As some of you may have noticed I have been a bit quiet on my social media and blog and well that has been for a few reasons on Friday, August 25th, 2023 I got married in a private ceremony to my partner of 5 years. We knew when it came to planning our wedding and reception we wanted to have elements of our love for fandom and collecting well still having the classic elements of a wedding.Our Inspiration
When it came to putting everything together for our wedding we knew we wanted a private ceremony where we could exchange our vows with very few people being present. We had talked about getting married in our home for the longest time because it would be private and intimate but over time we leaned towards doing the ceremony somewhere a bit more open and preferably outdoors so that way we could still maintain the intimacy of the ceremony but also have a beautiful space for photos. So after thinking long and hard about location we decided on a public space where me and my husband had one of our earliest dates. Within our original wedding plans, we had not planned on having any form of reception but due to wanting to keep our ceremony private we knew we would have to do something for our family to be able to celebrate so we opted for a small reception of 18 people including our closest family and friends in my parent's backyard. When putting together the ideal look for our reception we knew we wanted something simple and minimal with bright florals and little details of our love for fandom, collecting and gaming in random spaces.
The Dress
The first thing I did once we decided on a date for the wedding was start dress shopping my first appointment I did for dress shopping was at Davids Bridal where I brought my fiancè to try on dresses and see what he liked and also see what I felt comfortable and looked good in without having others really push their vision onto me. I had no clue what I wanted going into the appointment but from my research, I like a cleaner look of satin, short dress and more of an a-line silhouette throughout my first appointment I decided I wanted something longer with a thicker strap and having a bit more detail of some sort like lace or tulle. So after having gone through trying on more dresses at a few more dress shops later on with my mom and maid of honour. I came across a store called Gemini Bridal online that had dresses I really liked and wanted to try on so I made the choice to book an appointment with them. Well at Gemini Bridal my maid of honour picked out this dress that I was not really sure about it had beading that I was not sure about, along with a thinner tulle strap that I did not know if I would love on but once I put it on and walked out seeing myself in the mirror for the first time I could tell that this dress was perfect.
After purchasing my dress I started planning my accessories for the dress and found myself purchasing a lot of options because of not being sure what to pick. I originally picked out a cape with pearls to try on with the dress but after putting it together with the dress I decided against it because I did not want the train of my dress to be covered. So I started to purchase a few veil options and found myself not being able to find one in a colour that matched my dress so I went and purchased tulle from a fabric store and opted to make my own simple tulle veil with no detailing or trims. I also opted to add on top of the veil a hair accessory I found on Shien because it matched the floral detailing of my dress being soft and pretty with the veil.
What I wore
Veil (similar): Shien
Belt (similar): Shien
Hair Piece (Similar): Shien
Necklace (Similar): Shien
For other accessories for the dress, I knew I wanted a sparkly belt to help show off my waist well also adding a soft break between the bodice and skirt so I found in my old costume stash the perfect belt only issue was the colour of ribbon it was attached to did not match my dress so I seam ripped the belt off its original ribbon and in the days leading up to the wedding sewed it on some white organza ribbon. For shoes I knew finding an option was going to be difficult due to my shoe size and lack of wanting to wear heels so after a couple months of searching I came across the perfect pair of white flats online that where white and had lace on them that was in a similar motif to my dress but my only issue with the shoes was the bow so after receiving the shoes I seam ripped the bow off the shoes and it resulted in them being perfect for with my dress. The last accessory I needed with my dress was a necklace my original necklace I forgot the morning of the wedding at my house and I ended up borrowing one from my perfect mom it was a little heart with diamonds on the side and I felt it tied everything together perfectly.The Bridesmaids
When it came to picking my maid of honour it was no surprise to anyone I picked Eilly to be my maid of honour and when asking her to do so I did it in the only way I knew how with humour and gifts. For my Bridesmaid proposal to Eilly, I gave her a makeup bag with some of my favourite makeup products that she could wear on the wedding day all being colour pop along with a new floral makeup bag and some cozy pj's that matched the floral aesthetic I had pictured for the day. The card I designed and gave Eilly with the gift was very fun and painfully accurate to us as friends it said "He's Marrying me, but he's stuck with us" It was a perfect description of our friendship and of course, she said yes to being a maid of honour.
