Anli & Laura's Lesbian Gamer Geek Wedding #Real Weddings: Global#australia#brides in glasses#diy bouquet#diy wedding#fall weddings#gamers#geeky#lesbian weddings#LGBTQ#outdoor#pink dress#pink hair#rock band#short hair#two brides two dresses#video games#vow examples October 26 2009 | Offbeat Editors offbeatbride Photos by: Julie Clyde Photography Photos by Photo by Julie Clyde Photography The offbeat bride: Anli, data analyst Her offbeat partner: Laura, public servant Location & date of wedding: The Old Stone House, NSW Australia — 5 September 2009 What made our wedding offbeat: We wanted a ceremony that reflected our geeky, romantic, pink aesthetic, while at the same time being profound and meaningful. Our ceremony was themed around the video game Portal and the anime series Revolutionary Girl Utena. We incorporated lots of geeky details, from the table names (Revolution, Sierra, Katara and GLaDOS) to the choice of music. We also kept several traditional elements such as bouquets, dresses and bridesmaids. However, we both walked down the aisle unaccompanied and skipped the garter/bouquet toss. Companion Cube cake. Photo by Julie Clyde Photography. I DIY'ed many details, including bouquets, centrepieces, bonbons, stationery and my hand-embellished corset, skirts, petticoat and detachable train. Because our wedding was so small, we skipped having a dance floor and invited guests to games of Lupus In Tabula after dinner. Our cake and bonbon were companion-cube shaped. We played Rock Band instead of having a Hens Night. And we walked down the aisle to an obscure piece of music from Utena. Because we can't legally be wed in Australia, we had a good friend officiate and he did a great job. We kept our vows secret from one another until the night before, but somehow both of us managed to discuss Laura's fear of spiders in each of our vows. Many of our friends very kindly offered their support and help, from playing violin at the ceremony, setting up decorations, making sure we were fed, proof-reading our vows, driving us around before the day and looking after our cats. We also both wore dresses, although we didn't keep our dresses secret; we had photo shoots together before the ceremony and even got dressed in the same room! Laura kept her pink hair, I kept my glasses on through all the photos and we posed with Nintendo DS consoles. Our biggest challenge: We were engaged for almost two years and picked our venue a year and a half in advance. Closer to the date, we were unsure whether the site vendors understood our vision for the day as we had originally discussed. We were very concerned about having adequate heating as many guests would be traveling in from a warmer state. We also had problems with not being able to order the correct furniture that we originally wanted. With some good communication, we were able to sort out our issues. And the venue was set up mostly as we had originally envisaged. It helped that our vendors were very patient and understanding people. We needed to get confirmation on details early on as it really made the process less stressful. We also made contingency plans (for example, seeking alternative sources for furniture and decorations) which we, fortunately, did not have to use. My favorite moment: Laura's favourite moment was watching me walk down the aisle towards her while our lovely friend Katherine played Hikari Sasu Niwa on violin. We had decided she would go first as during the rehearsal I felt really nervous being the first in line. However, during the ceremony I read my vows first. Photo by Julie Clyde Photography. My favourite moment was the sunset photoshoot after the ceremony. I felt much more relaxed after everything had worked out really well and we had a lovely romantic walk together at the bottom of the garden and had some time alone with one another and our discreet photographer, Julie Clyde. My offbeat advice: Our advice is to really spend some serious time with one another discussing your direction for your ceremony and the kind of vows that you want to make. We spent a lot of time developing our vows and had great input from some of our