A self-uniting wedding on a historic boat

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The Offbeat Bride: Hannah, English Teacher (and Tribesmaid)

Her offbeat partner: Chuck, English Teacher

Date and location of wedding: Moshulu, Philadelphia, PA — August 9, 2013

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: We had the challenge of planning a wedding in Philadelphia from thousands of miles away. Between that and the budget (we wanted to pay by ourselves), our priorities had to be in line from the start. We started with The Moshulu, an historic boat that has been captured in multiple wars by different countries, won grain races, and had amazing adventures just like us. Their customer service over the internet was absolutely fantastic.

For me, my fashion criteria was that it be floofy and ballgown-y, show off my waist, have lots of details, not be entirely any variation of white, and show off the tattoo on my right arm that means so much to me. I ended up falling so in love with two different outfits that, realizing they were under my budget even combined, I decided to just go for it and buy both. I'm glad I did, because wearing the corset really stressed me out and I was happy to switch into my much more comfortable gown.

Chuck wanted something a little more dramatic than your usual men's formalwear. He wanted to feel like a rock star on his wedding day and in fact, his full outfit was inspired by an eye-catching character he'd created in Rock Band.

We had a lot of touches that were throwbacks to how we met studying abroad in Tokyo and the nerdiness that brought us together. We folded 1000 paper cranes in our colors to decorate the space (okay: he folded ONE just so that I could say “we”) in honor of the tradition we learned about together during that semester, and the cake toppers were our favorite couple from the first show we ever watched together (Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann).

Our invitations and programs had references to The Princess Bride and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and our tables were named after fictional spacecraft we like. The little centerpieces were put together in large part by my wonderful mom and aunt, and the paper flowers in the test tubes were printed with passages from beloved books.

Tell us about the ceremony:
Since we married in Pennsylvania, it was legal for us to get a license that would allow us to marry ourselves. We don't subscribe to any religion and we felt like a ceremony constructed completely by us, performed by us, would be the most meaningful to us personally. It would also give us complete creative control and take away another stressful cog in our distance-planning.

We wrote the shortest ceremony we could. I didn't want to be up there talking any more than we had to, and we didn't want any surprises with secret vows, so we wrote the whole thing together in a few drafts and adapted vows from a buddhist ceremony that we saw online that inspired us. We said them in unison.

My father read a passage from So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish and one of the groom's sisters read a passage from The Velveteen Rabbit.

I walked in alone, so that his parents and my parents could each walk in as couples. They're both amazing, loving, enduring marriages and we liked the symbolism of them coming before us as guides and examples for us to follow. The song for the processional was “Path of the Wind” from My Neighbor Totoro, and we walked out together to the fanfare from the latest Fire Emblem video game.

Our biggest challenge:
I have a real problem with anxiety. I had anxiety roughly every time we had to make a big decision, every time I imagined getting in front of a crowd, and especially when we had to travel. I hate flying, and the fourteen-hour flights both ways bookended by long car trips and treks through the airport.

I had a panic attack about an hour before getting ready. Chuck was immensely helpful for this. I wanted to be alone with him as long as possible to help my panic subside, and I felt so loved and supported, by both him and also by his awesome sister who ran interference and kept everyone away from me until I was ready.

My favorite moment:
I teared up when my father read during the ceremony from the very same copy of So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish that he read to me before bed when I was a little kid. That same beat up tome followed me to college, to Japan, to New York, to Korea, on every vacation I've ever taken, even on many sleepovers when I was in grade school. I hardly leave home without it, and to have photos of him enthusiastically reading from that same copy at my wedding was really emotional for me.

Additionally, we had a random fireworks event that was not planned or paid for by us! Just after dinner was over, we heard some loud popping sounds off to one end of the deck on the ship. Less than 100 feet away, on the dock, someone was setting off beautiful, very professional fireworks! It was the most incredible surprise.

My funniest moment:
Neither my husband nor I are graceful people, and we didn't practice any of the moments like maybe we should have. When it was time to cut the cake, we had no clue what we were doing, and there are photos of us struggling with it, nearly jostling over the soft cake, him making a face at the camera, and us attempting to feed each other at the least attractive angle possible.

Also funny was when Chuck and his groomsmen danced together to the Power Rangers theme song, something he had wanted to do ever since he coordinated their vest colors.

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding?
It reminded me of the story of stone soup — everyone brings something to the table, even if it's not what they or you would have originally expected they'd bring, and when they do, the result is something beautiful and unique that everyone made together.