Anna & Jeremias' Old Hollywood Swedish wedding • Offbeat Wed (was Offbeat Bride)

The offbeat bride: Anna, customer service agent (and Tribe member)

Her offbeat partner: Jeremias, hotel receptionist

Date and location of wedding: Ceremony at City Hall and the party at Birkakällaren, Stockholm, Sweden — September 17, 2011

What made our wedding offbeat: Our ceremony took less than five minutes and the only guests were our closest family and friends. Later that evening we had a big dinner and party for our extended family and friends. We focused on making our day stress-free and fun. If we didn't like a tradition or wedding “rule,” we scrapped it! We DIYed a lot, including my brooch bouquet, our cake topper, my birdcage veil, the Old Hollywood-inspired table numbers, and both of our hair pieces (the groom actually made his all by himself). And I guess not many newlyweds take the subway to the reception?

Tell us about the ceremony: Jeremias suffers from emetophobia and has a problem with being the center of attention. So standing up in front of all 66 of our guests during a long wedding ceremony? Not gonna happen. Instead, we decided on the quickest ceremony possible, which was the civil version at City Hall in Stockholm. Fortunately, that place is absolutely gorgeous so we got the best of both worlds: a short ceremony in a beautiful room.

We managed to drop Jeremias' ring during the ceremony, to everyone's amusement. We didn't do any readings, obviously, but there were some heart-warming moments. Our rings were kept in a ring book that I had DIYed, our son kept wedging himself in between us, my maid of honor cried, and so did my father when we hugged after the ceremony.

Our biggest challenge: Letting go of control. Usually, I'm the one in charge and I like to do everything myself so it gets done “right.” So it was really hard to let others help out. In the end, though, I just realized that the details really don't matter. As long as we walked away from City Hall as husband and wife, nothing could ruin my day. So, when we couldn't get hold of a cab to take us to the reception, we walked through Old Town, took awesome pictures and took the subway the rest of the way. Lemons to lemonade, you know?

My favorite moment: Seeing my husband return just in time for the ceremony after walking off on his own a while earlier. He wasn't feeling well at all. He has trouble attending OTHER people's weddings so I was worried that he wouldn't be able to go through with ours. But he managed to dig deep down for strength and came back to City Hall just minutes before our booked appointment. I'm so proud of him!

My funniest moment: It's a tie between two. The first was during the wedding ceremony. When it was my turn to put the ring on my husband's finger, he extended his right hand. I just figured he wanted it that way so I started to slip the ring on. Suddenly he snatched his hand back so fast that I dropped the ring on the floor. I laughed and asked if he'd changed his mind about marrying me. He laughed too, explained that he had realized the hand error and gave me his left hand instead. It really eased the nervousness we both were feeling.

The second funniest moment was during the best man's speech at the reception. He told everyone how, when Jeremias and I first became a couple 11 years ago, he couldn't figure out why a classy lady like me would want to be with someone “not as classy” like Jeremias. But it all made sense when I, at a party at my house and everyone else but the three of us had left, pulled out an old Nintendo from a cupboard and proceeded with beating both of them at Mario Kart while swearing like a sailor. I laughed until I cried when he told us this (and was truly grateful for him not telling everyone exactly what words my swearing had contained)!

Taking a break, sipping on some Tru Blood…

Was there anything you were sure was going to be a total disaster that unexpectedly turned out great? To be honest, I had prepared myself for the possibility of not getting married that day. As I mentioned earlier, Jeremias was a mess before the ceremony so there was a risk that he wouldn't be able to make it. I was okay with it though. I had told him beforehand that if he felt he couldn't go through with it, we'd just come back another day. He managed to pull himself together beautifully though and felt great the rest of the day. All this just made me appreciate him more, because I knew that he went through all that for me.

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? When you get caught up in details, take a step back and look at the big picture. What's the number one most important thing here? Love, right? So, as long as you both say I do, who cares if the cake, cupcakes, and decorations are delivered late or none of the guests even notice the photo booth (both happened to us). You just got married to Your Person. Nothing else matters.