Kimmy & Ramzi's hill country sunset wedding with bells! • Offbeat Wed (was Offbeat Bride)

The offbeat bride: Kimmy, ICU nurse

Her offbeat partner: Ramzi, Sales Manager for Wyndham Hotels

Location & date of wedding: Chapel Dulcinea at the Wizard Academy in Austin, TX — June 26, 2010

What made our wedding offbeat: Obviously, our own taste in style showed through, but more than that, it was inexpensive! After being engaged for over a year with no luck in finding a nice venue we could afford, out of desperation I googled “free wedding venue in Austin” and stumbled upon a true treasure: The Chapel Dulcinea at the Wizard Academy in Austin!

I bought a prom dress and had a purple veil made for me on Etsy. My maid and matron of honor rocked white dresses and our dog was our flower girl! Our mutual friend Alex is ordained, so he married us in a small ceremony with friends and family. It was his birthday on the day we got married, so we had a small, personal “Happy Birthday” cake for him that we set right next to ours!

Bells were our theme: our RSVP cards were a play on the phrase, “be there with bells on” and we rang a bell at the chapel after we got married! And yes, some of our friends and family actually wore bells to our wedding!

Our “guestbook” was a sheet of paper with a tree on it. We set out green ink pads and everyone left a thumbprint “leaf.” Now we can frame “our family tree!”

We didn't do a dinner reception. Rather we had just a cake and wine toast before meeting everyone at a family fun entertainment center afterwards for games, drinks and dinner.

Tell us about the ceremony: Our friend Alex is ordained and he married us in a semi-religious ceremony, and we wrote our own vows. It was very special to us and we're framing them! We made everyone laugh when asked, “Do you take this man/woman to be your lawfully wedded husband/wife?” and we both looked at each other and said, “duh!”

Our biggest challenge: My biggest challenge was staying calm over an issue that I just knew would BE an issue: I did not want children at my wedding. Our wedding was a grand total of two hours — I didn't think it would be a big deal for people to get a babysitter. Predictably, however, a few people didn't listen and children were at my wedding despite my request. Sure enough, within minutes one of them burned herself on my curling iron and her mother, who was supposed to do my makeup for the wedding had to take her home. So I had to do it by myself — and I never wear makeup! In the end though, I kept my cool, and my makeup turned out great, if I may say so myself.

My favorite moment: The kiss! 😀 That was the best part. And the sunset, and the toasts. I would say ringing the chapel bell after we got married, but we forgot to do that! So – our mom's ringing the bell on our behalf, haha.

My funniest moment: Forgetting to ring the chapel bell or smushing cake in each others faces.

My advice for offbeat brides: I found my free venue literally by searching “free wedding venue in Austin, TX” and it's everything I could have wanted! Don't give up on finding the perfect venue. 🙂

Also, my wedding flowers were really inexpensive because instead of bouquets, I had my two girls each carry a single rose and I myself only carried three flowers tied with ribbon.

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? If you don't want children at your wedding, don't have children at your wedding, no matter what anyone else tells you! That is really the only thing I would have changed.

But really, everyone had an amazing time and I got several compliments on how we remained so focused on friends and family rather than glitz and glamour. We'll try to keep that trend going in our married life!

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?