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The Offbeat Bride: Tatica, Photographer
Her offbeat partner: Richzendy, Programmer
Date and location of wedding: Sendero Encantado, San Cristóbal, Táchira, Venezuela — July 27, 2013
Our offbeat wedding at a glance: Richzendy and I are long time open-source contributors and met through the internet. There was no love until the day we met AFK. We are both geeks, both PlayStation 3 and Wii gamers, both sci-fi fans, and long-term Linux contributors. Since day one we knew we were a perfect match. After seven years, he proposed to me at the top of the Mayan Ruins at Guatemala, the same place where the Yavin 4 location was filmed for Star Wars IV. As it says, “Great events happened here on Yavin 4.”
We had no time to plan the wedding, so I focused on the essentials: having a comfortable wedding dress, having a tasty wedding cake, and something cool with which to cut it. The rest was just maths.
We had our wedding on July 27, and our reception was at the coldest place in our country (we have no seasons, so 15C/59F was super cold for us). With friends and family, blue hair and lightsabers, we decided to spend the rest of our lives together.
I had the pleasure to have two of my best friends as photographers. I'm a photographer, so having someone I trust was my first priority. We had a really cheap wedding since food and other items were a gift, as was the live music. Our total was something near $2000 USD.
Tell us about the ceremony:
The wedding was quite normal, except for the fact that the priest kept confusing our names during the ceremony… so technically I'm the husband who married the wife!
Our biggest challenge:
At the time of the proposal we were living at Guatemala, so there was no chance at all to plan anything in advance since we planned to get married in Venezuela. My cousin and her fiancé (chef and somelier) solved my food issues by cooking everything. Richzendy's cousins did all my makeup and hair, and the location was a “ready to party” place. Without all our family support, there wouldn't have been a wedding at all.
My favorite moment:
I had a crew of crazy cousins doing my makeup while I kept a dog on my lap. But they didn't let me see myself until I was done. I'm a geek that spends her time behind a computer and never wears makeup, heels, or dresses, so looking at myself was a big surprise.
When I entered the church, seeing everyone made me want to cry. Our families had never been together since they live about 12 hours apart. And the “Yes I do!” almost screamed from Richzendy was the best feeling in the world.
My funniest moment:
The most unexpected part was when I arrived to the cake table with my Darth Vader mask and my lightsaber ready to cut the cake! I hit it several times, but instead of cutting, I was just damaging it, so I had to change to a knife.
What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding?
There will always be sad and hard moments either during the wedding plan or after. I'm so glad I married someone who I not only love, but who will be there for me for the rest of my life. He has the ability to always make me laugh, and no matter what, we always find a way to solve our problems together.
Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?
- Photography: Carlos Maldonado and MarÃa J Z RodrÃguez
Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!
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The SHOES.
Actually, the EVERYTHING. This is glorious. So much love for this wedding, and your outlook <3
Those blue shoes are to die for!
Absolutely stunning venue. I love the blue walls. How adorable is she?! She looked beautiful and I adore her blue hair and blue shoes! The last photo of them with her on the swing– Beautiful! Congrats and many blessings to them both!
I’m basically a Bower Bird with gender role issues so I go nuts for anything blue. Great looking wedding!
I’m just going to say it:
OPEN SOURCE!!
*fist bump*
Fuck yeah. The Offbeat Empire is built on open source software.
Helloooooo shoes, Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?!?!
This wedding looks like so much fun. Also I love her hair clip!!
special wedding ideas! blue is pretty.
I loooooove it
omg!!! you’re all so cute!!! I remember browsing this website about 10 times a day while I was starting to plan the wedding and see that it already happened is the most amazing feeling ever! Now, here are some more tips for those who loved it:
For the blue hair lovers: I bleached out all my hair and used “Rockabilly blue” from Manic Panic; Even if people tells you that it has to be completely white, you won’t. Just bleach it a couple of weeks ahead and keep coloring it every 2 days; that way the blue will penetrate more.
For the shoe lovers: I’m “technically” big foot… so there was NO WAY I could find blue shoes for me. This was the last resort solution that ended up being even better. Just buy some clear color shoes that fit you perfectly; then take them to a friend that do graffiti or body-paint and ask him to do something fun. In my case, I went to a body-painter that I work with and asked for a galaxy… the rest was his magic.
Extra tip!!!: Something I noticed was the price fluctuation when you mentioned the word “wedding”, is like if you tell people “hey, prices need to go 300% up!”. Try to avoid telling the word “wedding” every time you need, and you will see that prices remain lower than expected.
Hope this tips can help you to plan that awesome day; and remember, you’re getting married, so enjoy!!!!