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ArchivesMarie-Gael & Michael's $100 wedding at sunrise, in a cave, in the middle of nowhere
Real Weddings: Midwest US
By
on January 25, 2010
112
Tags: best wedding evar, blue wedding dress, budget wedding, cave wedding, columbus wedding, disability, morning wedding, offbeat christian, ohio wedding, outdoor wedding, short wedding dress, simple wedding, vintage
The offbeat bride: Marie-Gael, disabled (and OBT member "gaelgirl")
Her offbeat partner: Michael, student English Literature Education
Location & date of wedding: Ash Cave, Hocking Hills, OH — 14 November 2009
What made our wedding offbeat: What wasn't offbeat???
- It was in the middle of the forest, in a cave, at sunrise.
- The actual wedding and reception (not counting clothes) was under $100.
- Most of the decorations and what we wore were vintage. So, I really didn't need to spend much because I used lots of inherited depression glass and jewelry.
- We handed out save the date business cards that I handmade with the url to our site en lieu of invites.
- It was open invitation.
- The food was home made by friends & family.
- We had a traditional registry and a honeymoon registry, so we got a completely free honeymoon!
- We hired a fashion photographer instead of a wedding photographer. We also had five other professional and freelance photographers and videographers.
- Although I had bridesmaids, it was more of a gesture. I gave them no requirements.
- No processional.
- Before the wedding, there was a breakfast reception to allow people to mingle and warm up.
- We walked each other down the aisle – an Irish tradition.
- My dress was light blue (an Irish tradition but also a bit Alice) and tea length. It was custom made using vintage fabric.
- Matthew played Irish fiddle to welcome everyone and devanna sang to close.
- My flowers were monochromatic — they were all shades of green, organic, and locally grown.
- I wore my hair down in finger waves.
Vintage mason jars on the cave floor.
Our biggest challenge: The hardest part was NOT being married to Michael.
Changing everything and planning a wedding in three months was daunting. We were planning a much later wedding, but I'm disabled and michael wanted to start taking care of me. Honestly though, it wasn't hard. It was just a bit "ack, how in the world will i plan this?" for maybe a day. If you actually trust who you're with, it's not really that scary.
Other than that, my only issue was a friend giving me the you'll see's. Ariel hit the nail on the head with that one.
My favorite moment: Walking down the aisle.
Walking down the "aisle."
Our "aisle" was actually a winding quarter mile trail through the woods. We walked together to the wedding. This is an old Irish tradition. Mid-way through our walk, Michael stopped us and prayed. That was such a beautiful moment for me. It was gorgeous to see the sun rise through the fog and trees, leaves all over the ground, the water fall and hearing Irish fiddle echoing all around. It was perfection.
My offbeat advice: When we discussed our wedding, we both asked each other, if nobody but the two of us attended our wedding, what would it be like? Oddly enough both of us had imagined getting married in a forest, but thought it would be impossible to do. It wasn't.
Coffee, hot chocolate, orange juice, & home made breakfast foods were served along the pathway.
Also, don't become a burden to those who care about you. Demanding everyone buy matching outfits and bend to your will puts un-needed stress on everyone. We didn't ask anyone to wear or do anything but arrive on time. People stepped up and helped us without us having to ask for anything. People will show their true colors. Just let them.
Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?
- Photographer: Andrew Kung
- His suit: J Crew
- His shoes: vintage
- His ring: Mokume Gane by Jordonesque
- My dress: Sarah Seven
- My scarf: Anthropologie
- My shoes: Faryl Robin
- My coat: Marc Jacobs
- My ring: Tiffany by Paloma Picasso
- My necklace & bracelet: vintage
- My hair: Dairdre Scriven of Vinyl Studio Columbus, OH
Enough talk — show me the wedding porn:
Autumn said
Just beautiful. I'm not a religious person, but the part about the quarter mile walk and stopping halfway to pray made me teary-eyed. Very moving.
colleen said
wow, ditto.
Lindsay said
Yep, same here.
RobHu said
How did you manage to keep it under $100 (excluding clothing) when "We hired a fashion photographer instead of a wedding photographer. We also had five other professional and freelance photographers and videographers." All those people cost less than $100?
What was the total cost of the wedding including everything?
Jill said
great question. photography is expensive! so are pretty dresses and suits!
gaelgirl said
yeah, as you saw they weren't included. however, my heels & his suit were both clearance. & all of my jewelry was inherited. & all of it is something we can wear again. yay!
