Prepare to squeal at the ARMORED corset dress at a fantasy RPG-themed wedding

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The Offbeat Bride: Erin

Her offbeat partner: Ross, Applications Developer

Date and location of wedding: The beautiful Pioneer Barn on the grounds of the Fort Menendez Old Florida Musuem in Saint Augustine, Florida - October 30, 2016

Our offbeat wedding at a glance:

We are both semi-gothy nerds who are into the fantasy genre of books/movies/TV shows, as well as comic books, cosplay, and RPGs (role-playing games). As such, our celebration was themed as a fantasy-mythology genre (faeries, wizards, knights, goblins, etc), medieval-esque, RPG-themed wedding.

The entire wedding party was asked to dress in fantasy/medieval attire, but we asked all regular wedding guests to come in any costume they chose, as long as it could be worn in polite company. We had quite the cast of characters, from toddlers in dragon outfits to Mr. Incredible to Gomez and Morticia Addams attending our wedding.

Tell us about the ceremony:

For our ceremony, Ross and I assembled custom costumes to serve as our wedding clothes. I looked at hundreds of dresses until I found and purchased an amazing custom armored-corseted dress from Dress Art Mystery. I also had a silver filigree crown adorned with delicate chains custom-made by an Etsy seller in the UK. Instead of bouquets, my bridesmaids and I carried Moroccan glass star-shaped lanterns when we walked the aisle.

Ross rented medieval tunics for his groomsmen to wear, and Ross also found his own wedding tunic/cloak from Armstreet. Ross then had another Etsy seller create a custom bandolier for him, complete with alchemist vials and bottles, as well as a holster for his hand-made "spellbook" (containing his vows).

Our entire immediate families dressed up in fantasy/medieval costumes to be a part of the procession, including faeries, wizards, elves, sorceresses, knights, and druids. For our ceremony/reception and first dances, we hired a local Renaissance Faire band to wear full medieval garb while they played live Celtic/medieval-inspired music.

Ross and I wrote our own vows. Ross read his from his trusty spellbook attached to his alchemist bandolier. Ross's best man wrote a three-page speech that he delivered in full "town caller" voice complete with an English accent that had guests cracking up during the reception.

Tell us about your reception:

I created signs for each table labeling them with names of made-up fairy tale locations such as "The Valley of Chimes," "The Wood of Whispers," etc. Also for each of the tables, I made little glowing faerie lanterns with the help of my bridesmaids (tutorial here).

In lieu of hiring a florist, my artsy stepmom and step-sister helped me to create all the centerpieces for the wedding, using my late grandmother's flower vases with decorative sticks and dried flowers we either found or bought, then arranged and sprinkled with glitter and adorned with hanging crystals.

Our Renaissance faire band, wearing full medieval garb, played Celtic/medieval-inspired music for our procession and recession. The band also played lively Celtic/medieval-inspired music throughout the reception and for our first dances (we did three waltzes: Ross and I as a married couple, Ross' waltz with his mom, and my waltz with my dad). Our entire immediate families dressed up in medieval/fantasy-inspired costumes to be a part of the ceremony, including faeries, wizards, elves, The Mad Hatter, sorceresses. and druids.

For reception food, we wanted medieval-era eats and found a caterer that could do a lovely vegetarian pot pie (since I'm a life-long vegetarian) as well as plenty of salads, a chicken dish, and vegetables. For our desserts, our caterer created delicious medieval-esque tarts and sweet pies with fresh fruit filling.

What was your most important lesson learned?

We learned just how important and vital having a wedding planner was for us. We would have never pulled off the vision we had for that day without our amazing wedding planner/officiant/makeup artist. She and her team were a godsend and took care of just about everything, from huge stuff to minor details. If you want a wedding with 70 or more guests, especially if there's going to be food and dancing, trust me that the expense of hiring a full wedding planner is SOOO worth it. Also, when you are planning your wedding, decide on a firm number of guests before going any further. Our wedding quickly snowballed from 50 to 100 guests, which added to the total price and stress of everything.

Our biggest challenges in the beginning were finding appropriate garb for our ceremony, creating all the decorations, as well as sending out the invitations (I designed and created all the save the dates and invitations, as well as mailing them all out myself). But in the end, our wedding planner helped tremendously.