Jescia & Matt's inflatable Peter-Pan syndrome wedding extravaganza

Remember that amusement parking wedding you all squee'd about? Worry not. Here's more details on their story. -Coco

The offbeat bride: Jescia - painter and photographer, soon to be high school teacher (and OBT Member)

Her offbeat partner: Matt - TV news producer

Location & date of wedding: Jescia's Godparents back yard, Mandan, North Dakota — July 3, 2010

What made our wedding offbeat: First and foremost, for a small-town, North Dakota wedding - it was secular. We eschewed tradition by moving outside, and startled some of my family members by including an inflatable jousting game.

As an artist, the details were so important! I made strings of mirrors to adorn our ceremony backdrop, my aunt made our cake toppers and boutonnieres, my mom and I made the photobooth, and I antique-shopped for our guestbook, cake stand and all the table centerpieces. I made the jewelry. We made our programs into fans/masks with our faces on them.

I baked the cupcakes and cake (devil's food with salted caramel buttercream…), and a friend decorated the cake. Unfortunately it was too windy for the s'more station.

Our officiant was a fellow artist friend of mine who got ordained online so he could make powdered holy water for an art project. My cajun uncle read selections from "I Like You" while we held a ring warming.

My cousins, friends and godfather (a composer) performed The Beatles, Bright Eyes and Animal Collective during the ceremony.

My first boss (former newspaper editor) took our photos, which I had dreamed of taking at the Super Slide Amusement Park in Bismarck. I edited all of our photos, aiming for a Holga 120 look.

Matt spent hours and hours on FinalCutPro creating our amazingly epic slideshow. Our reception finished with my bridesman toasting us by retelling the Harlequin Romance dream-scenario he invented to get me to pursue Matt four years ago.

Tell us about the ceremony: We wrote most of the ceremony, and included a reading from "I Like You" by Sandol Studdard, and an Apache Wedding Blessing.

Our biggest challenge: Surprisingly, I was not at all stressed out about the wedding until the day beforehand: I hadn't slept for a few days and it was 100 degrees when we were trying to decorate/rehearse. Other than overcoming heat stroke, our biggest stressor was the lack of planning by some of Matt's friends who in turn relied on us to fix everything.

My favorite moment: The music was so important to us. Every song had its special place and moment in our story, especially "First Day of My Life" by Bright Eyes and "The Purple Bottle" by Animal Collective. I tried really hard not to cry, but when I did, Matt told me my mascara was running, and tried to scrub it off my face. Awww, love.

My funniest moment: The reading and music ended way before the ring warming had finished. People were calling out to the musicians to get them to play something. Someone yelled, "FREEBIRD!"

My advice for offbeat brides: If you're DIY-ing it, start as early as possible: yes, you will change your mind often, if not constantly, but that extra time will allow for mess-ups and changes of heart.

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? You really learn who is there to support you when you're about to have a panic attack only moments before the ceremony. My friends are AMAZING. (Matt is too… haha)

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

• Dress: Saks Fifth Avenue, Sue Wong
• Shoes: Macys, Marc Fischer
• Fascinator: bridalcouture on Etsy
• Bridesman's Tie: toybreaker on Etsy
• Groom's Ring: Green Karat
• Photography: Sue Bartholomew Balcom
• Tent: YMCA (proceeds go to kids' day camps!)

Enough talk — show me the wedding porn!