Ashley said
I was one of MarieGael's freelance photographers – it turns out that her bit of advice works: "We didn't ask anyone to wear or do anything but arrive on time. People stepped up and helped us without us having to ask for anything. People will show their true colors. Just let them."
I was just happy to photograph such a happy event for my friend, I think that's how all the other ones felt as well, most of us (if not all) volunteered
gaelgirl said
^_^ haha yes! & i didn't even realize it till during & after the wedding.
gaelgirl said
RobHu, i'll try to answer as best i can.
photography: all of our photography was free. my brother is the fashion photographer's assistant. we also have several friends who are photographers.
music: both are our friends. so, they did it for free.
mason jars: these usually cost quite a bit! i used a few i had inherited from my grandmother. i bought a couple vintage ones on ebay. then, i bought a few large lots of the plain ones you can get from the grocery store & hand painted them w/ glass paint. so, that was a little over $30.
green depression glass: i inherited glass from my grandmother.
mid century serving pieces: also inherited
coffee makers: borrowed from friends who already owned them
food: made by friends & family
renting the cave: $36
sign: made by another artist friend
both of us, our families, most of our friends are artists. so, it makes it easier to be create solutions. also, rethinking what you already own & what you can borrow helps. it also means less waste.
i hope i answered your question! ^_^
Jill said
that's so wonderful. our talented friends who volunteered for our wedding (as musicians, mostly) made all the difference too! but kudos to keeping to such a budget and for incorporating so many inherited things with so much meaning. gorgeous wedding, beautiful couple.
gaelgirl said
oh & i forgot to add that the total cost for all the flowers were $20.
i ordered the bouquet & 3 bunches of flowers for the tables from whole foods. the florist liked me so she threw in an orchid courage for my mom for free.
gaelgirl said
lol & also those M & G cups were like $6 from anthropologie. i just remembered b/c i'm drinking coffee out of one. it's so nice to be able to reuse these things every day.
Jill said
oops, just saw "not counting the clothing "
Sarah said
This was beautiful. FH and I had always planned to walk in together, but our families threw a huge fit about it and we gave up the idea to cut down on drama. Reading about Marie-Gael and Michael's walk together was so touching, I'm really wishing we'd fought a little harder. Looks like it was an incredible experience.
Amy said
this has to be my very favorite wedding featured on OBB! so simple and beautiful- and it took place in my state!
and those shoes are killer.
Shirley said
Fabulous wedding!!!! The walk through the woods on the path looked so peaceful. Just being in the presence of mother nature before the big moment must have been very special and moving. I too live in Ohio, Grove City to be exact and I have been to Ash Cave. Beautiful place. Congrats!
Veronica said
This is, hands down, the most beautiful wedding I have EVER seen. Congratulations to you both, and best of luck in your new life together!! ♥
Kate said
There are so many elements of this wedding that CALL to me! The clothes and shoes, the walk together, and keeping it simple… Wonderful job. And thank you for the reminder that you can break away from the usual and still have something really quite extraordinary.
Mel said
OMG, I saw the original "teaser" photos and thought, "I know a cave like this in Ohio that would be perfect!"
And this is the EXACT location I had been to. This wedding is GORGEOUS!! (kinda actually made me rethink the commitment ceremony that we nixed for next year).
Andrea D said
gorgeous!
Sarah Elizabeth said
What a beautiful and inspiring wedding.
I am curious about some aspects concerning your guests – you said your wedding was open invitation, and that your friends and family were kind and talented enough to provide food.
As someone in the midst of trying to plan catering and seating and accommodations for family, I can't imagine pulling something like that off. I.E., How did you manage to work everything out without knowing how many guests you would have or how much food would be available? Were all your family and friends very local?
I very much appreciate and details or advice you might be able to offer.
Congratulations on the beautiful celebration of your love, and thank you for sharing it with us!
Sarah TX said
OK, for the first time since my wedding two summers ago, I am having INTENSE WEDDING JEALOUSY!
Seriously, though, how stunning! It sort of reminds me of early American weddings, which would usually just happen in the home or at the home of a pastor or JoP, except in this case your home is the great outdoors.
