Elly & Nick's vintage/redneck planned-in-30-days wedding • Offbeat Wed (was Offbeat Bride)

The offbeat bride: Elly, small town singer/songwriter

Her offbeat partner: Nick, jack of all trades

Date and location of wedding: Medford, Oregon — September 25, 2009

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: I am a lover of all things vintage, and my husband is a hunting, fishing self-described redneck. I didn't want my wedding to look like I was marrying myself, so we fused our loves together to create a wedding that would unmistakably be “ours.”

We decided to get married after we endured a miscarriage together. We were broken-hearted, but we had learned two important things about our relationship: that we would grow stronger through hard times, and we wanted to be a family.

My husband's parents were visiting from Arkansas, so we decided to squeeze in a weddin' while they were there!

Our biggest challenge: Our biggest challenge was time, since we only had 30 days to get everything ready. Our second challenge was that we had no money! We decided to get married in our back yard, and we roasted a pig in the ground. My mother made my dress for under a hundred dollars, my friend created the bouquets 30 minutes before the ceremony, and my husband's grandmother made our cake. We decorated our tables with thrift store plates and tea sets, and lit it all up with fairy lights and oil lamps.

My favorite moment: The whole wedding was wonderful and meaningful, but the way our families came together to make it that way would have to be at the top. Their help and enthusiasm was essential.

My funniest moment: When I shook my head and said “no” instead of “I do.” It sounds bad, but my husband knows my sense of humor.

My advice for Offbeat Brides: Don't let others, or yourself, tell you that a wedding has to be or look a certain way, or that it has to cost a lot of money. Ours was truly a fusion of the two of us and we were able to have exactly what we wanted on a really limited budget.