Catherine & Jeffery's Dia de los Muertos festival wedding #Real Weddings: Western US#black dress#dia de los muertos#hat#memorial#paper flowers#seattle#skulls#washington Updated Oct 12 2015 (Posted Sep 30 2009) Offbeat Editors The Offbeat Bride: Catherine Her Offbeat Partner: Jeffrey Location & date of wedding: Georgetown Ballroom, Seattle WA — 11/01/08 What made our wedding offbeat: We chose the Day of the Dead as our date so that we could include our passed relatives and friends. We had a reserved setting area for framed photos of them during the ceremony and a large Offerenda on the stage so they could enjoy the reception after. I also had three living bridesmaids and one deceased one, who was represented in the ceremony by a memorial picture I tied into my hat. We decorated every table with paper picado and paper flowers, as well as over fifty handmade sugar skulls. The cake was also covered in sugar skulls and the topper was a glittery skeleton couple. My outfit was based on the José Guadalupe Posada print of "Calavera de la Catrina," the skeleton lady in the fancy hat. The hat itself was covered in Mexican corn husk flowers, lace and four huge red plumes. I had three ribbons in the back of the hat for tying in memorial tokens — a picture of my deceased bridesmaid, my Grandmother's wedding ring and a string of pearls that my Mother gave me. Our biggest challenge: I think our biggest challenge was finding the location. We wanted something with lots of character and color. Something that would really complement our theme rather than work against it. It took us a long time, but we finally found a wonderful place at a do-able price. My advice is, don't settle – you will find it! My favorite moment: We had set up the tables and decorations the previous evening. When we walked in on our wedding day and saw everything put together and perfect, I was blown away. I was really happy. My advice to other offbeat brides: Create something memorable, but don't over-stress yourself. Crafty folks will certainly want to add a handmade touch to the ceremony, but remember there are a lot of talented people who can help make your wedding unique. We made a lot of stuff by hand; sugar skulls, favors, accessories. But I outsourced a lot too; my hat, my dress, the cake. Everything turned out fabulous, and I still got to remain fairly sane. 🙂 Enough talk — show me the wedding porn!: PREVIOUS Sailor Jerry Tattooed Toasting Flutes NEXT Maya & Adam's "Starry Starry Night" wedding Show/Hide comments [ 30 ] W – O – W. This is amazing. LOVE the dia de los muertos theme – and the bride and groom are breathtakingly awesome. This oozes style – well done on being so f*&king cool and Felicitaciones de boda! xx Reply Thank you!:) Reply Thank you! I think we really pulled of a special night. Reply I love that your bridesmaid was on your hat… Great wedding! Reply Thank you! Reply Congratulations! Everything looks great! My fiance and I are planning a Dia de los Muertos wedding, too! Unfortunately, it falls on weekdays for the next few years. I want it for the same reason as you; most of the people I want to be there must be there in spirit. You've given me a lot of hope we can pull this off! Also, love your Posada look; my fiance is planning to get the female dandy tattooed on his arm to match his other Posada tattoo! Reply Thank you:) I think you can fudge the date a little – it's a 2 day festival and I think we can lump Halloween in there too:) I like to believe the spirits will come if invited, and don't need to wait for a specific day. Especially around that time of year… You will put it off:) Reply Oops! I mean Pull it off.. Reply Awesome! I LOVE the bride's outfit! Reply Oh, my goodness. This wedding is full of so much WIN. I love it!!!!! Reply Thank you:) Reply WHERE did you get your paper picado banners?????? Love your theme! We're doing an outdoor 'festive' texasmex bbq wedding and I would love to have the banners to hang around! Reply We got them locally, but this is an excellent online source: http://www.mexicansugarskull.com/ They have a huge selection of Picado and even customizable wedding themed ones:) Reply What a great wedding! So awesome that you pulled it off so perfectly. The hat is spectacular and I love your sugar skull makeup. Where did you find that great cake topper? I've been looking so long for one like that!!! Reply The topper was actually a present from a friend I had had for several years, I don't know if they still make it. – It's by "Katherine's Collectibles" But this place has a good selection of folk art toppers: http://www.mexicansugarskull.com/ Reply thanks! I actually know about that site. They have gorgeous stuff. Reply ooohhh…this is the wedding for our location in June. We looked at a lot of "wedding-y" places in the Seattle area too before I happened upon GB through Yelp. I was so thrilled when I saw the photos online, but my sweetie wasn't completely sold…until we actually walked in. It just makes me smile every time I think about it and your right, it totally supports visions of something different and creative for a wedding…rather than feeling like you need to completely recreate a space. It helps feed my inspration. Reply oops…I mean the LOCATION for our WEDDING…I've had a long few days. =0) Reply It's a fabulous space – you will love it:) Reply Yeah, we're getting married there next september. Did you have to pay extra to set-up the night before? Reply We didn't – but we did kinda get a special "deal". They were doing a little construction in the other large room to connect the two spaces so there was a door sized hole in the wall. No big deal, they tided up for us:) It doesn't hurt to ask, though:) Reply Color! Color! Beautiful, unabashed COLOR! I love it 🙂 Reply Thanks! Ya, I have never decorated with so much color before. It was so vivid. Reply Love the colorss !! Reply this is amazing. This is also my favourite holiday. This is super super exciting to me. Ive told the Dear that one way or another, my dead relatives will be involved in any ceremony….ive got a few….. and he just kind of grins and kisses me. This is a really amazing way to do that. Reply Beautiful! What a lovely way to involve your passed loved ones AND have a unique, colorful wedding Reply omg, I love your wedding. I am planning a Halloween wedding and I absolutely love all the ingenous decor and attire! Way to be original. Reply Absolutely amazing! Lucky you… Reply I have just discovered this site – AMAZING and all the wedding are so inspirational and different! They just inspire me to pursue the wedding of my dreams and not fit into what everyone else wants!! I love that your bridesmaid was on your hat (and surely present too) One of my bridesmaids has passed on this year, but this is a great idea of incorporting her memory and spirit into my special offbeat day!!! Reply Awesome outfit! Reply Join the conversation Cancel ReplyYour email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Sign me up for your offbeat awesomeness newsletter! No-drama comment policy Part of what makes the Offbeat Empire different is our commitment to civil, constructive commenting. Make sure you're familiar with our no-drama comment policy. Biz owners & wedding bloggers Please just use your real name in your comment, not your business name or blog title. Our comments are not the place to pimp your website. If you want to promote your stuff on Offbeat Bride, join us as an advertiser instead.
W – O – W. This is amazing. LOVE the dia de los muertos theme – and the bride and groom are breathtakingly awesome. This oozes style – well done on being so f*&king cool and Felicitaciones de boda! xx Reply
Congratulations! Everything looks great! My fiance and I are planning a Dia de los Muertos wedding, too! Unfortunately, it falls on weekdays for the next few years. I want it for the same reason as you; most of the people I want to be there must be there in spirit. You've given me a lot of hope we can pull this off! Also, love your Posada look; my fiance is planning to get the female dandy tattooed on his arm to match his other Posada tattoo! Reply
Thank you:) I think you can fudge the date a little – it's a 2 day festival and I think we can lump Halloween in there too:) I like to believe the spirits will come if invited, and don't need to wait for a specific day. Especially around that time of year… You will put it off:) Reply
WHERE did you get your paper picado banners?????? Love your theme! We're doing an outdoor 'festive' texasmex bbq wedding and I would love to have the banners to hang around! Reply
We got them locally, but this is an excellent online source: http://www.mexicansugarskull.com/ They have a huge selection of Picado and even customizable wedding themed ones:) Reply
What a great wedding! So awesome that you pulled it off so perfectly. The hat is spectacular and I love your sugar skull makeup. Where did you find that great cake topper? I've been looking so long for one like that!!! Reply
The topper was actually a present from a friend I had had for several years, I don't know if they still make it. – It's by "Katherine's Collectibles" But this place has a good selection of folk art toppers: http://www.mexicansugarskull.com/ Reply
ooohhh…this is the wedding for our location in June. We looked at a lot of "wedding-y" places in the Seattle area too before I happened upon GB through Yelp. I was so thrilled when I saw the photos online, but my sweetie wasn't completely sold…until we actually walked in. It just makes me smile every time I think about it and your right, it totally supports visions of something different and creative for a wedding…rather than feeling like you need to completely recreate a space. It helps feed my inspration. Reply
Yeah, we're getting married there next september. Did you have to pay extra to set-up the night before? Reply
We didn't – but we did kinda get a special "deal". They were doing a little construction in the other large room to connect the two spaces so there was a door sized hole in the wall. No big deal, they tided up for us:) It doesn't hurt to ask, though:) Reply
this is amazing. This is also my favourite holiday. This is super super exciting to me. Ive told the Dear that one way or another, my dead relatives will be involved in any ceremony….ive got a few….. and he just kind of grins and kisses me. This is a really amazing way to do that. Reply
Beautiful! What a lovely way to involve your passed loved ones AND have a unique, colorful wedding Reply
omg, I love your wedding. I am planning a Halloween wedding and I absolutely love all the ingenous decor and attire! Way to be original. Reply
I have just discovered this site – AMAZING and all the wedding are so inspirational and different! They just inspire me to pursue the wedding of my dreams and not fit into what everyone else wants!! I love that your bridesmaid was on your hat (and surely present too) One of my bridesmaids has passed on this year, but this is a great idea of incorporting her memory and spirit into my special offbeat day!!! Reply