friends, which we highly recommend seeking if you can. Also, if you're going the DIY route, try to have everything done at least a month in advance. I was still altering dresses (which was unplanned for) on the week of the wedding which wasn't fun at all given that we had international and interstate guests to entertain and an international honeymoon to prepare for. Care to share a few vendor links? Anli's cream knitted bolero – Trendy Knitting Anli's dress – hand made, fabric sources included Silk Baron, House Fabric, and Exclusive Silks Laura's pink & cream dress – Raylia Designs Bridesmaids' dresses – Style Shake Venue – The Old Stone House (NSW, Australia) Catering – Le Tres Bon (French) Cake – Amelia's Cakes, Page ACT Australia Photography – Capturing Essence Enough talk — show me the wedding porn! Reporter Name * Reporter Email * Original text Enter the original text here. Edited text* Enter your suggested copyedit here. Notes You can add a note for the editor here. * Required information. Fix Typo PREVIOUS I'm a sucker for bellydance weddings NEXT Jaleen & Andrew's Surreal Love Circus Party-time Wedding Show/Hide comments [ 176 ] Swoon. And Geek Out. But back to Swoon. 33 agree Reply This wedding is AWESOME! 21 agree Reply Ahhhh so beautiful!! 17 agree Reply =))) дааа Ñто точно прекраÑно)) Yes! Beautiful )) Любовь Ñто вÑегда хорошо в незавиÑимоÑти от пола и Ñто чувÑтво вечно ))) 10 agree Reply Wow. Your wedding is so beautiful. Geeky gamer weddings for the win! 13 agree Reply So awesome! And sweet! And you both look gorgeous! 😀 15 agree Reply I am in tears at how beautiful this couple is and SO IN LOVE! This post made my day! 15 agree Reply I, like most commenters, am vacillating between "How romantic!" and "OMG HOW AWESOME IS THAT CAKE!!!!" 18 agree Reply Oh my god, I am a HUGE Utena fan, and these girls are so beautiful and in love i'm basically a Monday Morning puddle of sappy goo at my desk. Congratulations! 11 agree Reply This is one of the most beautiful and unique weddings I've ever seen – and while Anli looks simply gorgeous, I am completely and utterly coveting Laura's look. Congratulations ladies! 🙂 7 agree Reply Love this wedding! 7 agree Reply Beautiful!! I'm geeking out over here. Every time I watch an episode of Utena I'm going to think of this wedding now 🙂 8 agree Reply Laura's shoes are awesome! 6 agree Reply What a gorgeous wedding! The picture of the rings on the DS is going on my "must take" list. 7 agree Reply WOW! This is one amazingly beautiful wedding. The dresses, the flowers, the cake, the geeky love! Just wonderful. Congratulations to you both! 4 agree Reply What a great way to start my day! I love how YOU your wedding was. All of your sweet touches are stunning and OMG the dresses – Great advice about the vows…your vows are the foundation of it all and the reason for the entire event. Any chance you'll share those sweet vows somewhere? Cheers to you both and to a lifetime of creativity and fun! 7 agree Reply Just adore everything about your wedding! So beautiful! Congratulations! 7 agree Reply Congratulations! What a thoughtful wedding. Your offbeat advise is on my OBT page. I really like your advise about the "…direction for your ceremony" and "…if you're going the DIY route, try to have everything done at least a month in advance." 6 agree Reply Oh gush. They both look so happy. And like PRINCESSES! I love it. 5 agree Reply SO AWESOME!! 🙂 6 agree Reply Congrats, Ladies. You both look a-mazing! The shot of you two holding hands on the swing looks like something out of a shojo manga. Many years of happiness to you both! 🙂 8 agree Reply You ladies are just absolutely beautiful. And I love the colour palette – so tasteful and feminine yet reflecting your interests! 7 agree Reply Wow… this is breathtakingly gorgeous wedding! You're photographer did a fabulous job capturing the beauty, love and gamer-geek awesomeness. 5 agree Reply stunningly beautiful wedding! and those dresses are breathtaking! 