The offbeat bride: Libby, Pediatric Office Manager/child holder-downer (and OBT member)
Her offbeat partner: Jobe, Central Office Tech
Location & date of wedding: Columbia Park, Portland, OR. — July 26th, 2009
What made our wedding offbeat: Jobe wanted a court house wedding, but I have a lot of important friends and family that I wanted to share our day with (I'm a cancer survivor, and eight years ago I wasn't sure if I would ever get to this point in my life). I just wanted to have a big party with vegan and vegetarian food, and promised Jobe a three – five minute ceremony.
We didn't have a “theme,” and the colors were “happy and bright.” I ordered some supplies for decorations and just handed them off to family and told them to have at it! Another friend did all the flowers for us (I just told her to do what she wanted with what was in season). A friend's mom made our vegan cup cakes and I baked 150+ short cakes two days before the wedding (along with six pies, two berry crisps and a berry cobbler).
I had an “entourage” and told the ladies to wear a black dress that they felt good in.
Jobe had no groomsmen, unless you count the cardboard cut out of my brother, who also served as the ring man. We had a friend (and fellow cancer survivor) officate, and he read our vows off the back of a local microbrewery's menu.
Our wedding truly had the help of friends and family to pull it all together.
Our biggest challenge: The biggest challenge was that my mom passed away suddenly and unexpectedly three months to the day before our wedding. We were engaged for what ended up being twenty months, waiting to hear when my brother, who is in the navy and stationed in Japan, could make it back. We could never get a date from him, so I went ahead and booked the park five months before the wedding. I told him to send us a photo, and we would make sure he was there for photos.
For the first fifteen months we didn't really do any planning, beside knowing we wanted a party with vegetarian food. After my mom passed, and helping plan the “Celebration of Sharon” in two weeks, I didn't feel like planning a wedding anymore. I asked a cousin if she would take over, and I would just round up supplies and let her do what she wanted with them. So many friends and family jumped in to help and our day turned out amazing! The night before the wedding I was watching a movie with my dad and sister, and wasn't doing any last minute DIY or panicking.
My favorite moment: I know it's sappy, but the whole day was. From showing up and seeing everything that everyone had done come all together, seeing everyone there (we didn't hide before hand, and were greeting guests right until we walked down the aisle), having a completely vegan/vegetarian picnic even when people were worried (they were saying it was BYOB, bring your own burger), Jobe having to go put his suit back on after changing because we forgot to take pictures of just the two of us, the whole day kicked ass.
My offbeat advice: Don't fold on what you would like, but also be flexible (Heat wave starts — get fans! Brother can make it? — Cardboard cut out! Need extra hands — just ask!).
We wanted veggie food, and stuck to our guns, even though there was only four true vegan/vegetarians there out of about 140 people. Allowing some one else to take over most of the details and just giving them the supplies to work with sure made life easier for me. Knowing that even if you don't do everything you hoped to (wedding bingo, yard games, actually saying hello to everyone there…) the day will still be awesome.
Oh, and hand your camera to a friend with a good eye for photos. I gave mine to a friend, and she handed it back to me after the wedding. The next morning we got to look at photos on the preview screen and actually see what all happened that day. Our party lasted about five hours, but it only felt like thirty minutes.
Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?
- Shoes: Imelda's and Louie's
- Photographer: Back to Basics Photo
- Dress: David's bridal
- Paper lanterns: lunabazaar.com
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