Anna & Tom's rainbow hearts and tulle wedding • Offbeat Wed (was Offbeat Bride)

We're in the mood to bring some rainbows, glitter, and colorful details into your life. It's a prismatic rainbow and colorful wedding theme week!

The Offbeat Bride: Anna, Toddler Teacher

Her offbeat partner: Tom, Business Person at The Brewery

Date and location of wedding: Spokesman Review Pavillion, Spokane, WA — July 29, 2012

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: The main goal of our wedding was to stick within our budget but have it still be fun. Tom and I couldn't decide on a color or a theme, so we chose all the colors! Tom ended up making a lot of the crafts since I was working full time. We had no church, no religious ceremony, and lots of rainbows!

Tell us about the ceremony:
I was dreading writing the ceremony, and couldn't find any readings I liked, so Tom ended up writing it himself, with the help of the internet. Here's a snippet:

No ceremony can create your marriage. Only you can do that — through love, patience, dedication, perseverance — through talking and listening and trying to understand — through helping and supporting and believing in each other — through learning to forgive, learning to respect and appreciate your differences, and learning to make the important things matter and to let go of the rest. What this ceremony can do is to witness and affirm the choice you have made to begin a new life today as husband and wife.

We incorporated paper cranes for good luck and started the wedding at 3:30 so the minute hand would be in an up-swing for good luck. The ring bearer had a pillow with Ring-Pops on it, the flower girl had paper hearts to toss, and we ate my bouquet instead of tossing it.

Our biggest challenge:
The biggest challenge came during set-up and we were short on help. Luckily, the “Beer Women” (Tom's family with the last name of Beer) stepped up and dished out tasks. My sister and I ran around putting up decorations while trying to keep our makeup from smearing. It was ridiculous, but it got done.

Have you been married before and if so, what did you do differently?
Tom was married previously in a Mormon ceremony, so this was quite a departure from that.

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding?
My biggest tip: push the date out as far as is reasonable, even if you think you have enough time. I thought six months was long enough to plan the wedding, but for us that became a challenge. Also, prepare yourself mentally for the day. I was so nervous I could barely breathe. Take time out for yourself, even if you have to lock yourself in the bathroom.