12 agree Reply Congratulations! Your wedding looks so stunning and lovely. And I love the dresses! Anli, I really admire you for making your own dress. I can't decide whether to make my dress or not, mostly because I'm worried I won't have it done in time, or I'll be too much of an anal perfectionist and not be happy with it. Great job on making such a breathtakingly beautiful dress! Did you have or use any patterns for inspiration? 3 agree Reply Hi and thanks so much for your comments! I wrote more about the dress on this community: http://community.livejournal.com/corsetmakers/167… The top skirt was based from a Truly Victorian pattern (I don't have the number with me, but it was an assymetrical pleated skirt) but I didn't use commercial patterns for the other parts. I am really glad that I made my own dress but time is a serious factor – I had a long engagement and sewed for most of it. Good luck with whatever you decide to do! 7 agree Reply This is one of the most beautiful weddings I've yet seen. Congratulations! 6 agree Reply Best. Wedding. Ever! I'm so happy to see this! I love anime, and Utena makes me squee! It's so gorgeous, especially your dresses and the companion cube cake which is the best inside joke EVER. 6 agree Reply AMAZING photos! Truly a beautiful wedding – Congrats ladies!! I only have one question: WHERE DID LAURA GET HER SHOES?!!!! 6 agree Reply Thankyou so much for your kind comments! My shoes are Ballerina Rocking Horse Shoes 🙂 The Originals are by Vivienne Westwood, but several other brands sell them in various colours. Lolita Lolas and Double Decker are the most well known. http://community.livejournal.com/egl/13085249.htm… This link has loads of great information on the different styles and brands. 🙂 7 agree Reply I am seriously amazed. Everything about this wedding is incredibly beautiful! 4 agree Reply these dresses are phenomenal, and i love the pink hair!! 5 agree Reply So in love with this!! 8 agree Reply wow. that was so pretty. I want my wedding to be that pretty, but with green. How or who did your DS? 3 agree Reply I decorated my DS using deco parts I got from Strapya world (I dont know if links are allowed here but you should be able to google it.) If you do this though i would recommend that you use a clear plastic case to decorate as opposed to the actual DS ^^; The glue is really temperamental :). 5 agree Reply AWESOME! It's like girly overload and it works. So many gorgeous shades of pink. Love the DS ring shot. The dresses are, as my husband put it, "pretty fucking awesome!" Thank you for sharing your day with us. 7 agree Reply OMG they are both so pretty! the dresses are both amazing! i love the portal cake! pink hair! i am in love with this wedding. <3 6 agree Reply I love everything about this wedding. It was so gorgeous! And I have a Portal cake topper but now I so want mini companion cube cakes. 6 agree Reply OHMAIGAWD~ Rocking Horse Shoes? <3333333 And the others are Anna House, right? Are you ladies on EGL by chance? <333 The deco'd DS's are awesome, by the by. You're wedding looks beautiful! And I love how geeky and awesome it was! Geek chic! <3 Congrats! 6 agree Reply Thanks, I'm in love with my rocking horse shoes! I'm on EGL but just lurk. 🙂 Nice spotting with the Anna House shoes! 4 agree Reply Well, this makes me confident on wearing my rocking horse shoes for my wedding! ^^ Congrats again! <3 3 agree Reply You two are the most gorgeous couple. 3 agree Reply Absolutely BEAUTIFUL! Bravo! 4 agree Reply Congratulations girls 🙂 5 agree Reply You guys rock. This was a pleasure to read and the photos a pleasure to look at. Make the best of it! 4 agree Reply O_O I sort of really love Shoujo Kakumei Utena…and this is amazing. I really got the whole Utena feel out of it, but it was still really classic and beautiful!! The fact that you used the Sunlit Garden song…I KNEW that was what it was going to be that song as soon as I clicked on the profile for this wedding, and I SQUEEEed in happiness. I love it. This is my favorite. 7 agree Reply Oh, my! Congratulations, ladies! You look so wonderful together! 