When it came to Eilly picking out her Maid of Honour Dress I gave her full control over what she wore because I wanted her to feel comfortable, confident and good throughout the day I was also letting her pick the colours that she wanted to wear with the only guideline being not black or white. Eilly and I went to a couple locations for dresses but ended up finding the perfect dress that was everything Eilly wanted at David's Bridal. We chose to accessorize Eilly's Dress with very simple accessories a simple pearl necklace along with pearl stud earrings that I gave to her the morning of the wedding in a pink jewelry box along with pearl hair pins for her to use in her hair. For shoes Eilly wore the exact same flats as I did with my dress but in a ballet slipper pink. I Loved how Eilly looked on the day of the wedding she looked like an absolute bombshell.
What Eilly Wore
Closer to the day of the Wedding my husband and I decided we wanted one more person to be a part of my bridal party and that was his best man's wife Amanda. When we decided to ask Amanda to be a bridesmaid we did it in a way that we knew would really shock and surprise her so leading up to the wedding Amanda had given me a dress she had planned on wearing to the wedding that needed to be hemmed and have the zipper fixed so after agreeing to repair the dress I made a copy of its pattern and made her a dress out of a fabric that matched Eilly's dress well still being a unique design and on the inside lining of the dress I added in embroidery "Amanda, will you be my bridesmaid" So about a week before the wedding Amanda came over to pick up the dress I had hemmed for her and I surprised her with the dress I made.
She said yes to being a bridesmaid and after trying on the dress I realized I had a lot of adjustments to do to the dress I had made her and up till the night before the wedding we were not sure if it would get done Sadly the dress I made did not get finished but the dress Amanda had asked me to repair looked stunning on her and worked very well colour wise with the rest of the wedding party. To go with Amanda's dress I got her a simple pearl necklace like Eilly's and for Shoes Amanda opted for a Black Heel so she would be of similar height to me and Eilly. Honestly, I am so happy that I did not get the dress I had made done for Amanda because I loved how she looked the day of the wedding I thought she was stunning.
| What Amanda Wore
Dress: Cinderella Divine (Shade Royal)
Necklace: Amazon
Shoes (Similar): Ardene
The Morning of the Wedding
The morning of the wedding started off quite relaxing me and Eilly arrived at my parent's home to get ready around 6:30 AM and had breakfast and prepared the room where we would be having our hair and makeup done along with starting to steam our slips we were wearing the morning off along with Robes. But as quiet as our morning started the quicker it picked up as the hours moved on once our hair stylist and makeup artist arrived everything moved so quickly. Our lovely hairstylist and make-up artist did such a fantastic job on doing work that lasted our whole day and I could not be more happy with all the results.
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Well, getting ready in the morning I had opted for me and the bridesmaids to wear slips that I had purchased off Shien along with robes that I found on Ali Express and custom-designed embroidery that matched the overall aesthetic of the wedding.
What the Bridesmaids wore
Slip Dress: Shien
Robe: Ali Express
For myself, I opted to wear a beautiful white slip and a white embroidered robe that said "Bride" on the back and I opted to customize the front with my name and the date of the Wedding
After finishing getting ready I had both my Maid of Honour and Bridesmaid help me get ready and clean up the space we got ready in before leaving the house to go to the ceremony location.
The Ceremony
When deciding what we wanted for our ceremony we had decided first thing that we wanted a first look because we did not want to wait till the ceremony to see each other and we knew our vows would make us emotional so we wanted to take our wedding photos before the ceremony. We opted to hold our wedding ceremony and take our wedding photos at our local legislature and legislature garden grounds we opted for location for a few reasons the first reason was we had been there on some of our earliest dates going for picnics or attending festivals there, the second reason we opted for this location was because its a public space so we did not have to worry about a rental fee, the last reason was the grounds had a lot of space so we could bring out lightsabers for photos without having to worry about constraints in the space we would need.
After Spending a few hours before the ceremony taking photos it was time for our ceremony we met our officiant in some gardens we had pre-selected to get married in. We decided we wanted a short and sweet ceremony with personalized vows that were tailored to each other, due to my having a huge fear of public speaking we opted to keep our ceremony to only us and our wedding party and photographer so I would feel more comfortable sharing my vows and not feeling the huge amount of anxiety I would have with sharing them in front of a large group of people.
The Reception
After we completed our ceremony we went back to my parent's house to view the beautiful reception space that my parents spent the day setting up in their backyard. When we started planning our reception we knew we wanted it to be small with no more than 20 people because we wanted to be able to spend time with all our guests chatting, enjoying good food and playing board games.
