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The offbeat bride: Tasha, Customer Service
Her offbeat partner: Andrew, Art Gallery Director
Location & date of wedding: The Balcony on Dock St., Wilmington, NC — 10/25/2009
What made our wedding offbeat: We made our wedding offbeat by keeping the decorations simple, but with tons of personal touches. We actually had three beach houses on N. Topsail Beach for everyone to stay in for the entire weekend. We made our own invitations, programs, favor boxes, centerpieces and cupcake toppers. Everyone close to us contributed in some way. My bouquet was made by the Maid of Honor, out of hand sculpted and painted birds. We made the groomsmen handkerchiefs with a variety of mustaches for them to wear.
I get nervous in front of large crowds, so we attached fake mustaches to the programs for all the guests to wear. It was a big help! We had a short, traditional ceremony, followed by pictures in the courtyard. Our reception was a brunch with lots of music and dancing. We saved so much money having a brunch wedding.
Our friends and family contributed so much to our wedding. The cupcakes were made by a friend, chocolate with lime icing! And our dj was my best friend of nine years.
Our wedding was about letting everyone know who we are together and bringing them all together. We made decisions and stuck with them, let everyone be themselves, and bonded with all of our guests personally. We let things flow naturally which is how we live our lives. We might not have it all together but together we have it all.
Our biggest challenge: Our budget was our biggest challenge. We had decided to pay for the wedding ourselves. We did not want our families to have to contribute anything but love and support. We planned everything to a tee! Except for a photographer! How could we forget?!
It was quickly approaching our wedding date and we did not have much money for a photographer. So we took a chance. We posted an ad on Craigslist looking for a photographer to shoot our wedding. We said we did not have much money but it was guaranteed to be fun! We recieved over fifty responses in two days! We were so suprised. We ended up having three wonderful photographers. We only spent 250 dollars and traded some vintage clothes for the services. We agreed to do photo editing ourselves and we got a deal! We could not have asked for better photographers! We learned that it does not hurt anything to ask. You never know what you will recieve! So take a chance. There are tons of talented people in the world, including friends and family. We spent only 4000 dollars on our wedding, for everything! And we have over 1000 pictures to remember our day!
My favorite moment: There are definitely more than one favorite moment for me. But I think the one that stands out most would be my entrance into the ceremony. Our good friend played “The Girl from Ipanema” on guitar and I walked with my father. To see that most all of our guests had on their fake mustaches and were all smiling, made me so happy! It was more than the silliness of fake mustaches, it was everyone lightening up for a moment, and also showing us support! Everyone looked hilarious! And to have everyone I care about in one room was so powerful! It was something I will never forget. Not to mention my Maid of Honor had taken her shoes off because they were hurting her feet! It was wonderful to see everyone being themselves even in a semi-serious situation!
My advice for other offbeat brides: Oh boy do I have lots of advice.
I have only been to two weddings my whole life. I knew nothing about what to do. I did not expect things to be so expensive. So the first advice is to enlist help from friends and family. People are so creative. All you have to do is let go of the control a little and it will pay off. I did not even see my bouquet until the night before. It had been described to me but I had not seen it yet. And I let the girls pick their own black dresses. Anything they want! You have to remember that you love these people for who they are, and if you try to control everything about them on your wedding day, you are taking away part of their individuality.
Also try to make as many things for your wedding as you can. It will be more peronal, and a lot less stressful.
Stand your ground on the important things, and let the others go. It is your day, but it is also a day about family and coming together. Alot of what made our wedding so successful was that we stated what vision we had, and then let people contribute freely!
Remember why you are getting married in the first place, and do not forget it.
Also plan within your means, and get creative!
Care to share a few vendor/shopping links? Well… we made just about everything. I think our local craft stores helped us out the most. I also would browse Etsy daily to get ideas. I found my dress in the party section at a bridal store. Got my shoes on Ebay, and basically just looked for inspiration!
Enough talk — show us the wedding porn!:
About the Author: Offbeat Editors
Working tirelessly to bring you stimulating content day after day, the Offbeat Empire's editors will not sleep until you've gotten your offbeat fix.
What a great theme and color scheme! And I loooooove the birdie bouquet! You guys look like you really had fun – congratulations!
Effing awesome wedding. Please keep the inexpensive ones coming.