🙂 I absolutely love Anli's dress! So gorgeous and romantic and feminine… *sigh* Reply Holy crap!! Those dresses are gorgeous!! You ladies totally rocked it! Princess-style!!! Reply Anli, Laura – congratulations. This is the coolest thing I have seen! Wish you guys the best. Reply Such an awesome wedding! Congratulations ladies ^^ This is the best wedding ever, I am in tears. Your dresses are gorgeous. You are a lucky couple. O(≧∇≦)O Reply you are both adorable. i love your dresses. i hope we'll all be able to make it legal one day soon x 1 agrees Reply Best… Wedding… Ever! The both of you and your Maids of Honor are stunning, your guests were lucky to be able to attend such a unique and amazing event and from the pictures… it seems to be one of the few Weddings I'd wished I HAD been able to attend. Good Luck and Best Wishes to you both! Reply Aw, so cute. I know the girls who got married (I used to date the maid of honor who is second from the right in the DS photo) and they are lovely Reply Congratulations to the both of you! It looks like it was a beautiful day and that you are both very much in love. The very best wishes to you as you share your lives with each other. =) Reply Just saw the link to this on Kotaku. Beautiful and awesome all at the same time. Congratulations to you both =) Reply Oh my gosh guys, congratulations, awesome. Reply Read more comments 1 2 3 4 › Leave a Reply to Rask Cancel Reply Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment Notify me of follow-up comments by email. 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=))) дааа Ñто точно прекраÑно)) Yes! Beautiful )) Любовь Ñто вÑегда хорошо в незавиÑимоÑти от пола и Ñто чувÑтво вечно ))) 10 agree Reply
I, like most commenters, am vacillating between "How romantic!" and "OMG HOW AWESOME IS THAT CAKE!!!!" 18 agree Reply
Oh my god, I am a HUGE Utena fan, and these girls are so beautiful and in love i'm basically a Monday Morning puddle of sappy goo at my desk. Congratulations! 11 agree Reply
This is one of the most beautiful and unique weddings I've ever seen – and while Anli looks simply gorgeous, I am completely and utterly coveting Laura's look. Congratulations ladies! 🙂 7 agree Reply
Beautiful!! I'm geeking out over here. Every time I watch an episode of Utena I'm going to think of this wedding now 🙂 8 agree Reply
What a gorgeous wedding! The picture of the rings on the DS is going on my "must take" list. 7 agree Reply
WOW! This is one amazingly beautiful wedding. The dresses, the flowers, the cake, the geeky love! Just wonderful. Congratulations to you both! 4 agree Reply
What a great way to start my day! I love how YOU your wedding was. All of your sweet touches are stunning and OMG the dresses – Great advice about the vows…your vows are the foundation of it all and the reason for the entire event. Any chance you'll share those sweet vows somewhere? Cheers to you both and to a lifetime of creativity and fun! 7 agree Reply
Congratulations! What a thoughtful wedding. Your offbeat advise is on my OBT page. I really like your advise about the "…direction for your ceremony" and "…if you're going the DIY route, try to have everything done at least a month in advance." 6 agree Reply
Congrats, Ladies. You both look a-mazing! The shot of you two holding hands on the swing looks like something out of a shojo manga. Many years of happiness to you both! 🙂 8 agree Reply
You ladies are just absolutely beautiful. And I love the colour palette – so tasteful and feminine yet reflecting your interests! 7 agree Reply
Wow… this is breathtakingly gorgeous wedding! You're photographer did a fabulous job capturing the beauty, love and gamer-geek awesomeness. 5 agree Reply
Congratulations! Your wedding looks so stunning and lovely. And I love the dresses! Anli, I really admire you for making your own dress. I can't decide whether to make my dress or not, mostly because I'm worried I won't have it done in time, or I'll be too much of an anal perfectionist and not be happy with it. Great job on making such a breathtakingly beautiful dress! Did you have or use any patterns for inspiration? 3 agree Reply
