Tanya & Mark's flamingo themed backyard wedding • Offbeat Wed (was Offbeat Bride)

The Offbeat Bride: Tanya, bookseller/crafty lady

Her Offbeat Partner: Mark, administrator

Location & date of wedding: Parents backyard in Northampton, PA — 6/6/09

What made our wedding offbeat: We wanted to keep our wedding fun, whimsical, and more like an outdoor party. I made everything I thought I could, allowing me to show of my crafty side. I did the invitations, most of the decorations (except the paper lanterns), the centerpieces, and all of the flowers. All of the tables were covered in the vintage table clothes I had been collecting while planning the wedding.

I am a huge John Waters fan, hence the slight pink flamingo obsession. We had plastic pink flamingos in the yard and at our gazebo “altar.”

Being music snobs, no DJ was allowed. I worked out a playlist on my ipod of our favorite songs and we walked down the “aisle” to Ceremony by New Order. My wedding dress and my maid of honor's dress were vintage and purchased on eBay. Finding such an awesome dress on eBay saved me a lot of money (it was under $100!).

Our color scheme was aqua, red, and yellow. We had a matching cake and my mom and I made red velvet cupcakes with pink flamingo toppers. There was no traditional bouquet toss or first dance, just plenty of unpredictable fun! At the end of the day, all of ours guests were saying, ‘what a cool wedding, it was so you guys!'

Our biggest challenge: I would say the biggest challenge was allowing myself to delegates things to other people instead of taking control and doing everything myself. Sometimes it is hard to let other people step in when you have an exact vision of how you want things to be.

It had also rained most of the week leading up to the wedding so we couldn't start setting anything up outside until the morning of, which led to a major time crunch since the ceremony started at 1:00.

My favorite moment: It had to be walking down the “aisle” to Mark smiling at me. And of course the high five we gave each other at the end of our vows. Everyone started laughing!

My advice for other offbeat brides: I would say to try not to let others talk you into changing what you feel your wedding should be like. Some people can't fathom the idea of a nontraditional wedding, but if it seems right to you then go for it. Its way more fun anyway!