The Offbeat Bride: Amanda, Grad Student

Her offbeat partner: Meghan, salesperson

Date and location of wedding: Felicity Church, New Orleans, LA - November 1, 2014

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: Meg and I discussed from the very beginning what traditions we wanted to keep and which ones were meaningful to us. Changing around certain things to suit us, such as having a handfasting ceremony, writing our own vows, and having both of our respective parents walk us down the aisle were really important. We found other traditions, such as the bouquet/garter toss, just plain unnecessary. Things we did keep: dad/daughter dances for both of us and cake cutting (because mmm cake).

Our venue was very bare bones but very uniquely New Orleans and beautiful, meaning we essentially built our wedding from the ground up, with LOTS of help from Meg's mom and our wonderful friends. This allowed us to save a bunch and have a wonderfully personalized wedding day.

Tell us about the ceremony:

Thanks to the wisdom of Offbeat Bride and our amazing Unitarian Universalist officiant, we mashed up our ceremony so it was just perfect. We included readings of "The Invitation" by Oriah Mountain Dreamer and "Having a Coke With You" by Frank O'Hara (which our officiant jokingly referred to as an "advanced" level reading).

We also included a blurb about LGBTQ marriage quality and rights, since a LOT of people were asking us about the legality of our ceremony.

Our biggest challenge:
Personally, my biggest challenge was letting go of control and trusting that others wouldn't disappoint me. In addition to planning this wedding, I work part-time, go to grad school full-time, and I'm at an internship two to three days a week. Balance was difficult, and I had a lot of wedding-related anxiety. And, honestly? My therapist helped me so much. She helped me unpack my feelings about this whole wedding vs. marriage thing, about difficulties with family members, and about dealing with stress. I highly recommend getting thyself to a qualified therapist to help you deal with your feelings, if you're like me and your feelings are constantly all over the place.

My favorite moment:
I held it together for most of our ceremony... until Meg started saying her vows. I just started crying and couldn't stop! Saying our vows to each other was one of the most intense and emotional experiences of my life. I was shaking like a leaf. I will remember that moment for the rest of my life.

My funniest moment:
When my brother-in-law dropped it a little bit too low and split his brand new pants right on his butt!

Enough talk - show me the wedding porn!

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?