It's a bird, it's a plane... it's Offbeat Bride's comic book-clad and caped superhero theme week! Get in the telephone booth and change into your wedding-gawking superhero tights - you're in for crime-fighting fun.

The Offbeat Bride: Kristen, financial crimes specialist (and Tribesmaid)

Her offbeat partner: Geoff, Truck Driver

Date and location of wedding: All Occasions Events, Tea, SD - September 22, 2013

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: I wanted a vintage feel for the wedding and we both wanted a comic book theme, so it started to come together when we decided on vintage comic books. My family is very traditional, so I knew I would get some push-back for not having a traditional Christian ceremony in a church. Geoff, who is agnostic, is completely OK with my religious beliefs, so he wanted me to include something. I chose a passage from the Bible that spoke to both of us and my uncle read it for the ceremony.

My maid of honor is a very talented artist as well as professional event planner. She had a huge hand in our invitations, save-the-dates, and personalized cake topper. Without her vision, our comic book heroes theme would not have translated as well. I really hope that people could feel the love we put into it.

Tell us about the ceremony:
I wrote the ceremony from a sample that our officiant gave us of a contemporary ceremony she wrote. I had her use a lot of her own wording but I had seen some vows on Offbeat Bride that really spoke to me.
For our declaration of intent we repeated the following:

Do you, Kristen, take Geoff to be none other than himself? Loving what you know of him, trusting what you do not yet know, will you respect his integrity and have faith in his abiding love for you, through all your years, and in all that life may bring you?

Then for our ring vows we said the following:

Geoff, I take you as my husband, with your faults and your strengths, as I offer myself to you with my faults and my strengths. I will help you when you need help, and turn to you when I need help. I choose you as the person with whom I will spend my life.

We had a ring warming prior to the ceremony in order to allow everyone the ability to express their faith, and included a small explanation of that in the ceremony and on the guest table. There was also a time capsule for our unity ceremony which we explained prior to locking it. Each mother had a key and presented it to us prior to the ceremony. We had out officiant say the following to introduce it:

Geoff and Kristen have chosen to have a time capsule for their unity ceremony. Inside they will place something from their past, present, and letters to each other's future selves. In troubled days or their five-year anniversary, they will open the box and remember why they came together in love today.

Our biggest challenge:
I think the biggest challenge we had to overcome was not having 100% support from my family. They meant well, but during the engagement there were a few attempts to sway my decision on some things as well as some body shaming. I love them dearly and they paid for nearly everything wedding-related, so we really tried to work it out. When it came to the day itself, they both were on board the wedding train and it truly was a trial turned blessing.

I've been shamed about my body my whole life, by myself and by others. During the process of getting my dress altered, I received some of this shaming and posted about it on the Offbeat Bride Tribe. Because of the support I got there, I was able to confront the shamer and stand up for myself. It was an empowering moment and I think it helped me to realize I didn't need to look a certain way for anyone.

My favorite moment:
One of the first moments I found incredibly powerful was seeing Geoff for the first time before the ceremony. He looked absolutely dashing in his suit. Then there was another moment before the wedding that I got to show my grandmother the embroidery she did for my something blue, and it was such a beautiful exchange. She has terrible arthritis but she still manages to embroider as well as ever.

Geoff's favorite moment was hanging out with his groomsmen before the wedding and then again before the ceremony hanging out with the whole wedding party in our room.

My funniest moment:
The funniest moment came for me after the wedding. Geoff told me that during the ceremony I was squeezing his hands so tightly he was losing feeling so he had to flip his hand to the top! I don't remember any of it!

Geoff's funniest moment: Geoff and I chose to dance our way down the aisle to "You're the One that I Want" from Grease. When the music started we couldn't hear it due to the cheering and applause of the audience, so we looked a little silly standing there craning our necks to hear it.

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding?
Stay true to yourself. There was a moment when my parents asked us to have a pastor be our officiant and we went along with it despite me being pagan and Geoff being agnostic. The pastor refused to officiate and did not give us a reason. So we chose the officiant we wanted from the get-go. She is a Reiki master and ordained, so she fit both bills and was INCREDIBLE. That decision changed our whole outlook on our wedding. We stopped compromising and started backing our decisions.

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

Enough talk - show me the wedding porn!