Hi and thanks so much for your comments! I wrote more about the dress on this community: http://community.livejournal.com/corsetmakers/167… The top skirt was based from a Truly Victorian pattern (I don't have the number with me, but it was an assymetrical pleated skirt) but I didn't use commercial patterns for the other parts. I am really glad that I made my own dress but time is a serious factor – I had a long engagement and sewed for most of it. Good luck with whatever you decide to do! 7 agree Reply
Best. Wedding. Ever! I'm so happy to see this! I love anime, and Utena makes me squee! It's so gorgeous, especially your dresses and the companion cube cake which is the best inside joke EVER. 6 agree Reply
AMAZING photos! Truly a beautiful wedding – Congrats ladies!! I only have one question: WHERE DID LAURA GET HER SHOES?!!!! 6 agree Reply
Thankyou so much for your kind comments! My shoes are Ballerina Rocking Horse Shoes 🙂 The Originals are by Vivienne Westwood, but several other brands sell them in various colours. Lolita Lolas and Double Decker are the most well known. http://community.livejournal.com/egl/13085249.htm… This link has loads of great information on the different styles and brands. 🙂 7 agree Reply
wow. that was so pretty. I want my wedding to be that pretty, but with green. How or who did your DS? 3 agree Reply
I decorated my DS using deco parts I got from Strapya world (I dont know if links are allowed here but you should be able to google it.) If you do this though i would recommend that you use a clear plastic case to decorate as opposed to the actual DS ^^; The glue is really temperamental :). 5 agree Reply
AWESOME! It's like girly overload and it works. So many gorgeous shades of pink. Love the DS ring shot. The dresses are, as my husband put it, "pretty fucking awesome!" Thank you for sharing your day with us. 7 agree Reply
OMG they are both so pretty! the dresses are both amazing! i love the portal cake! pink hair! i am in love with this wedding. <3 6 agree Reply
I love everything about this wedding. It was so gorgeous! And I have a Portal cake topper but now I so want mini companion cube cakes. 6 agree Reply
OHMAIGAWD~ Rocking Horse Shoes? <3333333 And the others are Anna House, right? Are you ladies on EGL by chance? <333 The deco'd DS's are awesome, by the by. You're wedding looks beautiful! And I love how geeky and awesome it was! Geek chic! <3 Congrats! 6 agree Reply
Thanks, I'm in love with my rocking horse shoes! I'm on EGL but just lurk. 🙂 Nice spotting with the Anna House shoes! 4 agree Reply
Well, this makes me confident on wearing my rocking horse shoes for my wedding! ^^ Congrats again! <3 3 agree Reply
You guys rock. This was a pleasure to read and the photos a pleasure to look at. Make the best of it! 4 agree Reply
O_O I sort of really love Shoujo Kakumei Utena…and this is amazing. I really got the whole Utena feel out of it, but it was still really classic and beautiful!! The fact that you used the Sunlit Garden song…I KNEW that was what it was going to be that song as soon as I clicked on the profile for this wedding, and I SQUEEEed in happiness. I love it. This is my favorite. 7 agree Reply
Oh, my! Congratulations, ladies! You look so wonderful together! 🙂 I absolutely love Anli's dress! So gorgeous and romantic and feminine… *sigh* Reply
Such an awesome wedding! Congratulations ladies ^^ This is the best wedding ever, I am in tears. Your dresses are gorgeous. You are a lucky couple. O(≧∇≦)O Reply
you are both adorable. i love your dresses. i hope we'll all be able to make it legal one day soon x 1 agrees Reply
Best… Wedding… Ever! The both of you and your Maids of Honor are stunning, your guests were lucky to be able to attend such a unique and amazing event and from the pictures… it seems to be one of the few Weddings I'd wished I HAD been able to attend. Good Luck and Best Wishes to you both! Reply
Aw, so cute. I know the girls who got married (I used to date the maid of honor who is second from the right in the DS photo) and they are lovely Reply
Congratulations to the both of you! It looks like it was a beautiful day and that you are both very much in love. The very best wishes to you as you share your lives with each other. =) Reply
Just saw the link to this on Kotaku. Beautiful and awesome all at the same time. Congratulations to you both =) Reply