Rykie & Chris' Sweet Georgia Purple Shindig of Awesome

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: