Wedpocalypse: A ‘Good Omens’ wedding

Offbeat partners: Hannah and Joshua

Date and location: The Governor's Inn, Rochester, NH (5/21/2022)

Our “Good Omens” wedding at a glance:

I was recovering from my first round of COVID when we started planning, and since I had been planning my wedding since I was 5 years old, I wanted to make sure we planned together and that Joshua had plenty of say. He said early on he wanted to get married somewhere a little further away with less people, which we did!

We knew from the beginning that we were not getting legally married and are ethically non-monogamous. When asked to come up with an alternative to a wedding, I was re-reading a beloved Neil Gaiman book (and binging the TV series) Good Omens… so we came up with Wedpocalypse.

We didn't want traditional “wedding parties,” so we had the Four Horsefolk of the Wedpocalypse, aka two newly married couples who were also our best/close friends.

We had Zoom sessions to edit our vows/ceremony readings, wanting to be intentional with our time and focusing on what really mattered versus the little details.

All décor was DIY, from the video invite, tassel strands handmade from fabric scraps from my previous job, the spray painted allium centerpieces, the table names (based on contra dance moves, since that's how we met), the “bouquets,” the brooches and fabric flowers for the bride, and the symbols of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Sword, Crown, Arrow, and Scales.)

We made a whole weekend out of it, with speeches at the rehearsal dinner instead of the reception, yoga/spa time in the morning as well as board games, and a Sunday send-away brunch. Roughly 30 of the 69 person guest list (heh heh) stayed for the weekend.

Tell us about the Wedpocalypse / Good Omens wedding ceremony:

You can see our full ceremony (complete with the ball and chain ritual) over here.

Tell us about the Wedpocalypse reception:

We had two signature cocktails: Josh's was ‘The Blue Ponytail', named after his hair for the first half of our courtship, while mine was a Tequila Sunrise for my love of The Eagles, and for tequila. We snuck away from the group photos to have the first ten minutes to ourselves in the tented pavilion with the Horsefolk, and guaranteed we got fed first.

We did not have anything like a garter toss/bouquet toss/games, but after dinner I had my final wardrobe change for some more photos. We did do a “fight call” practice with friends who agreed to help us with the Hora, and had several formal dances.

Our first dance was a very choreographed waltz to ‘Nothing Else Matters' by Metallica.

Josh and his mother danced to ‘Good Looking Boy' by The Who, and I danced with both my Dad and Stepdad to mashups: Dad's was ‘Try A Little Tenderness' by Otis Redding and ‘Tequila' by The Champs, while my Stepdad's was ‘The Impossible Dream' as performed by Brian Stokes Mitchell (that's the show where he met my Mom) and ‘Footloose' by Kenny Loggins.

What was the most important lesson you learned from your Good Omens wedding?

We were lucky to have minimal family drama, they knew from the get-go this wasn't going to be a traditional affair. Spending time and energy planning the ceremony and not sweating the silly details that people get SO caught up in was really crucial and helped us plan how our marriage would start.

Schedule ABSOLUTELY NOTHING the few days after your wedding, if you can help it… wait to go on your honeymoon. We were exhausted and slept for three days except when eating!

Wedpocalypse vendors

• Dresses/Veil: Dresscued Vintage, formerly Blue-Eyed Boutique (aka DIY, that's me!)
• Bride Jewelry: Vintage blue topaz earrings (my alternative to an engagement ring) and the earrings/necklace set from GinaJiang Design
• Venue: The Governor's Inn, Rochester, NH

Wedpocalypse Gallery