Earhya & Robert’s wedding was a a little bit Medieval, a little bit rainbow, and a whole lot fabulous

Posted by
 | Photography by Brian Byllesby
Medieval rainbow wedding from @offbeatbride

The Offbeat Bride: Earhya, Nanny

Her offbeat partner: Robert, Bartender

Date and location of wedding: Temescal Beach House, Oakland, CA — March 22, 2015

Our offbeat wedding at a glance:

We tried to make it a medieval-themed wedding, but in the end there were other factors influencing the final decoration decision. It ended up having elements of a medieval feel, a bit of nature, and plenty of origami. When we were looking at venues, there was a definite decision to try and stay as close to nature as possible without having to inconvenience our older guests too much. The beach house at Lake Temescal in Oakland was beautiful with the nearby trees, beautiful lake, and easily accessible parking. It also meant many of our guests didn't have to drive further than an hour to join us.

Medieval rainbow wedding from @offbeatbride

Medieval rainbow wedding from @offbeatbride

Medieval rainbow wedding from @offbeatbride

Medieval rainbow wedding from @offbeatbride

Medieval rainbow wedding from @offbeatbride

Medieval rainbow wedding from @offbeatbride

Medieval rainbow wedding from @offbeatbride

Tell us about the ceremony:

Our ceremony was very short, maybe 15 minutes at the most. It included exchanging vows, and a unity ceremony where we combined two wines together (sadly, the red wine was too dark to make it a rose color after combining). We actually had a ceremony a year before at a Renaissance Faire and that included having the men in the wedding party knighted. Since this venue didn't really allow for weapons like that, we decided on the sharing of wine ceremony as a nod to our desire for a medieval-style ceremony.

Medieval rainbow wedding from @offbeatbride

Medieval rainbow wedding from @offbeatbride

We are also big fans of sci-fi, so the songs for the ceremony were all from different shows and our musicians coordinated it beautifully. The processional was the theme songs from Battlestar Galactica followed by the theme from Star Trek: Enterprise. The recessional was “The Throne Room” from Star Wars.

Medieval rainbow wedding from @offbeatbride

Medieval rainbow wedding from @offbeatbride

Medieval rainbow wedding from @offbeatbride

Medieval rainbow wedding from @offbeatbride

Medieval rainbow wedding from @offbeatbride

Tell us about your reception:

Our reception was wonderfully laid back. We went for an afternoon wedding with a cocktail reception feel. There was beer and wine for all our guests, appetizer-like foods passed around, and a large pit-roasted pig for everyone to enjoy. My mom insisted on providing a pig because it just wouldn't be a Filipino party without it.

Medieval rainbow wedding from @offbeatbride

Medieval rainbow wedding from @offbeatbride

We chose to have chocolate-molded turtles inside of bags for our party favors and mini cupcakes instead of an actual cake to serve our guests. Everyone seemed to enjoy the variety of food provided and didn't miss the dancing apparently. I think the photo booth set up with the iPad helped out. Everyone ended up taking photos at some point.

Medieval rainbow wedding from @offbeatbride

Medieval rainbow wedding from @offbeatbride

Another thing we did was hire a babysitter. Since the only children there were my flower girls, I wanted to make sure they didn't get into too much trouble. It was definitely one of the best decisions of the afternoon.

Medieval rainbow wedding from @offbeatbride

Medieval rainbow wedding from @offbeatbride

What was your most important lesson learned?

We did a first look and for me, that got rid of some of the morning anxiety. Even though we had photos taken afterwards as well, I wish there was more time and next time, I would definitely plan for that. Another thing I tried to plan for, but didn't quite anticipate still was all the extra details that weddings included. For example, we wanted to have sustainable plates (instead of paper) and had to buy bamboo plates or when my coordinator called and said I needed to pay extra because I had so many items to transport that they had to get a rental truck. In the end, there were some extra costs to the wedding that I didn't budget for, but we had to accommodate.

Lastly, hire a coordinator (at least for the day of) if you're able. Without my wedding coordinator, my stress level would have been way too high.

Medieval rainbow wedding from @offbeatbride

Medieval rainbow wedding from @offbeatbride

Medieval rainbow wedding from @offbeatbride

Medieval rainbow wedding from @offbeatbride

Medieval rainbow wedding from @offbeatbride

Vendors

Meet our fave wedding vendors

Comments on Earhya & Robert’s wedding was a a little bit Medieval, a little bit rainbow, and a whole lot fabulous

  1. I just adore the hair! And the cake… we did butterflies and dragons ourselves, and I looked at some origami options, but found them too daunting. It’s so nice how they worked out for you!

    • I actually love folding origami and had no trouble, but trying to get my husband to help and teaching him was another story completely. I bet the butterflies and dragons at your wedding looked wonderful!

  2. First time I ever had a sad cry while reading Offbeat Bride 🙁 I understand everyone is different, and we should respect each one another. Pigs are my favorite animal of all time, so it made me really sad to see that photo. It was right there, in your face…sad monkey 🙁 The rest of the wedding was beautiful and I loved all the origami.

  3. Beautiful wedding! I love the cake so much, the dragon is so expressive! I found myself constructing a story in my head where the dragon and the princess are best friends and the dragon has come round to see if she’s free to come out and play! The decorations, the dress, the cupcakes with the teeny butterflies, everything is just so amazing!

  4. Lovely! We had a castle cake and roasted pig for our wedding too – although it completely freaked people out in 1984! you all look so happy! <3

  5. Congrats to you both! What a beautiful wedding. The dress…wow. So gorgeous. 🙂 We considered the Beach House as our venue but it was booked all the weekends we wanted it! It’s wonderful to see a real wedding there.

Comments are closed.