Kelly & Seth’s Sous L’Elephant Rose movie theater wedding

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Reception

The offbeat bride: Kelly, Biologist

Her offbeat partner: Seth, Audio Video Specialist

Location & date of wedding: Majestic Bay Theater in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, WA — September 13, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: The wedding was in a movie theater and we showed a short film that was made about us and how we met. We found the filmmakers by posting an ad on craigslist and they turned out to be beyond amazing.

The CeremonyThe Majestic Bay Theater stands in Ballard where Seth grew up and saw every Disney film ever made. Since that time, it has been renovated and is just beautiful inside.

The owners of the theater agreed to allow the ceremony if we had it before the first showing of the first movie of the day and asked us to donate the rental fee to the Ballard Food bank — so fabulous.

ReceptionWe decided to have the reception a few doors down at the old Ballard Library and home to Carnagie's restaurant. It was an odd space because there were two rooms for dining. Because we were doing a morning wedding, we opted to not have dancing and a dj, so the natural beauty of the place made it work.

To make up for no dancing on wedding day we had a bachelor/bachelorette PARTY at the Rendezvous Velvet Lounge the Friday before, which made it easy for guests to let their hair down and have a great time.
Bachelor/Bachelorette Party

ReceptionOur biggest challenge: Money, of course, was a big factor, so we kept the wedding as small as possible and chose to buy from small artists/crafters.

Our friends came out to be extras in the film and the best man created our movie posters, which hung in the theater entrance.

My mom made candies for favors.

My dress and hat/veil were purchased on etsy as were the Best Man and Man of Honor's ties and cuff links.

ReceptionThe photographer allowed me to pay for four hours that I split between the Party and Wedding day, so I could capture the whole weekend.

I suppose the biggest issue was that, when my dress arrived, it was a completely different style than I had expected. It was an A-line skirt rather than a straight skirt and that just didn't work for my body type. The dress maker did a great job, it was just a miscommunication and, since she lives Canada, there was not enough time to have her remake it. I found a local tailor who did an okay job, but if I could do it again, I would have had someone local make the dress.

The Ceremony

The CeremonyMy favorite moment: Watching that curtain rise and seeing the film on a large screen was overwhelming!!

Having all my favorite people around me that day. Money kept the wedding very first layer, so it was intimate. Everyone at the wedding had in some way helped shaped who we were as people and as a couple. The amount of love and joy at the event was palpable.

The CeremonyOf course, I will always remember putting the rings on the wrong fingers, the giggling during the ceremony and taking the time to sign our marriage license as part of the ceremony. The latter was a means of subtly hinting that this was a legal commitment not a religious one and should be available to any two who wish to marry.

Married!

ReceptionMy advice for offbeat brides: My advice is to indulge your fantasy in some form or another and make your day memorable. I didn't grow up dreaming about my wedding. So when it was time to plan, it took time and lots of brainstorming to find what theme would speak to us both.

All that time up front was worth it. It felt authentic and that made the day fun and ripe with anticipation, especially premiering our movie and committing to a lifetime. Seth is the kind of guy who goes to movies to see the trailers and I am a closet actress, so making the movie was one of the best experiences of our lives.

Reception

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Comments on Kelly & Seth’s Sous L’Elephant Rose movie theater wedding

  1. This was a simply beautiful wedding. I love the intimate feel, the personalization. Your dress looked great!

  2. This is an absolutely beautiful wedding. I hope mine can be as unique and low key as this one looked. I was nearly in tears at the video — I LOVE Amelie. Amazing.

  3. You two are my heroes! What a wonderful wedding. And yes, I almost cried watching your film. Le véritable amour!

  4. That was simply the best idea ever. What a beautiful film! How personal and cute! I don’t even know you and that made me teary eyed. 😛

  5. My goodness, that film was amazing and so sweet. I loved all the sweet details like the hate for bingo and mayo on the sandwich, it was so fun to watch. Such a great idea! Beautiful wedding! Lots of love to the couple.

  6. I cried watching your film. I don’t even know you but I feel like I’ve been a part of your lives by watching that. What a great idea! I love that your advice included allowing yourself to induge in a fantasy. Thank you for helping me reaffirm my wishes for my wedding as well. Many blessings to you both!

  7. Ok, I’m officially in tears, that’s the cutest movie I’ve ever seen! So sweet! 😀

  8. The film was AMAZING!!! What an incredible idea!! I’m totally inspired- Do you mind if I ask you how much the filmmakers charged for something like that?

    • Kaili, We posted on craigslist stating we had $500 and that we were looking for people to come up with an idea, write a script, shoot it and edit it…you wouldn’t believe what comes out of the wood work if you offer to pay money for a film. I took the posting down after one day because there were so many replies. If people didn’t send links to material, we cut them. Those that remained, we looked through their work and narrowed it down to three. Arcade films was the only one with both great cinematography and a strong narrative voice. Basically, we got seriously lucky because $500 couldn’t begin to cover the amount of time the film makers put into the film.

  9. I rarely leave comments, but I adore your dress! It looks fantastic on you as well! This wedding is just lovely <3

  10. I honestly *LOVE* the short film. It made me laugh quite a few times — especially the Red Rover bond! Excellent idea, and impressive film work! Thanks for sharing such an amazing wedding ripe with individuality. 🙂

  11. The little sentiments in the film about the reasons you love each other made me cry. (Especially the bit about the mayonnaise… Cuz I do that for my boy. 🙂 )

    So beautiful. Congratulations.

  12. love love love the film idea. It is so original and gives people a glimpse into your life. How perfect. I almost want to copy the idea..but don’t know if that can be duplicated. Congrats to you both on a happy beginning.

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