Erin & Jad’s skateboarding and beer trucks camp-out wedding

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 | Photography by Oh, Karina Photography

This week we're celebrating the tea-length, the mini, and the cocktail — that's right, it's short dress week! We're showcasing brides who dare to bare their gams in shorter dresses.

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The Offbeat Bride: Erin, Professional Problem Solver

Her offbeat partner: Jad, Maintenance/Mr. Fix It

Date and location of wedding: Camp Denison, Georgetown, MA — August 16, 2014

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: Our wedding was as DIY as possible because we were on a tight budget, and I am a crafting fanatic. I am obsessed with all things retro and Jad is an avid skateboarder. We are also both into craft beer, good BBQ, and our cat Moxie. These were all things we made sure to incorporate into our wedding weekend.

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We knew that we wanted to find a place where all of our friends and family could relax and enjoy an entire weekend with us, so renting out a summer camp was a perfect solution. Everyone came to the camp on Friday to help set up for the wedding, and pitched tents for the night. We made s'mores and hung out around a campfire. Some went for hikes or canoeing Saturday morning before the wedding. Our reception included a beer truck, awesome BBQ with compostable catering, a shuffle board, lawn games, skateboarding, and a wild dance party.

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Tell us about the ceremony:
It was important to us to have a ceremony that was non-religious, relaxed, and our own. We set up benches outside the lodge building, next to the beer truck.

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One of Jad's best friends married us and told the story of our second date, which took place in an emergency room after Jad came down with terrible food poisoning.

Early on in our relationship, we traveled to Ireland. Our friend Sarah sang “A Rainy Night in Soho” by the Pogues, which we listened to on repeat during the trip, as it was the only tape we had on us in the rental car the whole week.

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A couple who are very good friends read “A Lovely Love Story” by Edward Monkton, complete with blown-up illustrations for our guests to see. They even altered some of the illustrations to personalize the dinosaurs to us. The male dinosaur had a skateboard, and the female dinosaur loved art.

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Our biggest challenge:
My father passed away a few years back, and not having him to walk me down the aisle was hard. My sweet friend Eileen made a locket with my favorite photo of him inside of it. While I was getting ready, my mother and sister wrapped the locket around my bouquet so that he was able to walk down the aisle with me. That was a really special moment for me.

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My funniest moment:
One of the funniest moments of our wedding was during the ceremony. Jad and I were very nervous during the ring exchange. When Jad went to put the ring on my finger, he blurted out “IS IT ON THERE?!” I immediately started cracking up, as did every one of our guests.

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My favorite moment:
We have been together for several years, and many of our friends were so excited to hear we were finally getting hitched. Knowing that the financial burden had made us question having a wedding, so many of our talented friends contributed creatively, emotionally, and physically to help us pull it off.

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My friend Linnette created a cake that looked just like the lace on my dress. Our friend Mike made letterpress invitations. The amazingly talented Kristen and Kerrin did my retro makeup and hair. A friend's mother created my bouquet. Our friend DJed the greatest dance party ever. Several of friends helped set up everything from the tables and chairs, to the s'mores and trail mix bar. Many stuck around in the morning to help clean up and break down everything.

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We really have no way to thank our friends enough for all their help, and feel very blessed to have them in our lives. It probably sounds cliche, but our friends are our family, and it was amazing to feel all of their love and support throughout the weekend.

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Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!


photography: Oh, Karina Photography

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Comments on Erin & Jad’s skateboarding and beer trucks camp-out wedding

  1. I wish to God we were friends so I could have been at this wedding. I loved everything about this – and I am SOOOOOO not a fan of nature and camping. The part about your father and the locket…I hate internet cliches, but I’ll be damned if it didn’t get me right in the feels.

  2. So many awesome details. So many good reasons why you chose what you did. Such a sweet wedding 😀
    I kept thinking oh this is my favourite bit, no this picture, no the reasoning behind this! J’adore camp weddings.

  3. Awesome! I’m looking for a venue in the same area and showed this to my fiancé, who happens to work for Ipswich brewing co. (Home of the beer truck pictured)

    Unfortunately the only opinion I could get out of him was ‘oh no, the beer’s pouring flat!’

    Looks awesome though. I really want a camping wedding! Just have to convince the future Mr.!

  4. This blog was one of the reasons we are having our celebration here in 4 months! I would love to connect with Erin directly because I have SO many questions.

    • Hey Cathy! That is so awesome that you are getting married at the camp! What questions did you have? I’m more than happy to help!

      • How many guests did you have?

        Did you use the cabins or just tents?

        What did you do for the campers for breakfast and lunch the day of the ceremony?

        Did you have scheduled events for the guests prior to the ceremony?

        I’ve been to the camp a few times and don’t remember seeing as many benches as you appeared to have during your ceremony. Did you rent?

        Did your officiant use any type of microphone? (I’m hoping to avoid a megaphone) =)

        Do you have any advice on things to avoid and/or things you would have done differently?

      • Hello!

        Not sure if you will still get a ping from this Erin but I will be having my wedding here next summer (2018)! It would be awesome to ask you questions about the venue! <3

        -Veronica

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