And I must know more about her dress. Details?
Love it! The dress is gorgeous! Looks like everyone had fun.
I love these pics – they made me go "Aaaah" all the way through. I want to know more about the mathematical tattoo??!!
It's the Golden Ratio: Art + Math = Perfect. : )
I absolutely love your dress!!! Is there any way for me to find it?!
Thanks for the awesome comments!!! I found my dress in the party section at David's Bridal. It was a discontinued dress and just my size! No alterations needed. I might be selling it, because so many people have expressed interest in it. I would love to pass it on. It brought me a great day! Feel free to ask me any questions!
any way it would fit a size 8?!? I would love to buy it! 🙂
it is a street size six but it was a little big on the top for me. I'm a 34b. I will get the exact measurements for you so you can tell but, i usually wear a 7/8. I will post the measurements later for you!
well i'm a 36C so that might be perfect! 🙂 Also, my mom can do wonders with a sewing machine!
I am so in love with that dress! And you are definitely such a gorgeous couple – congrats!
Ooh! Wilmington! I'll have to go hunting for the buildings I see in the photos to get an idea of how it all looked! X3
sweet! I will get the measurements for you sometime today and post them for you! I hope it works for you! My email is [email protected] so email me with your address and i can let you know!
looooove the mustaches and want to do kinda the same thing but i was going to put the moustaches on program/fans. did you make the stick on mustaches yourself? such a beautiful wedding!
we ordered the mustaches in bulk online at a random party store. they were hard to get since it was close to halloween! we made the mustaches on sticks that the bridesmaids carried out of felt and foam! mustaches on fans would be sooooo cute!
Beautiful! and Great advice!! Thank you 🙂
Love the photos! What a great vibe of love & mischief. Faux mustaches make everyone smile. I heart your dress.
OMG. It's so amazing to look at this website and see people I know! Talk about a doubletake. What a beautiful and awesome wedding!
Summerlin!!!! Hi!!!
Your wedding looks like so much fun! i love your head piece!!!
My husband made it for only 5 dollars. We were thinking of making them and selling them on etsy. When I was looking for one I could not understand why they were sooooo expensive!
Hey Tasha, I sent you an email…no rush if you're still working on it, but I just wanted to make sure I sent the email correctly. Thanks!
Hey Rachel. I got your email. My dress is in storage and I could not get to it last night. Do not worry, I am going to get the measurements for you! I think it will work for you but I will try to get them tonight.
Sweet! No worries…I just wanted to make sure I didn't mess up the email! lol Take your time! 🙂
Good lord, that looks exactly like the Michelle Roth Maya. Davids should have kept making it, that's the most wanted dress ever right now.
Beautiful wedding.
I know!!! I guess it was not the kind of dress most Davids customers were looking for.
what a great dress, and theme!! my sister would love this!!
I am the Mother of Tasha Copley-and I thought she was the most beautiful brideI have ever seen.and isn't my son-in-law a very handsome man.I love them both so very much.I am so proud of them.I will always be there for both of them when they need me.Love you guys, Mom
aw. I love you mom!
Your photos are wonderful! I can't believe you got them so cheap!
What an amazing wedding! It was so refreshing to see a couple's awesomeness shine, rather than some generic wedding magazine's preconceived notions of what's most marketable. A great wedding should personify the couple, not the other way around.
one of the best on the site by far! and inspiring!
congratulations!
Thanks so much! We did so much planning and work. I am glad it inspired so many brides. I have lots of ideas that i would love to share if anyone needs help!
I am in love with your green ceterpieces! I’m doing non-floral centerpieces and those green spikey things would be a perfect addition. So, uh, what are they? The wedding was gorgeous and I do have location envy. I wanted to get married in Wilmington, but being the hands on anal retentive person I am this location did not work out. I am unfortunately still stuck in phase 2 of Freud’s development theory. So my wedding closer to home in Charlotte, where I can be on top of everything at all times and not share.
i love love LOVE that photo of you and your husband sitting in that old chair! your wedding looked amazing. i hope i manage to show as much personality as you two did!!
thanks so much! stay true to yourselves and all of your personality will come through!
http://www.oncewed.com/23071/used-wedding-dresses…
She's selling it!
tasha!! You guys are so amazing.
lovelovelove you