We knew for our decor we wanted it to be very minimalistic with the backyard gardens being the main focus. So we opted for a simple table set up with thrifted vases with minimal flowers in each vase, along with old picture frames we DIY'ed with white spray paint and pearl ribbon and in each frame were our table numbers. When it came to florals we did not have a massive budget but we got incredibly lucky by going to Costco the day before our wedding picking out flowers from their floral department and mixing and matching different bouquets to make the table florals along with me and my bridesmaid's bouquet not only was this incredibly budget friendly but we got so many beautiful flowers that matched everything so well.
We ended up DIY'ing a lot of our elements of reception like signage, our seating chart, Thank you cards/place cards, and our backdrop behind our sweetheart table and our cake. The first item we made was our Welcome sign I took inspiration from a sign I saw on Pinterest and made the design on Canva and had it printed onto a semi-gloss poster paper from there we mounted it onto some foam core and glued it on fake flowers we purchased at Michaels. The next item we DIY'ed was our seating chart we ended up thrifting an old picture frame and stapling in some string LEDs we found at the dollar store along with gluing fake flowers on the edges of the frame. We ended up DIYing the seating chart also by Canva printing off the designs on card stock at home and getting photos of us printed.
We DIY'ed our Thank you cards/ place cards for the Tables. We opted to do a thank you card instead of a wedding favour because we loved the idea of doing something a little more personal for our guests. We DIY'ed these cards using Canva in a similar layout to our seating chart. When it came to figuring out our layout for the wedding we realized the area where we wanted our sweetheart's table to be would have a section of sheds showing that we just did not want to be in the background of our wedding photos so we opted to create a backdrop. I had two visions for a backdrop one was a standard white backdrop with LEDs behind it well the second was a falling floral design after not being sure what design to pick we decided to combine them. For this backdrop, we ended up picking up a backdrop stand-off from Amazon along with 2 packages of curtains, LEDs, white plastic rings, a fishing line and a mix of fake flowers. We started by laying out the curtains measuring them out and cutting 20 pieces of fishing line, after cutting this fishing line taking a thick needle I threaded the fishing line through the flowers and hot glued each end of the flower to keep it in place. After threading through and gluing all the flowers I attached the white plastic rings onto the curtains by sewing them by hand and attaching the flower strings and LEDs onto the curtain panels. I ended up loving the results of the backdrop even though it got so tangled up by the end of the evening.
The last item that was DIY'ed was our wedding cake. Early on in the wedding planning process, we knew we wanted to have a homemade cake because on our first anniversary, Me and Noah decided to bake a cake to celebrate we ended up making a lemon blueberry cake that everyone loved and we continued to make for every anniversary after that. So the evening before the wedding my mom took our recipe and created a stunning three-tier cake with buttercream icing. Our cake ended up being such an amazing hit with our guests and it was so good! Our Reception was everything we had hoped for where we celebrated our love with our closest friends and family members playing games, dancing, and most importantly eating great food.
A Touch of Fandom
When planning the wedding we knew we wanted to incorporate a lot of elements of our love for fandom, collecting and gaming into all parts of our wedding from attire to decor. We started by adding elements of fandom to my husband's and his best man's outfits with Lego cufflinks that we thought would go together well with the other Lego elements we had planned to have at our wedding. The next thing we incorporated into my husband and his best man's outfits were the lightsabers that they carried with them throughout the day. Like my husband and his best man my maid of honour also carried an element of a lightsaber with us in our bouquets. The base of our bouquets was 3D printed lightsaber hilts of Ahsoka Tano's sabers.
In our Ceremony we asked our officiant to include a quote from the Lord of the Rings we exchanged our rings and after we got married our bridesmaid handed us a gift of wedding Mickey Ears from my parents. Our final elements of fandom were at the reception where for our guest book we had everyone sign Jenga pieces because of our love for board games. On our sweetheart table, we had a wooden X-Wing and on our wedding cake, our cake decorations included a custom Lego cake topper that I and my husband built out of lego from our collection along with on the trim of the cake using lego flowers from our lego flower collection.
Our wedding was everything we ever hoped for it was small, intimate, full of love and close family and friends along with sharing our love of fandom, collecting and gaming and most importantly our love for each other. I want to Thank you all for reading this incredibly long post and give a huge shout-out to Paula of P6 Media who kindly agreed to do all the photography for our wedding! I am so excited to be back to blogging until next time I am Chloe from Chloesfandomlife and you can find me on all of the following social media platforms below
*DISCLAIMER ACCORDING TO SAG-AFTRA AS A NON-UNION MEMBER OF SAG-AFTRA I CAN SHARE THINGS IN REGARDS TO MERCHANDISE, COMICS, VIDEO GAMES, AND THE ANIMATED SERIES. I STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH SAG-AFTRA*
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