Emily & Phil's romance reading and revelry wedding • Offbeat Wed (was Offbeat Bride)

Our reader survey told us that half of you identify as Academia Nerds, so a theme week was in order. This Bookish theme week is for the academics, the bookworms, and the card-carrying library buffs!

The offbeat bride: Emily, Graphic Designer

Her offbeat partner: Phil, Archivist

Date and location of wedding: The Temple Events Center, Denver, CO — November 6, 2010

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: We have been together for seven years, have an incredible group of friends, and our families are big, loud, and amazing! We wanted a romantic ceremony because at times we're reserved and romantic, but we also wanted to party with friends that we don't often see. We got married in a historic downtown Denver building, The Temple Events Center, which is featured on Denver haunted places tours.

My mom and grandma walked me down the aisle, and my attendants walked down the aisle to an orchestrated version of The Cure's “Just Like Heaven” and I walked down to an string version of The Smith's “Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want.” My martial-arts loving husband thought it appropriate to exit the church to the Karate Kid II ballad, “Glory of Love” by Peter Cetera — '80s goodness!

Other details included opting for a grocery store cake buffet instead of a costly white monster cake, wearing a gold dress and no veil, and having a bridesman and a groomswoman in the party. I made all the bouquets, boutonnieres, and corsages out of feathers.

Our centerpieces were piles of books by genre as a theme for each table, and as a favor, each guest got to take a book home.

My family wrote and performed a personalized song for Phil and me. They surprised us with the performance at the reception and the whole crowd joined in!

Tell us about the ceremony: Since our ceremony was non-religious, and we had a friend marry us instead of an officiant. We scoured the internet for ceremony scripts and cut and pasted a few together to suit our tastes. We kept it very short, but we wrote our own vows.

Our biggest challenge: We were definitely tight on the budget. Our parents helped a bunch, but we ultimately paid for most of the wedding out-of-pocket. We wanted no wedding debt, so I got creative.

I am a graphic designer, so I designed, printed, and assembled the save-the-dates and invitations. I also chose feathers over flowers because I could slowly buy them over a longer period of time and spread out the cost.

For the rehearsal dinner, we crammed our close friends and family into our 750 square foot apartment for a casual pizza party. There, we handed out our attendant gifts and parent gifts, which were our framed engagement photos. The parents didn't know we'd even taken them.

To save money on my dress, I looked at non-wedding dresses. I originally wanted blue, but I fell in love with a gold Sherri Hill dress that I saw online. The only place to get it in Colorado was a pageant dress shop. They didn't even have it in stock, but I went out on a limb and bought it even before trying it on!

My favorite moment: Our personal and unrehearsed vows were by far the most intimate and meaningful moment. However, my mom and grandma walking me down the aisle was a very close second. They were the two people present at my birth, and it was absolutely fitting that they gave me away.

My advice for Offbeat Brides: Go with your gut on every aspect. I was lucky to have a mother and mother-in-law who wanted me to do everything my way. I imagine it's probably pretty stressful when family and friends are pressuring you to do something you're not completely comfortable with, so try to stick to your guns.