Ferne & Ben’s geeky science fiction wedding

The Day of the Doctor is coming in honor of Doctor Who's 50th anniversary. What better way to relish one of our fave fandoms than to have a Doctor Who theme week? Allons-y!

The Offbeat Bride: Ferne, PhD student and future sci-fi author

Her offbeat partner: Ben, web developer

Date and location of wedding: Australia — May 7, 2013

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: Ben and I love Doctor Who, Firefly, science fiction, and reading, so we had a TARDIS wedding cake, sci-fi spaceship table names, stacked books as decorations, and lots of LED lights in everything. And I mean in everything: from inside lolly jars to inside flower vases.

I didn't want a traditional white dress with train and veil so, to match my sapphire engagement ring, I bought a very simple, cobalt blue wedding dress within a week of him proposing. However, we visited Ben's grandmother and I ended up trying her dress and loving it. It's over seventy years old with a cathedral length train and long sleeves. It was the complete opposite to what I had imagined, but as soon as I saw it on, I knew I couldn't imagine myself in anything else. I decided to wear the traditional white dress for the ceremony and the fun blue one for the reception!

We made a lot of things ourselves. We made comic book bouquets for the bridesmaids, book paper roses for my bouquet, and matching button holes for the boys over the course of many Sunday afternoons. I made my own veil as I couldn't find one that would do the dress justice, and it came out surprisingly well. The bridesmaid stoles were bought online cheaply and then altered with our mad sewing skills.

Ben designed our wedding invitations and RSVP cards to look like the Penguin Classics books and we together wrote a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy-themed wedding guide (inspired by some we'd seen on Offbeat Bride).

For our guest book, I drew and framed a tree and had people “leaf” a thumbprint. However, we were most proud of our DIY Dalek card box! It stood over a metre high, was completely made from recycled cardboard, and even had flashing lights inside. It took months to build with papier-mâché, paint, metal bolts, and LEDs.

Tell us about the ceremony:
The youngest member of my family was our flower girl. She was four months old and her baby walker had been transformed into a purple, sparkly Dalek with “Love-bot” written across the back. Her parents pulled her down the aisle, and she was a complete show-stealer (which had been the plan as Ben and I aren't hugely fond of being the centre of attention!).

I walked down the aisle with my dad to “This is Gallifrey: Our Childhood, Our Home” from the Doctor Who season three soundtrack.

I wanted to get our mums involved in the ceremony, too. Since I made my bouquet myself, I made two extra roses, and when I got to the end of the aisle, I gave my mum a rose and as Ben and I were going back down the aisle, Ben gave his mum a rose too.

We wrote our own vows. Mine included quotes from Doctor Who, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Red vs. Blue and Ben's had a lot of Information Technology jokes, which meant we were snickering for quite a bit of it whilst our guests looked on a little blankly.

My favorite moment:
One of the most meaningful moments was my dad telling me he'd make sure I wouldn't fall as I wobbled my way down the aisle. I also loved seeing my mum's face with tears in her eyes and the biggest smile. Their love and support was overwhelming.

Another favorite moment was our first dance to The xx's “Angel.” Ben sang it to me as we danced, and it was the moment that my brain switched over from engaged to married.

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

• Blue dress: The Bridal Outlet
• Photography: Vibe Photography
• DJ: DJ Magoo
• Cake: Cakes by Kyla

Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!

About the Author: Offbeat Editors

@offbeatbride

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