Anja & Lutz's live roleplay wedding with historical aspirations • Offbeat Wed (was Offbeat Bride)

The offbeat bride: Anja, Student (education)

Her offbeat partner: Lutz, computer scientist

Location & date of wedding: St. Nicolai and Die Krone, Lüneburg, Germany — October 2, 2010

What made our wedding offbeat: We both are avid live action role players (LARP) and we met each other in 2005 in Bielstein castle during a LARP event.

At the time we met, we lived in the picturesque town of Lüneburg which retains almost all of its sixteenth century buildings and cobblestone streets. After playing one too many courtly game and watching one too many episode of The Tudors, we decided that we wanted a wedding with a Tudor touch. Also, having a wedding with a historical theme would allow us to spend lavishly on our wedding costumes, since we will be able to reuse them in games in the future. We then went ahead and started sewing our own costumes. Everything you see on the bride and groom is done by ourselves (except the shoes).

Right from the start we decided that everybody would wear historical-inspired costume. While not everybody could afford courtly Tudor robes, most tried hard.

Tell us about the ceremony: We started out with a very traditional north German, Lutheran, protestant wedding in a gothic church with a pastor and everything.

But here we also made some changes right away: my groom is agnostic, so we toned down the “with the help of God” in his vows as much as the pastor would allow. My groom sang and then a friend sang a very catholic song (“Ave Maria“), the best man read from the bible, and the maid of honor spoke an intercession.

To get from church to the reception, we had to cross town by foot. Friends held a canopy over our head and another friend played the bagpipes, so that every tourist that was there for the town fair that weekend would stare, whip out the cellular and start clicking away. It made for a great procession.

Our biggest challenge: Since we had to continue on with our normal lives during the planning process, we kinda ran out of time. Suddenly there was no time left. My dress was finished on the Thursday before the Saturday wedding. The groom's dress was not.

My favorite moment: When my groom sang for me in church (“Willst du” by Schandmaul) and saying our vows.

My funniest moment: One of the greatest surprises was the unveiling of the wedding cake. Three waitresses were needed to push in the massive 132 pound model of Bielstein castle (where we first met). There was a mountain of delicious marzipan, cream and massive one inch chocolate pillars to hold it all up.

My advice for offbeat brides: Be prepared that something will fail, but that is no reason to get nervous or lose you cool. Just adapt and go on. This is your thing, and you deserve everything you want on this special day.