Dannette & Nicholas' musically inspired wedding
Posted by Offbeat Elves · Real Weddings: Midwest US

You saw the Twilight-esq wedding cupcake picture last week, and now here's the whole story behind that wedding

The offbeat bride: Dannette, Movie Sales Rep

Her offbeat partner: Nicholas, Cement Truck Driver

Location & date of wedding: Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Des Moines, Iowa — May 17th, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: Nick and I met at his first gig in his new band that he was playing in, with my brother. We both love live music and have been to quite a few concerts together. He proposed to me at a concert front row and center! So I had to pull that in to our wedding.

Our invites were gig posters and the RSVP cards were real ticketmaster tickets. He's also a drummer so one of the first things I ordered was his drum cake. It turned out so amazing! I designed a tie for him that had pictures from the concerts we had been to, and artwork from our favorite songs.

Everything was pretty traditional, I just liked to put a spin on tradition. I had the gown, but it was pink, and when I ordered the gloves it just brought the dress up the notch that it needed for me. It was hard explaining to people what the "theme" or "color" was. Concert? Pink? Polka Dots? Buttons? Saddle shoes??? I would just smile because I knew that it would be all us and that is what made me happy in the end because it totally was.

Just to clarify, the "Cupcake Twilight" picture wasn't intentional. My photographer just thought it would show off my gloves. My little brother Joshua pointed it out to me. I'm thrilled that everyone likes it and even more thrilled to be featured on the OffbeatBride! It's a dream come true!

Our biggest challenge: Our biggest challenge was that we were getting married on a Sunday, booze free, and in May… graduation time. We were honeymooning in New York, which is a trip I have dreamed of taking since I was little, and I wanted to go in May. It was EXTREMELY inconvenient for everyone. So I apologize to everyone who couldn't come or who had to come to my wedding and run to a graduation party. I know it was hard, but the weather in New York was unbelievable and I thank you so much for understanding!

We did feed them well! We have a local restaurant that we go to and we are actually friends with the owners who catered our fabulous food for us. We don't eat pork and they were able to serve beef italian sausage and pork free meatballs. Thank you Bella Italia. And thanks again to our patient guests! We love you and thank you for sharing in our day!

My favorite moment: Can I have two?

Having our Pastor marry us, standing up on the stage of the Church in which we and our girls attend was a truly magical experience. It felt like it was just us up there, and my husband says the same thing. We literally forgot anyone was even watching us! It was like we could feel the "two becoming one."

And my husband hamming it up, pretending to play his drum cake. You can see in my pictures how much joy that brought me. Our monogram on the front of the cake was designed after his favorite band's monogram, Dream Theater. His drum kit is white and this looks exactly like one of his drums. Cutting in to that cake was like cutting off one of my fingers. Ok that's a little dramatic but dang it was beautiful.

My offbeat advice: The best advice I can give, if you are a creative person like me, is to know when to STOP. Sometimes you come up with so many ideas and they just can't possibly all be executed unless you have some expensive wedding planner to do it all for you. I had, myself and my wonderful family and friends who showed up to set up and tear down. I had so many details in my wedding that they aren't even all in the pictures! I couldn't even list everything in 250 words!

Try to keep in mind the things that people notice and will remember, and the things that they seriously WON'T. I had a bridal banner that said "Here Comes the Bride" that my daughters carried down the aisle that didn't get photographed once because my youngest who was the flower girl froze and kind of botched it up. But it was all good. The moment was cuter than the banner anyway.

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

• Polka Dot Ties- The Tie Bar
• Poster Inviation & Groom's Tie- Zazzle
• Button Bouquets- Etsy
• Origami Stars- Etsy
• Bridal Banner- Etsy
• Origami Lilies- Etsy
• Bridal Hair Piece and Matching Bout- Etsy
• Ring Bowl- Etsy
• The GLOVES- Etsy
• Ticketmaster Tickets- Ticketmaster
• Drum Cake- Pearls Specialty Cake Co.
• Catering- Bella Italy
• Cupcakes – A Care Free Cupcake
• Photography- Boomberry Photography

Enough talk — show me the wedding porn!: