Avalon & Daniel's gothic faerie, victorian wedding

Okay, we've been teasing this one for a while — first with the hair and then with the fashion — now here's the entire scoop! -Megan

The offbeat bride: Avalon, makeup artist (and OBT Member)

Her offbeat partner: Daniel, computer programmer

Location & date of wedding: Mansion at Ridley Creek State Park, Newtown Square, PA — April 4, 2010

Touched by his noodly appendage.

What made our wedding offbeat: We had a black, red and white color theme. Our wedding outfits were entirely black and red, and I had a white fauxhawk. Daniel and I both wore makeup. Our ceremony mentioned the divine powers of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

We were already married, so we staged the big wedding, with a our close friend as a fake officiant and no bridesmaids, groomsmen, etc. No one gave me away, Daniel and I walked up the aisle arm in arm. Our DJ was forbidden to play any typical wedding songs (Celebrate Good Times) and, instead, played lots of Magnetic Fields, Depeche Mode, Death In June, The Cure, Bjork, KMDM, Flight of the Conchords, etc.

We have black tungsten carbide wedding bands, and I refused any kind of engagement ring (not girly enough for that shiz).

Tell us about your ceremony: Daniel and I were legally married about a month prior to the wedding, so the serious part was over. With the help of our "officiant" (good buddy) Mark, we wrote a silly ceremony mentioning the divine powers of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. We walked down the aisle to the string quartet version of the Smiths "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want." We had two readings, one by Edwin Muir and one by the wonderful Neil Gaiman. Our friend Craig recorded the ceremony for us and which you can find here (sound quality may be slightly low).

Bride and groom doing make-up together. How precious!

Our biggest challenge: Our biggest challenge occurred early in the day, after picking up our flowers and starting the drive to the venue, Daniel had sudden chest pains. We ended up in the ER for two plus hours getting EKGs and bloodwork while our friends (fake officiant and P.O.C.) frantically called us to see where we were, as our car contained all of the table settings, centerpieces, guestbook, some of the food, liquor, etc.

Fortunately, his tests came back ok (stress?), and our friends overcompensated for our delay once we arrived. We only had to rush getting dressed and doing hair/makeup. Whew. We are so grateful for our friends Mark, Rita, Mae and Jared. They really saved us!

My favorite moment: Seeing friends I hadn't seen in over five years all gathered together in one place, and hugging each of them after the ceremony (only crying point of the day. Seeing my beautiful sister who'd flown in from Chicago to attend the wedding. Reading the vows I'd re-written at least eighty times to Daniel and hearing the vows he'd written for me. Daniel's father's heartfelt toast during the reception. Slow dancing with Daniel to "All is Full of Love" by Bjork and "Fade Into You" by Mazzy Star, and so on.

What was the funniest moment of your wedding or reception? The funniest moment, for me, was the toast Daniel's friends AJ and Craig made during the reception. Unfortunately, no one recorded that part, but I do remember it mentioning the words, "Let's face it, who knew Danny would actually marry a GIRL."

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? Let whoever is going to judge, judge. Do things your way or else you won't feel comfortable and you may not look back on it quite so fondly. Initially, I questioned the silliness of our ceremony, not getting vanilla cake, etc, but in the end I was so happy we stayed true to ourselves. I think my dear friend Erin put it best in our guest book when she wrote, "Keep defining love in your own terms!"

My advice for offbeat brides: Instead of stressing yourselves out trying to do everything on your own, recruit some of your closest friends and family to help out. You will honestly be overwhelmed by the love and support they have to offer. Also, never underestimate the usefulness of a mild sedative!

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

• Fascinator: Cierramontes
• Earrings: EJPcreations
• Black tulle skirt
• Red dress: Macy's
• Bride's sleeves, groom's buckle shirt and rose tie: Heavy Red --the people who run this site are SO sweet and helpful..really love them!
• Photographer: J.R. Blackwell — She is incredible, she's the one who introduced me to OBB and stalks it just as much as I do! Ha!
• Makeup: Urban Decay
• Caterers: Lee Bailey Reed, LOVE these guys! So friendly, communicative, and accommodating, not to mention amazing food!

Enough talk — show me the wedding porn!