I love the advice to keep everything simple (ie, low-stress). I also love the bride's shoes. And yeah, everything else.
gaelgirl said
thanks!
yes, i think people who get their feelings hurt over tradition kinda forget that they didn't ALWAYS exist. those all started w/ someone doing something new.
gaelgirl said
my thoughts are if you keep it simple, there's less of a chance of things becoming complicated. acoms razor FTW!! i'm such a nerd!
our "invites" were similar to save the dates. i hand made business cards. i altered a drawing i'd done to incorporate our date. & the url to a wedding site was on there. we just handed those out to people in person. the people who weren't local were emailed the url. the wedding site had an option to rsvp. so, we got over 50 on the wedsite. & then about 50 rsvp'd in person or email. so, we had to estimate that around 100 were coming. & it turned out that's about how many came.
as for seating, b/c of the area, you just couldn't have seats. so, we made sure all of the food was finger foods. ya know, the kind of things you can eat w/ a napkin & coffee, coffee shop type foods that don't require a plate & silverware.
as for local, most were within an hour's drive. some were 3, some 8.
gaelgirl said
btw, i have posted a how to on the mason jars on obbt if you are a member.
http://offbeatbride.ning.com/profiles/blogs/finis…
Meghan said
If you don't mind me asking which honeymoon registry did you use? My fiance and I are toying with the idea of registering on one, but we aren't sure which site to go with.
Meg said
Ohhhh. Well. That's wonderful. It's amazing what can happen when you boil it down to just what you need. Which is exactly why I always feel so sad when people say "they just can't afford to get married." Because somehow along the way we all (very much including myself here) lost track of the fact that the point is the marriage, the wedding is just the vehicle.
Our grandmothers and great grandmothers really had it right.
Lovely, lovely, lovely. Congratulations to you both.
Beti said
Excellent observation!
gaelgirl said
http://www.honeyfund.com/
they don't take any money from you. you can customize like crazy. i suggest breaking it up into very small increments & also making a more traditional registry for those who don't have a computer.
Kathryn said
thanks for the honeymoon registry tip. does honeyfund allow your guests to use credit cards? we are debating between them and traveler's joy because it appears guests have to sign up for PayPal on honeyfund if they want to use a credit card. any advice would be great!
Sammi said
travelersjoy, honeymoonwishes and depositagift all take credit cards. we chose to go with depositagift b/c it's the most flexible in terms of choices (you decide who pays the service fee) and the registries are the easiest for guests. plus they are really nice and helpful.
gaelgirl said
if they wanna use a credit card, i think they need paypal. they also have a check & cash option. not sure if they can do it w/o.
gaelgirl said
<3 that comment!
K T said
i love this wedding so much!
it makes me rethink some of my own wedding plans even.
"keep it simple" is great advice, and i think a lot of us TRY to remember it, but sometimes we need to see a gorgeous wedding like this to remind us that simple really can still be a dream wedding.
sometimes it's so easy to get wrapped up in the "pretty things" and the extra things, that we (at times) put the POINT of the wedding on the back burner: love and commitment.
it's a good thing we have marie-gael & michael to remind us what it's all about. ^_^
Evita said
So, so beautiful and so very inspiring. Thank you for sharing with us. Congrats!
Wendy_Smith_(III) said
This wedding is absolutely gorgeous. It's making me think my own wedding plans it's so beautiful. Congratulations.
Wendy_Smith_(III) said
Forgot to add. You have one of the most adorable grooms evah. So cute!
gaelgirl said
hmm i replied to that, but it's not posting. thanks though!
gaelgirl said
oh, i KNOW. he's gorgeous! add to that he's a writer, a musician, handy, & hilarious.
gaelgirl said
good question! they used a portable generator. that one was tricky. the breakfast was not in the cave, but at the beginning of the trail. the tables were along the opening. so the generator was closer to the parking.
Hannah said
LOL! I was planning to walk the aisle with my groom (who is irish) and wear light blue, and lo and behold, its a tradition! Here's me thinking I was being very romantic and creative
. Oh well, still going to do that.
AND OMG!!!!!!!!!! Your wedding is my favourite on offbeat bride, it was so simple and so beautiful. And i love the fact you got married in the morning, (again, what I was planning to do XD), but not ONLY in the morning, but at sunrise. SUNRISE.
This has given me more encouragement to find a way to have our (as in my partner and myselfs) dream wedding day.
Blessings, and congrats!
gaelgirl said
you'll have to message me your pics on obb tribe when you get it all done.