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The offbeat bride: Marcella, Actuary (mathematician)
Her offbeat partner: Derek, Director of Personal Training, Gold's Gym
Location & date of wedding: Garden ceremony, home champagne brunch, and Spanish restaurant reception in Richmond, VA — June 20, 2010
What made our wedding offbeat: We did just about everything ourselves, with the help of talented friends and family. The whole production cost only around $6,000. I made my own dress and jewelry and reconstructed the bridesmaid's dresses. We all pitched in to make the decor. 
Our friend/groomsman of London Hair Design did our hair… another friend who owns Crossroads Coffee created an awesome vegan brunch menu… my bridesmaid, a talented musician, created a kick-ass playlist for us. It meant so much to us both to see everyone throw their hearts into making our day awesome.
Our goal was to celebrate our “weirdness” – after all, we met on World of Warcraft! – within a sort of traditional framework. The end result was: A small garden ceremony that honored our beginnings as comrades in WoW, and included an excerpt from a sci-fi novel while remaining moving, miraculous and a spectacular post-ceremony vegan brunch at our home with our closest friends and family.
All culminating in a Spanish Carnivale-themed reception at a local restaurant complete with salsa lessons and sangria! Somehow, these seemingly disparate elements came together to make an awesome whole, sort of like how we did! 
Tell us about the ceremony: From the ceremony welcome: “We are gathered here, as family and friends, to celebrate the joy of the marriage of Marcella and Derek. This union, this mysterious oneness and dedication of love, began over four years ago in the most unlikely of places: an on-line fantasy game where they met as avatars, each knowing nothing of what the other looked like or, initially, even whether the other was a man or woman.
As they quested and fought battles together from opposite sides of the country, they became teammates and fast friends. Over time the camaraderie grew into something more and on Valentines day several years ago, Derek made his first cross-country journey to finally meet Marcella in person. That initial excitement and curiosity has survived growth and transition to become a strong, true love. We are here today to honor this love…”
Our biggest challenge: The greatest challenge was paring down all of my initial grand plans into something manageable. It's amazing how small details can take on such daunting significance when planning your wedding! Time was the biggest help there: as the time grew shorter, options for everything from venues to musicians and food and everything else shrank down to several rather than the overwhelming hundreds that I started out with. 
My favorite moment: Amidst the frantic rush to get ready for the ceremony, having finally gotten into my gown and veil, I turned to face my maid of honor and bridesmaid and they both immediately burst into tears.
Laughing with Derek at the “altar” as the celebrant somehow managed to tell the story of our meeting in Warcraft with grace and solemnity. 
Seeing everyone pitch in, unasked in most cases, to do everything from clean our house and make cupcakes, to act as coordinators and make paper flowers.
Dancing together at the end of the night.
My funniest moment: Seeing everyone in fake mustaches was pretty damn funny.
My advice for offbeat brides: Getting the many people of your lives together in one place, probably just this once, makes all the effort worth it and any mishaps insignificant.
Also, people will remember having a good time and how happy you were, not whether you had perfectly color-coordinated centerpieces, menus, and escort cards or any such details. Don't get so immersed in “Martha Stewart Weddings” etc that you forget that the portion of the population not currently getting married has no idea what an escort card is anyway. Don't worry too much about that stuff!
Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?
- Dress: Me
- Headpiece: Etsy, Be Something New
- Photographers: Kimberly Frost and Chris Smith
- Makeup: Dayna of Vamps and Vixens
Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!
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.
OMG your dress looks just like mine!! but mine is an antique rose pink and I didn’t make it myself.. Awesome wedding by the sounds of it!
OMG Hotness! What a freakin awesome couple. WOW totally brings people together! 🙂 Your wedding seems like it was absolutely beautiful, unique and meaningful. Love it! This made my day. Congrats!!!!
so happy to see more WoW couples 😀 for the horde!
Thanks fellow WoW players! We actually met while competing against each other for Warlord rank…I was his guildmaster!
First of all, congratulations on what was obviously a smashingly wonderful time!
Second, thank you… As a bride-to-be starting to plan an event that will be largely homemade, calling on the talents of loved ones, I am so completely inspired and moved… Thank you, too, for the down-to-earth advice.
P.S. Um. Best cake toppers ever.
Is the groom’s ring off of etsy? I ask, because my groom’s is, and it looks exactly like that!
I can’t believe you made that dress! You are one talented (and super buff) lady.
Oh my, I love both your rings! Can I ask where they are from?
My ring came from this Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/daniellejewelry…Derek’s came from goldspeed.com because he was too cheap to buy one of the many similar rings on etsy!
“Getting the many people of your lives together in one place, probably just this once, makes all the effort worth it and any mishaps insignificant.”
Very well put. Level-headed brides are the hottest! Rawr!
My fellow WoWer…I LOVE it!! Thank you so much for sharing your story! I also had a small “family-talent” wedding and it is so refreshing to see brides out there who do understand that the bigger the budget does not mean the bigger the love. Best Wishes to you and your hubby! <3
Yaye for more WoW couples! My husband and I just got married on August 7th and we were also a couple that met on WoW. We talked in game for over 6 months before we decided to meet each other in person. Congratulations to a fellow WoW couple! 🙂
I LOVE everything. It turned out so amazing…I loved how classy yet nerdy the whole shebang was. Definitely shows off the couple and their personalities!
LOVE the WoW-ness of it all! I think you did a great job of including something that you both loved without making it an overwhelming element. And I can’t even speak about how much I’m in lust with your cake toppers!
And the funny thing about the cake toppers is…I’m actually a tailor in WoW and made my dress in-game just as I did irl (warcraft for “in real life”)…White Wedding Dress pattern and http://www.figureprints.com FTW!
What a gorgeous wedding! Weirdly, I was at a wedding that took place in that exact spot (Italian Gardens at the Maymont) they very next weekend. Less WoW at that one, though…
My FH is actually playing WoW and I lightly mentioned just the title of this blog and he rolled right over to read it with me. LOL your toppers are awesome! We’re thinking of doing the same thing. FOR THE HORDE!!
Yays! More WoW people. My fiance and I also met on WoW. For the Horde! 😉 And your wedding looked lovely!
I love Maymont, being a Richmond local it’s one of my favorite spots!
As a healer marrying her former tank, I can only applaud at this post. 😉
Hooray for Maymont and Crossroads! Two of my favorite places in Richmond. 🙂 I’m in awe of the perfect balance of classy and nerdy you guys found. Too awesome!
Richmond wedding! Maymont! Crossroads! Love it.
Crossroads, Maymont, yay for some of the best of Richmond!
Haha, so much WoW awesomeness! Love all the people chiming in!
Congrats! And dang, that engagement shot is absolutely amazing!
You guys must be the two hottest WOWers– like ever. I absolutely love your wedding. You stayed true to your unique vision and it was beautiful.