Caitlin & Jos chaotic gothic geek-chic wedding/party

The offbeat bride: Caitlin, Optical Assistant (and OBT Member)

Her offbeat partner: Jos, IT Assistant

Location & date of wedding: Registry Office Norwich, followed by reception at the Doghouse Bar, Norwich, United Kingdom — April 15, 2010

What made our wedding offbeat: Ultimately, we did what seemed natural for us. As we paid for it all ourselves so we didn't have to meet anyones expectations. We did what felt right; and if that meant there were no formal speeches or first dances then so be it – we were more interested in everyone being comfortable and having a good time.

Our wedding was an awesome party featuring lots of purple and green, zombies, pirates and dinosaurs.

I wore a purple corset and skirt which I had custom made, Iron Fist zombie shoes and a green hat from etsy. Jos wore a vintage Tailcoat from the interwebs and a brocade waistcoat on sale. I carried an Origami bouquet. I was walked down the Aisle by my mother and my aunt; he had two best men.

We had a green and purple cake with skulls, and we had pansies in pots and origami flowers to decorate our venue, and we wrote our own vows. We made toasts with absinthe and served a buffet. Everything came to a very reasonable £3000, mainly because we had a lot of friends doing stuff for us at cost!

Tell us about the ceremony: The ceremony was in a registry office, which by UK law is quite restrictive in what you are and aren't allowed to do and say. However we did still put our own stamp on things. My ring words to him expressed a wish to make zombie survival plans, and his pleaded that I'd put up with his awful jokes. Other than that and my choices of music (Tori Amos, Emilie Autumn) it was a fairly standard UK Registry office.

Our biggest challenge: I was surprised how obstructionist people could be, over things I thought were fairly simple, obvious and non controversial, but things like, me choosing to wear purple often got me odd looks. I found that honestly, just ingoring them and blithely rambling on about how AWESOME that was, was the best way. To be honest I had a fairly easy time of it, I've always been known as ‘odd' and I think people expected something different.

My favorite moment: Seeing his soppy smile as I walked over that aisle. All the nervousness and clammy palms seemed to disappear in a moment of ‘yes'.

My funniest moment: Jos reading his vows off a bit of paper and me muttering ‘I learned mine' which because of acoustics was heard by everyone: people constantly telling us Mount Doom had erupted on our wedding and we were all doomed; Me attempting to go up and down stairs in my very tight skirt.

My advice for offbeat brides: Find out what venues can and can't do before you start planning – It's easy to get carried away with ‘and we can do this and this' and then realise that no, you can't.

Do your research among your friends – you'll be amazed how cheaply you can do things if friends want to trade services as wedding gifts – that's how we got our invites, our decorations and the bouquet.

Finally, I know it's hard, but don't get stressed, and remember why you're doing all this nonsense. Because you love each other, and what to spend the rest of your life together. Next to that, nothing matters.

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? That I was surrounded by love and support, and all I ever needed to do was ask.

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?