Lisa & Kyle's zombie apocalypse, punk-rock dance party wedding • Offbeat Wed (was Offbeat Bride)

The offbeat bride: Lisa, Tribe member

Her offbeat partner: Kyle

Location & date of wedding: El Corazon bar, Seattle, WA — January 16, 2011

What made our wedding offbeat: Zombies! Mutated Baby Dolls! Leopard Wedding Dress! Bloody Tuxedo Shirts! We fell in love over our mutual love of zombies and all things Romero, and wanted a wedding that was uniquely us.

We designed and did pretty much everything ourselves. I designed the Save the Dates and invites and the artwork for our beer koozies (viva Adobe Illustrator!). Kyle and I bought all the decor ourselves, and designed all the tabletop decor.

We wrote our own vows and one of my best friends got ordained just for our ceremony.

We had four bands play our wedding so it felt more like a show at our favorite bar than a stuffy wedding. Punk Rock Dance Party! Our wedding party walked down the aisle to “Final Countdown” (when the music started everyone went nuts!); I walked out to “Walk the Line;” and our recessional was the theme from “Rocky!”

Even though our wedding was quirky, it was still sentimental, loving and emotional… just like us!

Tell us about the ceremony: Here are our vows, which we obviously wrote ourselves:

Kyle, do you promise to love Lisa in hypochondria, and in health in rich times and… in your normal lives?
Do you promise to always answer the door when the door bell rings and to not make too much fun of Lisa for hiding and screaming?
Lisa, do you promise to love Kyle in leather and in beard, in rich times… and in your normal lives?
Do you promise to always allow Kyle to have at least 3 unfinished “projects” going at any given time?

Everyone is still asking me how many projects Kyle has going!

After the vows, our officiant, Mike, poured us shots from his Bible. Right before we took our shots one of my friends yelled out “Jameson or Bushmills?” (I famously only drink Jameson; Kyle is a Bushmills man) Without missing a beat I yelled back, “Jameson…PLEASE!” 🙂

Our biggest challenge: Our biggest challenge was negotiating the guest list. We had to keep it small to be within our budget, but it was hard not inviting people that we really wanted there. Also, lots of people didn't RSVP so we didn't know if they were coming or not.

The good thing was that our caterers were pretty flexible (we hired a local hot dog vendor) so we didn't have to worry about place settings or specific portions. I'd definitely recommend casual brides go that route rather than a plated dinner. Everyone got to eat as much as they wanted and we didn't have to stress about so and so not making it. That helped a lot!

My favorite moment: We had friends that came from all over for our big day — as far away as Japan! Knowing that people wanted to see us get hitched so much meant a ton to us.

Also, I loved our ceremony! We wrote it ourselves and everyone participated along with it. Hearing everyone cheer, laugh and cry along with us… well, it was just so awesome! My big sister gave a sweet toast and my two best friends gave a toast where they rewrote the words to “Don't Stop Believin'” to fit me and Kyle, and by the end everyone was singing along!

My funniest moment:I loved that when we walked out to the theme from Rocky, I got to do a little Rocky Balboa pose on top of the stairs and we could hear everyone singing along as we walked out.

Was there anything you were sure was going to be a total disaster that unexpectedly turned out great? Our cake! One of my friends told us pretty much the second that we got engaged that she would make our cake as a gift to us. Unfortunately, almost a year later and a month before the wedding, she bailed. We hadn't even looked into the cost of cakes since we thought it was taken care of and we were shocked by the price! (Especially since we wanted something creative to go with our theme). We pretty much crossed having a cake off our list, until Kyle's good friend, Becky, came through and delivered us an amazingly rad (and super tasty) cake!

My advice for offbeat brides: Realize that everything won't be perfect no matter how OCD you get. People will be late, people will get drunk… roll with it.

Rely on your friends; they love you in all of your craziness and you'll be surprised who is willing to help you spray fake blood all over flowers or make baby-doll part bouquets.

Remember that this day is about celebrating you and your partner and it should be a reflection of your love and life. For some people that may mean taffeta and swan ice sculptures, for you it may mean disembodied fake limbs and Jameson toasts. I wouldn't have been comfortable in a white poof dress and Kyle would have felt awkward in a suit. We wanted to be ourselves, be comfortable, and HAVE FUN!

Being your offbeat self? That rocks.

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding?I've learned that your friends really come through for you when you need it! Our friends rule! (They were the best little helper monkeys!)

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

Bride's Dress: Trashy Diva
Bride's Shoes: Iron Fist Clothing
Birdcage Veil: Vintage Box 1947
Hand Broach (on veil): Kreepsville666
Bride's Bone Stretch Bracelet: Martha Rotten at Mode Merr (ps. Everyone at Mode Merr rocks! I couldn't find my package and they went totally out of their way to help!)
Bride's Brain Necklace: Chris Telford
Bride's Wedding Ring: Yvonne Snyder
Grooms ring: Chris Telford