Jenifer & William's opulent masquerade ball wedding • Offbeat Wed (was Offbeat Bride)

The offbeat bride: Jenifer, Small Business Owner

Her offbeat partner: William, Legal Word Processor

Location & date of wedding: The Rose Court Garden at the Disneyland Hotel, Anaheim, CA — October 13, 2010

What made our wedding offbeat: Ever since I was old enough to dream of having a wedding, I've wanted a big, fancy masquerade ball. My fiancé went along with it pretending it was my idea, but actually relishing the fact that he got to let his inner freak flag fly.

Tell us about the ceremony: It was the shortest ceremony ever. I walked up the aisle, we unmasked each other, and I promptly forgot all my vows and shambled through something lumpy-sounding. My fiancé made an eloquent speech with a rose representing his love and a lot of Stephen King references, which is our thing. Then the officiant asked if there were any objections and if there were, that they were to engage the groom in hand-to-hand combat.

The rings went on, smooches were had, and only the next day did we realize the officiant didn't ask us the “I do” part of the ceremony. So technically we were married at Round Table Pizza the following week while signing all the paperwork.

Our biggest challenge: We had many people write and call about wearing masks. Many of the guests seemed concerned about the cost and the effort that went into the masks and seemed to think that we were taking the idea of marriage too lightly by making it “a big party” instead of a formal wedding.

We included this line on our wedding website: “we want you to contribute to the unique spirit of our event.” It had links to DIY masks as well as expensive store bought ones. Only a few people showed up without masks out of our 60+ guests.

My favorite moment: The second I turned the corner and saw how colorful it looked with the masks. Before that I had just seen a couple guests walking by me to go sit down. Seeing them all at once took my breath away.

My funniest moment: My new husband gave me a ginormous piece of cake and when I couldn't fit it all in my mouth, it fell down my bodice. My sister promptly grabbed a towel and reached down my corset right up to the elbow and fished it out in front of everyone. It was absolutely hilarious.

My advice for offbeat brides: Try to reuse things as much as possible. I managed to double the candle “bouquets” the bridesmaids held as centerpieces for the tables. It was very easy to get someone to run them over while we took pictures.

We also had someone take all the flowers from the ceremony and set them up in the reception hall during that same half hour. It was important to us to get a reception hall that looked nice so you we didn't have to spend money on decorations.

In the ballroom we rented, they only had to black out the windows since there was construction outside, and put simple black tablecloths on everything. The room had naturally beautiful wood paneling, tall windows, and a giant chandelier. With the flowers moved from the ceremony, it looked stunning with no embellishment.

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? The guests will be happy if you're happy. They will notice if you're stressed, distracted, or tweaked out. They're there for you in the end, so let them help you and relax if things go wrong.