The offbeat bride: Kynslie, Office Assistant

Her offbeat partner: Taylor, Photographer & Recent College Graduate

Date and location of wedding: Music Venue, Salt Lake City, Utah — April 9, 2011

What made our wedding offbeat: We had all of our wedding festivities at a really awesome music venue called One Mind Studio. The funny/cool thing is that it's the same place my dad was when I called and told him we were engaged. My main goal was to make this wedding special to us, and a wedding that people would enjoy, and remember.

http://www.clandestineimages.com

I always thought that cutting the cake was an odd tradition, and honestly, we don't even like cake. So, we opted for a wedding pinata instead, which I spent tireless nights before the wedding making with my cousin (we also made a buttload of paper pompoms).

http://www.clandestineimages.com

We had a photo booth guestbook, with chalkboards and Bieber and Bush cutouts. I thought it would be more fun than looking at signatures.

http://www.clandestineimages.com
http://www.clandestineimages.com

I would actually describe our wedding as “offbeat lite.” We stuck with the typical wedding outline, but I wasn't afraid to fill in the blanks the way I wanted or color outside the lines. (This was basically going where not many Mormon brides had dared to go before.) And I say “I” because my husband and our entire families (except my dad) were a little wary of doing things differently. But in the end, he loved it because it was OURS and it was special.

http://www.clandestineimages.com

Tell us about the ceremony: Typically, Mormons get married in a Latter-day Saints Temple, or are married outside of the temple by a Mormon bishop. But, most of my family isn't Mormon, and Taylor's brother was ordained online and had done some weddings for his friends, so we asked him to perform our ceremony for us, and he agreed.

http://www.clandestineimages.com
http://www.clandestineimages.com

We compiled a script for him, and he added some stuff. We walked down the aisle to “Sweet Disposition” by The Temper Trap.

We wrote our own vows. I read mine off of a piece of paper and Taylor read his off of his phone.

We were married within ten minutes and we walked back down the aisle to “Little Secrets” by Passion Pit.

http://www.clandestineimages.com
http://www.clandestineimages.com

Our biggest challenge: When I was fifteen, my mom died. It was a very big challenge not having my mom during the planning process, or during the actual wedding, but I was fortunate enough to have a GREAT support system.

I knew that I wanted to do some kind of memorial for my mom at my wedding, but I didn't want a table filled with candles and a photo frame — not really my thing. Instead I had a locket wrapped into my bouquet and put a picture of me and my mom on one side, and a picture of my late great-grandparents on their wedding day on the other. And it turned out beautiful and meaningful.

MEG_3382-Edit

My funniest moment: As a tween I had told my dad that I was never getting married, and he was, of course, elated. So he had me put it in writing. He wrote out a contract that I said I wouldn't get married before I was twenty-five or he got to punch the groom in the nose. And I, knowing that I was never getting married, signed it.

http://www.clandestineimages.com
http://www.clandestineimages.com

When I got engaged, my dad was all over that contract: he pulled it out and insisted that he was going to punch Taylor in the nose, which Taylor chivalrously accepted. Honestly, my dad is the nicest guy in the world, but I was unsure if he was really going to do it or not. At the end of the night, before we were about to leave the reception, my dad got on stage with the mic and called Taylor up, and had him read the contract out loud, and continued to lead us to believe that he was going to punch him. But, instead of punching him in the nose, he hugged him and welcomed him to the family.

http://www.clandestineimages.com

My advice for offbeat brides: Elope. 🙂

http://www.clandestineimages.com

Somehow I tricked myself into thinking that getting stressed out meant you weren't doing things your way. But I guess I realized that planning anything as big as a wedding (if you are doing a big wedding) is going to stress you out to some degree, no matter what. The important thing is to not let the stress overwhelm you and turn you into a crazy person.

http://www.clandestineimages.com

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? That the most important thing was that we were married. And if little details didn't work out, it was fine. We were having a wedding and party afterward to celebrate our marriage, not to freak out about things we couldn't control.

http://www.clandestineimages.com

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Comments on Our semi-offbeat mostly Mormon wedding

  1. love love LOVE the colors!!!! Love your dress. Everything was adorable!! One of the best “semi-offbeats” I’ve seen! Congrats!

  2. I LOVE the piñata and photo booth ideas! Wish I’d thought of the photo booth idea for my wedding! I like your colors, too. 🙂

  3. I LOVE that story about your dad and the No Marriage contract, it seems like you two have a wonderful relationship.

  4. I’m a Californian, but I’ve lived in Utah since 2005, so it’s very nice AND refreshing to see an offbeat lite wedding in UT!

  5. Salt Lake City, represent! What a great wedding. I, too, loved the No Marriage contract story. Very sweet. Thanks for sharing.

  6. Yay! Love to see a Mormon wedding on here! Nice refreshing change from the standard!

  7. The biggest thing I took from this wedding…………………………………………is that there is a beautiful sense of family in it.

    Congratulations! It was a pleasure to read!

  8. Congratulations! What a beautiful wedding! I love the yellow and blue, those colours go so well together. Also, your dad sounds awesome 😀

  9. I’m on a cardigan mission. Where did you get yours? It’s super cute.

    The whole wedding looks super cute. Love the dress, the suits, everything. Wedding pinata FTW

    • Thank you ma’am! I got my cardigan at Maurice’s. I’m not sure if they have stores everywhere, but they have an online store. It ended up matching perfectly!

  10. I love the locket idea. My mother passed away when I was young and I’ve been dreading the wedding planning process without her. I think the way you chose to focus on your mother was just beautiful.

  11. Yay! I’m so excited to see that I’m not the only offbeat bride in Salt Lake City!

  12. I agree with everyone above that the bride looked great! You gotta love it when you can tell the bride looks exactly like herself (even not knowing her) I hate it when you can tell they are trying to be something they are not!

  13. Nice juan! LDS doesn’t usually really translate to “offbeat” (save the actual scripture which let’s face it, id offbeat in story and occasionally grammar, lol) but it’s nice to see it can be done!

  14. ooh, I love that dress and headband too! so darling and simple! and I love the fact that your hair is down. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bride with her hair down.
    and the bridesmaids’ bouquets – are they on loops? that is so super neat!

  15. I’m so glad I’m not the only offbeat LDS bride out there! Your wedding was beautiful, I hope mine will be just as amazing as yours appeared.

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