A gothically delicious 'til-death-themed wedding • Offbeat Wed (was Offbeat Bride)

The offbeat bride: Emily, Artist

Her offbeat partner: Dan, Owner of local store Excalibur Comics

Date and location of wedding: The Jekyll & Hyde Club, Greenwich Village, NYC — 04/13/2012

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: Dan and I knew we wanted to get married, but we're not the romantic types. I hate wearing white and we couldn't see ourselves listening to “wedding music” all night. Why spend all that money, time, and effort if we were only going to be miserable all night? So our solution was to forget tradition and just do what would make us happy, no matter how weird the event became in the eyes of others.

We met in a bar, so we wanted to really celebrate that fact and get married in a bar. While looking for a place to hold our ceremony, we stopped in The Jekyll & Hyde Club in Greenwich Village and we knew it was the perfect place for us. We also wanted to play only metal, rock, and goth music throughout the night.

We built the elements of the wedding around the already existing decor of the club, which included a lot of skulls and skeletons. A “'til death” theme seemed perfect. Finding wedding invites and favors with skulls all over them is not an easy task, so I opted to make as much as I could for the wedding. I enjoy crafting, so this was something exciting and fun for me to dive into.

I ended up making the dessert served at the wedding. Dan loves these Red Velvet cupcakes that I usually make on special occasions. So I transformed my plain Red Velvet cupcakes into “To Die For Graveyard Cupcakes” for the big day.

Tell us about the ceremony: It was a really simple secular ceremony. There were some heartfelt words and we exchanged rings. Professing my feelings is not an easy thing for me, especially in front of a big crowd, so I was really nervous.

Our biggest challenge: Time was a big challenge! We had a lot going on in our personal lives right before the wedding. Finding the free time to sit down and create the invitations, the favors, the centerpieces, the cake topper, the ring box, and the dessert took up a lot of time.

Luckily for me, my bridesmaids are a pretty crafty and talented bunch. They were more than happy to get together with me and mass produce my wedding vision. I especially loved decorating the cupcakes with everyone. It was a great night spent in good company and we decorated 75 cupcakes in just a few hours!

My favorite moment: The masks we wore during the ceremony were very meaningful to me. Dan and I went to the New York Renaissance Faire last year. I saw this booth filled with beautiful masks and fell in love. On a whim I said, “Can I wear a mask instead of a veil to the wedding?” and Dan replied, “Yeah, why not? I'll wear one too!” This may seem like a simple exchange of words, but it is the very definition of our relationship. He is always really supportive of my ideas.

The masks also tied in perfectly with our first dance to David Bowie's “As the World Falls Down” from the movie Labyrinth. While “As the World Falls Down” plays, the movie depicts a ballroom filled with masked guests and a dashing goblin king singing to the heroine of the story.

A silly choice for a first dance? Maybe for some, but definitely not for me. Dan knows how much I love the movie, and when we first started dating, the first time he ever gave me flowers, he quoted a verse from the song on the gift card. Needless to say, I took notice that he pays attention big time, and I've been pretty attached to him ever since.

My advice for Offbeat Brides: If you can't find what you want, CREATE IT! Your wedding will be all the more personal because you've put your own little touches into all the details. It will be a really rewarding feeling when the guests marvel over the elements of the event that you had a hand in bringing to life.

And seriously, don't stress over the small stuff. My maid of honor's dress looked like a completely different shade of purple than everything else in the wedding. I was annoyed at the misrepresentation of the dress on the site it was ordered from. But looking at the pictures now, I like the dynamic the color has in the grand scheme of things.

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? I think we both took away from the wedding that it is only when you are true to yourself that you can be truly happy. Both Dan and I, the self-proclaimed haters of all things wedding-related, walked away from the night extremely happy. And this is without a doubt due to the fact that we got to celebrate the perfect weirdness that is our relationship.

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

Photography: Sara Harper-Hudson
Leather outerwear and groom's custom boots: Son of Sandlar
Leather Masks: Satori Masks
Bride's dress: Sharpe Designs (and then altered heavily)
Bridesmaid's dresses: Amazon
Skull candles in centerpieces: Etsy seller DarknessVoid
Invites, skeleton cake topper, cupcakes: Made my me at Etsy seller Emmadreamstar
Officiant: Denise at Holistic Union