Monica & Paul's traditional wedding with a twist or two

The offbeat bride: Monica

Her offbeat partner: Paul

Location & date of wedding: Rochester United Methodist Church, Rochester, IL — 07/07/07

What made our wedding offbeat: The first thing everyone notices is my green and black dress. I designed it and my friend Rachel made it, as well as all the bridesmaids' dresses. Also coordinated to my dress was my cast I had on my left hand/arm that covered my left ring & pinky fingers! I fell and broke my hand exactly two weeks before the wedding! The designs on it were a coordinated effort from my dressmaker and a haunted house airbrush artist, with a matching "bracelet" made by yours truly.

The bridesmaids got to pick the color of their ribbon and flower, as long as it wasn't pink! The flowers are made of seed beads and hand-beaded by fellow Etsy seller, foreverflowers! We each picked our favorite kind of flower. I had five red tulips and the other girls had hibiscuses, an iris and a rose.

The guys got coordinating ties and boutonnieres. The flowers and my tiara/circlet were gifts from my dad before he passed away just six weeks before the wedding. So, he walked me down the aisle in spirit to "Be Thou my Vision" as played and sung by my friend Elizabeth.

Other fun facts were that our ring bearers & one of our flower girls were (then) three-year-old triplets! My bridal shoes were flip-flops! The cake I designed to match my dress and was dark chocolate cake with strawberry filling and butter-cream icing with strawberries topping it. It lived up to the business' name: Incredibly Delicious.

Our biggest challenge: Our biggest challenge was the loss of my dad. Nobody should have to reschedule their wedding shower (not just bridal, he came too!) to hold their dad's funeral. The first time I got to see him in the suit he was planning to wear to the wedding, he was in the casket. Also, due to unusual circumstances, I had to settle his divorce from his second wife (not my mom) and as part of that I had to clear all of his worldly possessions out of the house in two weeks. As if making all those wedding decisions weren't stress enough!

After all that, breaking my hand and having to wear a cast to my wedding was just icing on the cake. Anything else that went "wrong" seemed so small in comparison that it was hardly worth noting.

My favorite moment: The whole day was great, considering the six weeks leading up to it! Everything went relatively smooth and pretty much on time.

One fun moment that does stick out in my mind is when my husband tossed the garter, the eligible bachelor who "caught" it was one of our three-year old ring bearers who picked it up after it bounced off of his sister's head. He came up to Paul and said "You dropped this!" and seemed really confused when the photographer wanted to take his picture with it!

My offbeat advice: One of the best parts of my wedding was that almost every element was done by someone we knew personally, and was done custom for us. Think of what talents your friends and relatives have and put them to use. They get to be honored, and have an easy wedding gift, and you get to save a bundle. Granted, I was extra lucky that some of my friends and relatives were professionals at what they were doing, but it still was great to have so many people close to me personally involved in making our day so special.

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?:

• My friend Rachel's dress-making business: Avail Couture
• My flowers came from Forever Flowers (and Hobby Lobby and Michaels)
• My tiara came from Orange Blossom Tiaras
• My necklace was made by my friend/bridesmaid, Calindy
• Some of my & the bridesmaids' jewelry was made by ME!
• Our cake was, and was made by Incredibly Delicious
• Audio/Visual support was provided by Calindy's dad whose business can be found here.
• My makeup and my sister's hair & makeup were done by our friend Michael of Van Michael's
• The guys' tuxes were from Churchills Formalwear
• We bought bubbles, favors, etc. from either Hobby Lobby, Micheal's or Oriental Trading
• My shoes were from Payless!

Enough talk — show me the wedding porn: