Bethany & Shawn's geeky retro aviation museum wedding

The Offbeat Bride: Bethany, proud-ass housewife (and Tribesmaid)

Her offbeat partner: Shawn, city bus driver

Date and location of wedding: Alberta Aviation Museum, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada — May 31, 2013

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: We wanted something that felt like a wedding, but wasn't too stiff or formal. We opted out of doing things in a church, and instead had one of my pastors come to our awesome Aviation Museum venue.

We're both huge geeks, and I'm a pin-up girl at heart, so we wanted to incorporate those things.

I accented my outfit with black, and we each got custom shoes made with pages from our favourite manga, One Piece. All our place cards and table markers were scanned from our old Marvel Card collection (each table had a villain, each person had a hero.)

Adventure Time played a huge part in the day: the boutonniere figures (handmade by me) and cake, as well as the comic books we used for props after the ceremony. We had references to some of our favourite books and shows in our vows, and I made action cards to go with our inflatable D20 for the kissing game.

Tell us about the ceremony:
Our ceremony was a pretty traditional Lutheran affair, but we did add some things to make it more distinctly us. Our music all had special meaning. The processional was a combination of "It's Time" by Imagine Dragons and "Ho Hey" by The Lumineers. Everyone exited to "New Earth" by Zerbin, a local Edmonton band.

We did a salt covenant instead of a unity candle or sand ceremony. It suited us more because we're foodies. Basically, we combined two pouches of sand in to a ceramic egg, and only when we can each separate out our own grains can our wedding vows be broken.

Our reading was from The Velveteen Rabbit. We were looking for something that would tie back to our book-loving roots, and also really spoke to us when we read or heard it.

Our biggest challenge:
I have a chronic illness that can be a real pain in the ass, and I was worried that it was going to interfere with our day. I sometimes have to walk with a cane, but I made sure I had one on hand that would match my outfit, and work with my insanely tall shoes. I also made sure there wouldn't be a lot of stairs or walking the day of; our ceremony and reception were in the same building, and the night-before hotel was right down the street.

I also needed to leave all the stress behind me. That's not any easy thing to do on a regular day, but when you have a wedding coming up (and you have so many people who are unsure of how your ideas are going to come together) it adds up quickly. When we got to the venue, I realized that everything was perfect, the day was going to be perfect, and I didn't need to hold on to my stress any more. My illness left me alone, and everything went smoothly.

My favorite moment:
I completely lost it before the ceremony even started. My bridesmaids had me pretty calmed down, until my little brother walked over and let out a huge squeal of delight when he saw me. I lost it all over again, and spent most of the walk down the aisle trying not to ugly cry.

Our vows were also great. We each wrote something that was meaningful to us. They didn't match, they complemented each other, and hearing them out loud, in front of our friends and family, was amazing.

The best man's speech was the winner of the night. He apparently banged it out the night before, and it was perfect. It described everything about our relationship, and it made me cry all over again.

My funniest moment:
We went to our favourite comic book store after the ceremony to take some pictures, and we were standing next to the Walking Dead display doing a bunch of kissy poses. Basically, we were making out. The photographer told Shawn to whisper something dirty in my ear. He did, and it was hilarious, and the next few shots are of Shawn standing there and me laughing my ass off.

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

• Venue: Alberta Aviation Museum
• Officiant: Wayne Jensen of Grace Lutheran Church
• Wedding planner: Jordan M. Broom, Atmosphere Wedding Planning and Design
• Flowers: FaBLOOMosity
• Catering: Elizabethan Catering
• Late lunch: Fat Franks Hot Dogs
• Event Rentals: Special Event Rentals
• Invitations and save-the-date cards: Wedding Paper Divas
• Bridesmaids gowns: The Bridal Boutique
• Makeup: Chelsea of GLAMgor Make-up Artistry and FX
• Hair: Maila Mustang
• Groom's suit: Simon's
• Bride and groom's custom shoes: Veronica Birch of The Real Hell on Heals
• Gloves: Robin N. Fator of Dark Pony Designs
• Bride's rings: Independent Jewellers
• Groom's ring: Minter and Richter
• Cake: Over the Top Cakes
• D20 Chocolates: Dice Candies
• Photo booth props: The Manic Moose
• Salt covenant: Centered Ceramics
• Garter: BowPosh
• Custom clutch: Pere Bags
• Mad-Libs: My August Press
• Mustache stamp for candy bags: Glitter Puff
• Photography: Kelly Redinger

Enough talk — show me the wedding porn!