Art by Jeremy Dale.
Art by Jeremy Dale.

The offbeat bride: Marisa – Action figure sales manager

Her offbeat partner: Patrick – Physics student/waiter

Location & date of wedding: Maryland Science Center, Baltimore, MD — March 14, 2009: Pi Day 2009!

What made our wedding offbeat: The most important thing to us when we were choosing our venue was to not hold our event in a ‘wedding box' like a hotel ballroom or run of the mill event space. We looked into boats, theaters, restaurants, our hometowns and backyards, where his parents married, etc… When we finally found our perfect place, we built the rest of the wedding around it.

Our Victory Lap!

To celebrate our respective geekdoms (mine being comic books and stars and his being physics and math) we married under an artificial night sky in the planetarium of a science museum on the nerdiest day of the year, March 14th. (Pi Day and Albert Einstein's birthday.) We partied on the constellation inlaid floors of the museum's lobby afterwards.

seating chart

We ran with the theme and created the “Periodic Table of Seating Chart” and used chemistry glassware throughout the reception.

marisa&patrick124
He's also an amazing origami artist, so he spent a year making 200 origami roses for our bouquets and centerpieces. I commissioned a comic book artist to design our programs and used custom action figures for our cake topper. We also shone a Batsignal in our fauxto-booth.

Mini-us!

Our dog, Einstein, is such an important part of our family, so we were ecstatic that he got to be part of our big day. Not only did he trot down the aisle in a tuxedo, but he even cut a rug during the reception.

Bat hound!

And our sweetheart table was underneath a giant dinosaur skeleton.

4418234027 8d038505e4 alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

Tell us about your ceremony: Our ceremony was written by the groom's family friend who just so happens to also be a minister. He even scripted our vows and they were absolutely perfect. We used Taylor Mali's “Falling in Love is like Owning a Dog” as our main reading.

Look at the stars…

Our biggest challenge: When we started planning our wedding we lived in Baltimore and our families were in NY and Maine. Then, about nine months before our wedding, we unexpectedly moved back to NY. Our folks figured since we moved, we'd rearrange our wedding plans and bring it all to NY. Problem was, we had planned something that was such a perfect fit for us (and our budget) that moving our wedding was just out of the question.

Our Rockin' Bridal Party

So, we did everything long distance. Luckily we had had an amazing day of coordinator that really stepped up to the task of getting together our now incredibly non-local vendors. We also had some great friends in the Baltimore area who helped us pick stuff up and let us ship countless wedding related materials straight to their homes.

A quick stroll in the rain #2

Was there anything you were sure was going to be a total disaster that unexpectedly turned out great? March can be a lion or lamb, and for our wedding day, it was a lion. It rained steadily throughout the day. I was disappointed as I had hoped for some great shots out on the harbor. Instead what we got were some amazing pictures of us walking across the street under umbrellas in the rain to our wedding. Those pictures are among our favorites from the whole day.

A quick stroll in the rain #3

My favorite moment: As you can imagine, the layout of a planetarium can cause a couple issues with coming in and out of the room. To be fair to all the folks in a circular room, we did a lap around the giant telescope on our way out after the ceremony so we'd pass everyone. Our dog also took the lap with us. It was so amazing to see all of our guests smiling faces right after we became an official family while Coldplay's “Yellow” played in the background (“Look at the stars, look how they shine for you.“)

Dog on the dance floor

My funniest moment: I was the first one on the dance floor when it opened up. My partner, our twelve pound yorkie/miniature schnauzer, Einstein, all decked out in his tux. One of the tricks he knows is to dance, so I had him cut a rug with me!

My Superhero

My advice for offbeat brides: Making it yours does not always mean things will be tacky. You'll be surprised how you can subtly feature your quirkiness into details that will bring out such beauty in your event. Did I mention that there were Batman logos and pi symbols on our (fairly traditional-looking) cake?

Cake Shot!

Also, try not to move house twice while you're planning your wedding. It's just not fun.

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? I learned the important skill of letting things go. As a constant worrier, I was coached to relax and accept the things I couldn't change and just go with the flow. Even now I reflect on difficult or frustrating situations by thinking, is this problem worth all the time and anger I will go through just thinking about it? Don't sweat the small stuff, and everything works out to the best in the end.

And they all lived happily ever after

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

  • Event planners: Howerton Wooten Events – We could not have had a more awesome team to help us put together this wedding.
  • Photographer: Jason Knauer Photography – He took some really amazing shots that accentuated the details of our day.
  • Rings: New York Wedding Ring – We handmade our rings in Sam's workshop. They're based on the infinite mobius strip.
  • Comic: Jeremy Dale – His wonderful artwork turned our programs into collectible comic books!

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