It was the perfect way to tie everything together and make me feel like I truly was marrying my superhero. After we said “I do,” we walked up together to "This Will Be" by Natalie Cole.
Tell us about your reception:
For our reception, we stuck with the good ol' oldies and feel good music. Because our venue was located in the aviary, everyone was free to roam and look at all of the beautiful birds. Our reception had lots of sweet treats. For our food we had a crepe buffet (my favorite) as well as our awesome comic book cake.
Our wedding favors were small jars of jelly beans, all 18 lbs.(!) of which we bottled ourselves in the days leading up to the wedding. One of the best moments was the best man speech from Zach's brother. It was sweet and thoughtful and made us all laugh. The vibe was incredible. Everybody was smiling, laughing, loving the music and the food.
After the cake was cut, we opened our dance floor and our DJ pulled all of the married couples out to see who had been married the longest. The winner was Zach's grandparents who have been married for 50 years!
What was your most important lesson learned?
DIY weddings are tough! But they can also be very fun and rewarding. Zach and I spent a lot of time making things and I believe that it really brought us even closer together. There's nothing more amazing than seeing people enjoying things that you helped create. If there is any advice that I would like to share about planning a wedding, it would be to communicate with your partner as well as your vendors often. Zach and I were able to keep all communication channels flowing, and it helped knowing we were on the same page with each other as well as with our vendors. In the end, we were so proud of what we had created because we had created it together.
Vendors
Venue: The Chase Mill at Tracy Aviary • Catering and Day-Of Coordinator Services: Wedding Street Utah • Photographer: MD Photography • Dress: Lace Bridal • Cake: Granite Bakery • Bouquet Flowers: Sage Valley Floral • Makeup: Janelle Ingram
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My son is a comic book freak. I think this might be his kind of wedding someday. 🙂
Please where did you find that bowtie?!
i LOVE the bowties! where did you get them from? etsy?
I am a big fan of comic and I loved this comic style wedding.