The offbeat bride: Staci Robinson, Licensed Veterinary Technician

My offbeat groom: Benjamin White, Medical Laboratory Technologist

Location & date of wedding: Opossum Creek Retreat Cabins, Lansing, West Virginia, October 2006

What made our wedding offbeat: We took tradition and tossed it far, far out the window. I wore a red dress that I bought off the rack (on sale!) at Macy’s and no veil. Each of us had both of our parents escort us down the aisle. I walked down the aisle not to some stiff traditional bridal march but instead to Death Cab for Cutie’s “I Will Follow You Into the Dark.”

There was really no bridal party to speak of, just my sister who served as the maid of honor and Benjamin’s brother, the best man. Oh, and let’s not forget the most important member, the ring bearer…my handsome dog, Leroy! Our good friend, Adam, served as the officiant, something that was very special for us. There was no bouquet-tossing, no special dances (though we did have an unofficial first dance to Journey’s “Open Arms“), no Best Man’s toast, no seating chart and no cake-feeding. (This last trampled tradition sent one of my cousins over the edge; as we fed ourselves a piece of cake, he shouted, “Can’t you guys just do one thing traditional?!?” Answer: Hell naw.)

We did things very DIY. I did my own hair and makeup. We made our invitations and most of the decorations by hand. (Rather than flowers or candles for table centerpieces, we had little action figures that represented us.) The music was courtesy of iTunes. We also created our own ceremony, using samples of writings we found online (helped greatly by the IndieBride community). Oh, and we had biscuits and beer at the reception and our wedding bands are engraved with passages translated and transcribed into Elvish. I’d say that’s pretty offbeat.

Our biggest challenge: The distance was our biggest hindrance, coupled with the shortened planning time. We were engaged June 28th and married October 28th of the same year. We wanted a fall wedding and just didn’t want the long, drawn out year-long engagement, so we just went for it. Also, we live approximately 300 miles from the actual wedding site, so tracking down vendors was difficult.

My mom served as wedding planner/coordinator in WV and took care of the food and helped with the decorations as well. We took lots of pictures of our space so that we could plan the decorations well ahead of time. Instant Weddings is a great book that helped us figure out a timeline for our planning. We also made great use of a wonderful online planning tool called Backpack. We made a group page where my husband and I, in addition to our officiant, could share ideas about the ceremony and it helped us keep track of what needed to be done and when.

My favorite moment: Well, probably the most hilarious and memorable moments came from my 85-year-old Aunt Phyllis. Bless her heart, she just did not know how to handle the situation. She couldn’t understand why there was no mention of God in the ceremony, why I was wearing red, or who on earth the “minister” was. But she loved the food. She made off with cookies, cupcakes, and even a bottle of wine. And at one point, I caught her dumping a candy dish full of Halloween M&M’s into her purse!

My offbeat advice: Do not, I repeat, do NOT let anyone else dictate how your wedding should be. This wedding is yours, so own it. Make it real and personal and you. Don’t put things in your ceremony just to make certain family members happy or omit things to placate others. Decide how you want your day to be; find your vision and go with that. If you want casual and small, do not let someone else talk you into a big, poofy dress and a sit-down meal for 150. Stand your ground!
For anyone wanting to take the quick route like us, I say go for it! Don’t listen to those who will tell you it can’t be done because we are proof that it can be. You don’t need a whole year to plan a wedding, trust me. Just find a timeline that works for you and follow it. Also, having a resource of friends and family willing to take on tasks is a big help as well.

Try not to mention the “W” word when talking to vendors. Just say you’re planning a party or reception; prices tend to escalate once the word “wedding” is uttered.

Weddings don’t have to break the bank, so be a bargain hunter! DIY as much as you can. Try not to mention the “W” word when talking to vendors. Just say you’re planning a party or reception; prices tend to escalate once the word “wedding” is uttered.

And realize that there will be things that will go wrong, things you can’t control. The weather may suck (our ceremony was originally planned for outdoors but we happened to pick just about the crappiest weekend in all of October), the cake may be wrong, or your decorations may not work out as planned, but I promise, it won’t matter in the end.

Enough talk — show me the wedding porn: Almost 200 pictures, right over here! Oh, and here’s Staci and Benjamin’s wedsite.

Tell me all about your offbeat wedding!