Rykie & Chris' Sweet Georgia Purple Shindig of Awesome
Real Weddings: Southern US
By
on August 18, 2009
14
The Offbeat Bride: Rykie (say it like "Rikki") - 20-something actor-type
Her Offbeat Partner: Chris - 20-something manager of a Blockbuster
Location & date of wedding: Central Presbyterian Church, Atlanta GA; College Park Woman's Club, Atlanta, GA — February 20, 2009
What made our wedding offbeat: We tried not to get too wrapped up in the formality of the affair; we just got dressed up and had a big party with our nearest and dearest. There were some traditions we liked and some we didn't. Those we liked, we used — those we didn't we changed or scrapped.
My dress, which showed off my fabulous new wedding tattoo, was purple, but had a white train and jacket to appease my mom. 
Chris wore a stunning white pin stripe suit (from Men's Wearhouse; who knew they had interesting stuff) and a matching white fedora. All of Team Groom, plus my dad and the ring bearer, got their own fedoras.
We don't have any important young children in our lives, so the flower girl and ring bearer were my best friends from high school.
Chris' younger sister was his co-best-man, wearing an amazing vintage tux coat and super-sexy Oxford pumps.
Instead of a garter, we tossed a white fedora; we stuck a bunch of scratch-off lottery tickets in it and the bouquet and let everyone jump for them.
Our wedding cake was Space Mountain (go ahead, compare it to the Google Earth view!).
Our Guest Book attendant wore fairy wings!
Check out the co-best-man's heels! 
Our biggest challenge: Money. Specifically, finding out how much of it was available, when, and from whom. Seriously, people: sit down with whomever is contributing and figure this out! Do it early!
My favorite moment: Back story: a trio of very dear friends, who happen to be in a band, provided the ceremony music. For the recessional they played my favorite song, called "Intertwined" (based on the Greek myth of Baucis and Philemon), on which my wedding tattoo is based.
After we made our way back down the aisle, while they were still playing, Chris and I made our way through the labyrinthine halls of the church so we could take a few more pictures. We stopped by the secluded, empty spiral staircase leading to the sanctuary, from which we could hear the music perfectly, and held each other, swaying slightly. That's my favorite moment.
My advice to other offbeat brides:
1) Revel in the stress. Drink too much caffeine, stay up late bitching with your maid of honor, freak out if you have to. You're not going to not be stressed; just own it!
2) Get a group picture at the reception. That way you never have to worry that you don't have pictures of everyone.
3) Spend the moments before and after the ceremony alone with your partner. Especially before you'll probably be a bundle of nerves; don't you want to share this time with the love of your life?
Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?:
- Band: Three Quarter Ale
- Flowers: Petals, a Florist (awesome people, very creative, very chill)
- Catering: Chef for a Night (extremely flexible and delicious!)
- Church: Central Presbyterian Church
- Reception: College Park Woman's Club
- Cupcakes: The Little Cake Bakery (we had carrot cake, strawberry, vanilla/chocolate, and Marie Antoinette)
- Web design, tattoo design, program design, Save the Date design: VC Brannen
Enough talk — show me the wedding porn:
Read more posts about: atlanta, best woman, church wedding, cupcakes, fedora, georgia, hat, purple dress, suit, taller bride, tattoo« Previous post
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Rachel Standig said
purple dress! i love it
looks like they had a lot of fun
Aerin said
Nice cake! I walked past that building every day for two years, and I'm quite impressed by the attention to detail.
JessieLynn said
WOW!!!! The "co best man" looked amazing!!!!! Love the tux coat and KILLER heels
Just…wow
Christine said
Oh yes, gotta love the wedding tattoo!
Ky said
Most of all, I love the bride's attitude.
Amanda said
Nice mix of vintage style + modern attitude!
And good call on the big group pic– we are following the example of a friend and doing ours at the ceremony though. The church has a balcony in the back and we are going to have the audience turn around and the photographer shoot from above.
Angela said
Does that one woman have CAMOUFLAGE WINGS?
cynzia said
I love that purple wedding gown… very cool! I also like the big group pictures too. I did happen to catch that one woman with camouflage wing too but not sure if that was it or not. Congrats to the Bride and Groom!!
swansteeth said
Guess who's stealing the lottery ticket idea? ME.
amber said
I can totally relate the the tip about stress! 3 days away, I feel the stress!
Guest said
"(we had carrot cake, strawberry, vanilla/chocolate, and Marie Antoinette)" What do you mean Marie Antoinette, is it a kind of cupcake? Haha.
Rykie said
Angela and Cynzia: They're not camo per se, but they are brown and green. She plays an Earth fairy at the renaissance festival (which is where we met, and met most of the people we know). :} She was our guest book fairy, and she also did all of our hair!
Guest: The Marie Antoinettes are the bakery's signature cupcake; they're huge vanilla cupcakes with raspberry filling and a delicious icing (I can't remember what flavor, but it's some sort of rich delicious goodness) rolled in caramel and crushed almonds. They're friggin' delicious. I love them forever.
Rykie said
I can't believe I forgot to link to the photographer! Our amazing photographer is Chip Talbert of Fable Photography: http://www.fablephotography.com
Beth said
*Swoon* I <3 the space mountain cake!!!