Amber & ZaQ's Punk Rock Trashy Classy DIY Damask Wedding • Offbeat Wed (was Offbeat Bride)

The offbeat bride: Amber, Punk Baby Bedding Designer

Her offbeat partner: ZaQ, Store Manager of Guitar Center

Location & date of wedding: Grandmas Backyard in LaMoille, IL — July 18th, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: To start, we're very non-traditional and do everything ass-backwards. We have two toddlers, eleven months apart… THEN decided hey, we still like each other three years later, we should totally get married 🙂 So we did!

We started out with skeleton bride & groom invitations designed by our tattoo artist. We panned a VERY DIY handmade wedding in the backyard of my grandma's home. It featured a huge white tent with white table and chair linens with black satin sashes. Black and white damask everywhere and pops of red. All they boys/men wore black and white Converse and I wore black sequin mono Chucks. LOVE! All the guys wore handmade ties in black and red with damask and a skull in the center, and ZaQ had a white version of that. All my girls wore black convertible dresses and all wore them in different ways with black flats.

I made all the flowers using red roses and black feathers as well as shreads of the damask fabric to hold them together. I had on an off-white dress with black lace and satin and a big black rose fascinator attached to a vintage off white veil. We had a cake topper that featured a groom running off with his guitar (made by me). And we played Bright Eyes and Lucero during the ceremony.

Our biggest challenge: Planning the wedding from three states away. We lived in Minneapolis, MN and got married in LaMoille, IL. We totally could not have made it happen without the help of our family there. They TOTALLY stepped up and made it happen.

Also, the fact that I did so many things myself made it tough. But, more special, so its hard to complain. It was awesome to look back at some of my favorite details and say hey, I made that 🙂

My favorite moment: Oh wow… tough call… I have two favorites.

ZaQ wrote me a song to play during the ceremony. It was amazing. Not cheesy or sappy, just perfect, and everyone loved it.

My youngest son broke away from the pack while the wedding party was walking down the ceremony (outdoor wedding, easy to happen, haha) and met me at the bottom of the stairs, held my hand and walked me all the way down the aisle. It was like it was planned. If he hadn't done that my intention was to walk down alone. It's funny because what would have seemed like a mess-up to one person turned out to be perfection for me.

My offbeat advice: Do it yourself (if you can). Our wedding was AMAZING and cost no more than a about $5000 with the honeymoon to Mexico included. Some of my favorite details were things that I made. Instead of spending $30 on the cardbox I wanted, I spent $4 and made the same thing, but was able to add specific things I wanted, like feathers.

About flowers… most people spend thousands of dollars on them. Now, I'm kinda cheating because I used to be a florist, but I bought six red dozen roses at Walmart two days before and a pack of black feather for $3. I made the bouquets myself. They were perfect. Six years ago I would have sold those bouquets to a client for about $300 or $400! DIY and save a TON.