Jeri & Jason's rockin' hippie "wedstock" wedding

The offbeat bride: Jeri, OBT Member

Her offbeat partner: Jason, Software Programmer

Location & date of wedding: Ault Park Pavilion in Cincinnati, OH — May 8, 2010

What made our wedding offbeat: First and foremost is that my husband took my last name. Next, we didn't keep with traditional bridal party standards. My MOH did not wear a dress (she hates them), I had boys on my side (bridesmen) and there were girls on his side (groomsmaids). Music is a big part of our lives and so is nature. So we decided to do a "Wedstock" theme. We sent out concert tickets as invitations, every guest got a wristband when they entered with a "set list" program, our bridal party wore VIP passes, and my "flower children" wore fairy wings.

To save money I made all the center pieces out of vinyl records, and I gave soap shaped guitars as gifts for all the guests. Instead of flowers, our wedding cake was covered in mushrooms and topped with Playmobile cake toppers including our dogs. We had a concert poster for our guests to sign instead of a guest book. My husband wore custom chucks while I wore flower flip flops. In lieu of a veil I wore a crown of flowers in my hair. I work in radio, so I ordained a local DJ and he performed our wedding. For our ceremony we skipped traditional readings and instead read song lyrics. Telling the details of our non-traditional wedding upset some family members, but I think we surprised a lot of them with how tasteful it turned out.

Tell us about the ceremony: We wanted it very short and sweet. A local DJ named Brian Douglas performed the ceremony, and was so incredible. He was just himself, relaxed, and really set the tone for the wedding. Jason and I are I guess what you would call "spiritual", but we chose not to have any sort of religious things in our ceremony. Instead of traditional readings we read the lyrics of "Brand New Colony" by The Postal Service, and "Naked As We Came " by Iron and Wine. The lyrics of those songs expressed our feelings better than anything else we could find. Some vows, exchange of rings, and we were out!

Our biggest challenge: We had a year and a half engagement and I planned a lot of things in advance. I made my own hours at work and was able to get a lot of things done by myself. About a month before my wedding I think it hit my mother that her baby and only girl was getting married and that she didn't really have control over anything. She began to freak out over everything. I thought I had her pretty under control, but four days before the wedding she took my dress to be altered…..without my knowledge. Luckily she only had it taken out a half inch and it didn't effect anything. The day of my wedding though, she took the groomsmaids who were supposed to get ready with me to the salon with her. She meant well, but failed to see that I would then spend my entire wedding morning alone in a hotel room. I put it behind me at the time, but after the wedding the anger and hurt came to me. I love my mother, and didn't want to talk to her when my emotions were out of control. It took a month, but we talked about what happened, and are good now. Weddings bring out the crazy in people, but you can't let it get in the way of what it's all about, you and yours.

My favorite moment: We wrote our own vows, and I was really worried about what my husband would say as he's a man of very few words. He's also painfully shy speaking in front of people. The vows he made to me, and the intensity that he spoke them blew me away. I will never question what he feels for me.

Before my wedding I told myself that I wouldn't worry about having to speak to everyone and enjoy myself. What I enjoyed though was speaking with everyone! So many people that I love and have touched my life came from all over to celebrate with us, and it meant a lot to be to be surrounded by all of them.

My funniest moment: Ok, so my friends (who are my family) are all radio people and/or gay. So we were there to have fun! There were bridesmen holding bouquets at the ceremony, a maid of honor losing clothing, I discovered that I could hold a beer bottle with my cleavage and then chug the beer with no hands, an insane rendition of 'N Sync's "Bye Bye Bye" dance, and all other sorts of shenanigans. I think the whole goal of my wedding was for people to laugh and have a good time.

My advice for offbeat brides: Always remember what the main focus of the whole day is. I couldn't believe all the people that had comments about our wedding plans. "He's taking YOUR last name?", "The guys are on YOUR side? Are they wearing dresses?", "You're NOT wearing a veil?", and on and on and on.

I also couldn't believe all the little things that people would freak out about. If this color didn't match this, if the flowers would be perfect, if the cake would arrive on time. All of this is just stuff. To save yourself from the insanity that is a wedding you must always remember that there is only ONE thing that matters: You are marrying your soulmate! Enjoy the ups and downs of wedding planning because in the end it will all fall into place when you are at that altar and you are becoming one.

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? Weddings are controlled chaos. From a billion dollar industry trying to tell you what to do, to expectations of your family, it can eat you alive. The only thing that matters though is your love. As long as you make that your main focus, everything else will fall into place.

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

• Cake: Take the Cake
• Flowers from Adrian Durban
• Photography: by Geri Ciulla

Enough talk — show me the wedding porn!