Tasha & Andrew's fun, elegant, mustache extravaganza wedding

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!: