We teased this bride's “mullet dress” earlier this week. I'll bet you're totally ready to see what went along with it!

Tronolone Wedding at Snug Harbor by Shannon Roddy

The offbeat bride: Spring, Freelance Make-Up Artist

Her offbeat partner: Alex, Teacher

Date and location of wedding: Snug Harbor Gardens, Staten Island, NY — September 18, 2010

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: We chose to mix wedding tradition with colorful whimsy and fun. The ceremony and reception were both at Snug Harbor Gardens in Staten Island, NY where guests arrived by ferry and chartered party bus. Classic lawn games and giant pillows that could easily seat a family were spread throughout the grounds for guests to relax and play.

Tronolone Wedding at Snug Harbor by Shannon Roddy

We had a large tent with tables and chairs for guests to cool off and eat. Lunch was classic barbecue including chicken, ribs, corn-on-the-cob, mac and cheese, watermelon, and lemonade. To save money we had a “cakeluck”: a potluck of cakes and desserts that were brought by guests. The spread was beautiful! We also had a custom “fake cake” made by a professional baker and friend. She decorated foam and no one knew the difference.

Tronolone Wedding at Snug Harbor by Shannon Roddy

My dress was traditional white with a touch of hot pink from my petticoat peeking out the bottom. The best part of the dress was that it had pockets!

Tronolone Wedding at Snug Harbor by Shannon Roddy

Tronolone Wedding at Snug Harbor by Shannon Roddy

Tell us about the ceremony: Our ceremony was officiated by a very close friend and began with “Can I get a ‘hell yeah?'” After that it was quick and filled with personal references that only Alex, myself, and the officiant would really understand. For example, he weaved in our love of the movie Valley Girl and the song “I Melt With You.” My vows made everyone laugh, because I was obviously not prepared. I kind of forgot to write them and thought I could wing it.

Tronolone Wedding at Snug Harbor by Shannon Roddy

Tronolone Wedding at Snug Harbor by Shannon Roddy

Our biggest challenge: The biggest challenge was transporting guests from all over onto an island that can only be accessed by bridge or ferry. We decided to have a friend organize a small pre-wedding party for guests taking the ferry, and had shuttle vans bring guests to and from throughout the day.

Tronolone Wedding at Snug Harbor by Shannon Roddy

My funniest moment: It was quite funny when our first dance began and the music sped up to super-fast speed! Alex and I improvised by dancing super fast until the song slowed to normal speed.

Tronolone Wedding at Snug Harbor by Shannon Roddy

Was there anything you were sure was going to be a total disaster that unexpectedly turned out great? We held our reception during the day, and my biggest fear was that no one would want to dance. But that was all I wanted to do at my wedding. Luckily, everyone, even our grandparents and parents got out there and worked it!

Tronolone Wedding at Snug Harbor by Shannon Roddy

My advice for Offbeat Brides: Try to get friends involved in the wedding process. Many are happy to help and appreciate being included. Some people don't want to “work” during a wedding and just want to be a guest. I made sure to know the difference and only asked those who were really interested. This avoided resentment and awkward situations after the wedding.

Tronolone Wedding at Snug Harbor by Shannon Roddy

alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)
A Month of Mixbooks:
As part of our partnership with Mixbook, this couple has been given a free wedding photo book to show off their wedding photos. We'll be featuring some of these Offbeat Bride Mixbooks in a few weeks!

Have you been married before and if so, what did you do differently? I was married once before to my high school sweetheart, right out of high school. I was super traditional and did everything the way I was “supposed” to do.

This time around, we personalized it and my husband was helpful and totally into the wedding planning process.

Tronolone Wedding at Snug Harbor by Shannon Roddy

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? We learned that guests appreciate when they have the freedom to relax and be casual at a party. We didn't interrupt folks throughout the day to cut a cake or throw a bouquet. After the ceremony, folks could go play games, eat, dance, nap on a giant pillow, or sit under the tent and catch up with relatives.

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

  • Rainbow rose bouquet: Fifty Flowers
  • Photography: Shannon Roddy. She is so lovely and takes the most beautiful pictures of people in love.

Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!

Meet our fave wedding vendors

Comments on Spring & Alex’s colorful lawn games and giant pillows wedding

  1. First off… GORGEOUS wedding. Is the dress from White House Black Market, by any chance? I am so happy to see a beautiful rainbow rose bouquet. My partner and I wanted to order from fiftyflowers, but didn’t know if it would be worth the risk. I would say yes 🙂 Thank you for sharing this awesome wedding so early in the morning!

    • Thanks!! Yes the dress is White House Black Market, ordered it from my phone and arrived in a beautiful package. Adding more photos with pillows, cake luck and more!

      • OH THANK YOU. I was looking at it, saw that the dress had no vendor link, and thought, NOOOOO, MUST KNOW WHERE DRESS IS FROMMM.

        Crazy eyes and the whole bit.

  2. Where are some pictures of these enormous pillows!? They sound amazing! 🙂

    Loved all the color and smiles. Everything looks so happy!

  3. Thanks for all the wonderful comments everyone! I added some photos of the desserts, pillows and games to the Flickr photoset. Enjoy and good luck!

  4. Love the rainbow Roses!! Seen them online somewhere and wasnt sure who sells them. Love the short red hair!! And love the pink peek a boo under the cute wedding dress. Your pictures are beautiful… Congratulations!!

  5. Beautiful wedding, STUNNING bride! Where did you get your birdcage veil? I’m wearing a similar tea length, retro dress and I’m looking for a headpiece exactly like yours!

  6. Absolutely gorgeous!! And a wedding dress with POCKETS?? Want! I also am going to keep my wedding as casual as possible. I want people to enjoy themselves, which looks like they did at yours!
    Wonderful!!

  7. Wow! I’m not one for colorful and girly, bit this wedding is BEAUTIFUL!

  8. Gorgeous wedding! looks like tons of fun. Love all the colors!

    We are thinking of having our wedding at Snug Harbor. Did you guys have any issues?

    • Snug Harbor was a great place for the wedding, their indoor option was awesome as well. The only thing that bothered me was that we did not have the bridal suite all day, after we got ready, we had to move everything out to an office to make room for another bride! That inconvenienced all of my bridesmaids who obviously made a big mess getting ready – and we did not want to clean it mid-wedding celebration.

  9. Love, LOVE, LOve the pillows! I’ve been considering doing picnic blanket seating for the ceremony and wasn’t sure if it would be comfortable until I saw those amazing pillows! Please tell us where you found them???

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