Kara & John's "Taste the Rainbow" candy-colored wedding • Offbeat Wed (was Offbeat Bride)

The offbeat bride: Kara, Corporate Fitness Management

Her offbeat partner: John, Manager

Date and location of wedding: The Mavris, Downtown Indianapolis, Indiana — April 22, 2011

What made our wedding offbeat: With only four months to plan, our wedding was not traditional. My mom wanted to work with a theme for our décor and I wasn't quite feeling the initial ideas. So I told her, “Mom… think Skittles!” From there the ball got rolling. We did most everything on our own and luckily had Becky from Lilly Lane to jump right in with off-the-wall ideas for floral.

Our décor and ideas were all circled around the idea of candy. Our save-the-dates were a jellybean background surrounding our wig-wearing selves for a picture postcard. Our invitations were all hand made by my mom, sister, and me, and delivered with a lollipop.

Candy balls served as aisle decoration and were made of Skittles, hand glued by my wedding team. My dad had drilled holes in theses amazing big glass bottles my mom found. We put wire lights in each of them for the aisle and topped them with our candy balls and the flower balls done by Becky.

We had a fabulous candy bar, “John & Kara's Sweet Shoppe,” created and completely done by my mom. The party favors were candy jars that served as escort cards, so when leaving the ceremony, the guests picked up their jar which was labeled with “Goobers,” “Nerds,” “Smarties,” etc. Our tables were candy-theme named instead of numbered.

The one thing I really wanted was a photo booth. We had Happy Snaps as our photo booth vendor. Everyone was running around with props and just having a blast and we have a wonderful scrapbook filled with all the photo strips from the night.

Tell us about the ceremony: The ceremony was held on the third floor of the Mavris on a Friday night. My sister and brother-in-law stood up with me, and John's sister and brother-in-law stood up with him. We thought it was a fun way to have our siblings be our Matron of Honor and Best Woman.

It actually rained that afternoon and into the evening, and honestly it didn't affect my mood at all. Following the cocktail party, I was anxious for the unveiling of my dress, since it was a surprise. The guests were seated and it was time to walk down the aisle with my dad. The doors opened and the reaction was great.

My dad gave me away and we were getting started with Pastor Dennie and a cell phone rang… and rang. Everyone was shuffling around and I just turned to our guests with my hand on my hip and scanned the crowd. The room erupted with laughter, and it really just relaxed us all. It was a great ceremony and just how I imagined it.

Our biggest challenge: Planning in four months! It took maybe a month to get the ball rolling, but once we did, we realized we had to kick it into high gear. If it wasn't for my mom, it wouldn't have all come together. I was so thankful she was open to the theme, and it being completely opposite of my little sister's wedding just ten months prior.

My favorite moment: John seeing my dress for the first time. My dad walking me down the aisle. My cousin Rachel reading my Grandpa's Prayer. Our closest family and friends being there to share the day.

My funniest moment: My mom and sister found my dress at a prom shop. It was prom season and being 30 years old, the girls were wondering what I was doing. When they asked what is that dress for, jaws dropped when I said, “My wedding!”

We decided a week or so before the big day that we were going to actually participate in our pre-wedding cocktail hour. Of course I couldn't wear my dress to the cocktail party. It would give away that element of surprise. So, I found a very simple white dress to wear. Right before the ceremony, I had to quickly change in to my wilder dress, and my personalized Nike iD shoes.

Was there anything you were sure was going to be a total disaster that unexpectedly turned out great? My stepdaughter was only a little over two and a half years old at the time and her moods were unpredictable. Once we finally got her to get dressed, I relaxed. John carried her down the aisle with him and then she sat there perfectly through the whole ceremony. She was the life of the party running around with bunny ears on her head from the photo booth!

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? Enjoy every moment because it's over in a flash. I couldn't believe how fast the night went by. I was glad we ended up participating in our cocktail hour because otherwise I probably wouldn't have seen everyone.