Virginia & Eddie's Latin flavored, Dia de los Muertos vow renewal • Offbeat Wed (was Offbeat Bride)

The Offbeat Bride: Virginia, Customer Service

Her Offbeat Partner: Eddie, District Manager

Location & date of wedding: San Fernando Valley, CA. The reception was held at The Castaway in Burbank and the ceremony was at the San Fernando Mission Rey De Espana — October 24, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: After twelve years of being together and nine years of being married we wanted to do something really special for our ten year anniversary.

Our wedding was small and very intimate with a guest list of sixty-five, including our wedding party. We planned the whole thing ourselves.

We knew we wanted to keep some tradition in our wedding but we added our own twist to everything. My bouquet had a crystal spider. We gave out personalized mini bottles of patron as favors.

Our cake topper was a Dia de los Muertos couple. I walked down the aisle to a Mariachi playing “I Walk The Line” by Johnny Cash.

My parents helped us pay for some of the wedding but mostly it was just the two of us. My mom did buy me my wedding dress wich was made by Melissa Sweet.

We saved some cash by having a friend do our video which turned out to be really AMAZING! I found our photographer on craigslist and he turned out really AWESOME! We also saved a bunch on all our flowers by hiring a friend.

Our biggest challenge: Our biggest challenge was finding music for the church. We both knew we wanted a mariachi and we also knew that I wanted to walk down the aisle to “Walk The Line” by Johnny Cash. This was not an easy task but by some miracle we found a mariachi band that was willing to learn the song just for me. I found the mariachi from a local newspaper.

What were the most meaningful moments of your wedding? My hubby's uncle is a priest in Mexico and we had wanted really badly for him to marry us and as far as we knew he couldnt make it to the wedding. But on the day of the wedding he surprised us both by showing up at the church, ready to marry us.

At the reception my husband serenaded me and sang “All Over Again” by Johnny Cash. He had a friend play the guitar. That was a real special moment for me. After being together for twelve years he still manages to surprise me. He took my breath away.

Also having our twelve year old daughter Mia participate in the wedding brought tears to my eyes. She was our Jr. Bridesmaid. Our priest included her in the Lazo Ceremony and she was so very happy to be a part of it.

My advice for other offbeat brides: Take breaks from planning. Planning a wedding can be very overwhelming and it doesnt hurt to take a breather. Go out and enjoy the day with your significant other.

Never forget why you are getting married in the first place. It's not for the linens, venue, flowers etc…

Only you notice all that's gone wrong — the guests are too busy having fun. If something goes wrong on the day of the wedding just remember that you just got married to the man/woman you LOVE.

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

My dress was a Melissa Sweet & I bought it at “The White Dress” I also got my bolero, veil and fascinator from them as well.
All my flowers at the ceremony and reception were provided by Romel & Edgar at flowerfairy wings.
Linens were by Raquel's Linens
Lady Dragon shoes by Vivienne Westwood
Invites, programs, placecards, table numbers were by Blue Tulip Design on Etsy.

Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!: