Dr. Seuss meets roller derby at Kelly & Matt’s backyard wedding

The Offbeat Bride: Kelly, photography associate

Her offbeat partner: Matt, construction

Date and location of wedding: A friend's backyard in Plainfield, IL — September 13, 2014

Our offbeat wedding at a glance:

I spent a lot of time in local craft stores once we came up with our theme: a roller derby meets Dr. Seuss wedding. We did a lot of DIY, especially with the centerpieces and photo booth and Matt's boutonniere. We kept the wedding small with only 32 people including ourselves.

My matron of honor's husband and friends made our meal rather then having an official caterer. As it got later, we had paper lanterns for everyone to set off as well as lots of sparklers to light up the sky. We finished the night with a game of Cards Against Humanity rather then dancing the night away. This ended up being really funny since most people had been drinking all day.

Tell us about the ceremony:

Our ceremony was performed by one of the coaches of our roller derby league. She put our vows into a copy of Oh, The Places You'll Go so it seemed she was reading from the book. My mom read the opening poem from the book, and my father-in-law did a reading from the Bible that included 1 Corinthians 13:4. We planted a unity plant to bring us together as one.

My favorite moment:

We had very few chairs at the ceremony, just some for the parents, so all of our friends sat on blankets handmade by my grandmother. The closeness to everyone through the entire day was fantastic and fun. Our first dance to Broadway's American Idiot‘s “Last Night on Earth” was wonderful.

Vendors

• Bride's dress: Light in the Box
• Matron of honor's dress: For Her and For Him