The Offbeat Bride: Leslie, ESL Teacher

Her offbeat partner: Matt, Substitute Teacher

Date and location of wedding: Red Oak Barn at Kennekuk Cove County Park, Oakwood, Illinois - June 29, 2013

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: We wanted to be outside somewhere where our dogs could be part of the celebration, so we chose an outdoor venue that had special meaning. We splurged on the important stuff to us: the food and music! We found the best guy in town, Laurence Mate from This Little Piggy, to roast our pig for us all day long.

Our friend owns a bar and hooked us up with three free kegs (score). My folks make their own wine, so my mom offered up a few vats of it and filled them with different fruits to make an astounding amount of sangria. Sides were potluck-style.

We hired a local bluegrass band, Black Coffee Fridays, to play music both for the ceremony and the reception, which were held at the same location. We also rented out the campground next to the park for any guests to stay if they happened to (or planned to) over-indulge. The party continued all night long.

My dress was hand-sewn in Mexico and purchased from Aida Coronado on Etsy. I definitely had issues getting it to fit, but was lucky enough to have plenty of time to take it in on the sides. Matt's outfit was purchased only a couple days before the wedding, mostly to ensure he would at least be wearing pants of some sort. It's a rare occasion - we're not much on appearances.

The venue didn't have "real" toilets, only two outhouses. We got our share of criticism ahead of time for not planning on renting portable toilets. But my mom took care of it! We put a folding TV tray in each outhouse filled with bathroom necessities, and decorated the inside with string lights, LED candles, air fresheners, colored carpets, and even fluffy toilet seat lid covers. I almost wanted to get married in the outhouses since they were so cool!

Tell us about the ceremony:
I walked down the aisle to an acoustic version of"Ripple" by the Grateful Dead. We exited to "Shady Grove" by Doc Watson.

My godfather/dentist officiated, and we borrowed, cut, and pasted from the internet to write the ceremony, but ultimately put our own spin on things to fit it to our needs. For some audience participation, we asked everyone to answer this line: "Family and friends... do you agree to support and uplift this marriage...?" with a resounding "WE WILL!" It was important for us that our guests feel special too. We are who we are because of each person we love, and we were lucky enough to have those people right there with us.

Our biggest challenge:
Two weeks before our wedding, Matt got Bell's Palsy, a totally random and incurable paralysis of half of your face! There's nothing you can do to make it go away, except to wait. "It could be days, it could be months, it could be never," is what the doctors told us. Our friends and family freaked out. I freaked out. But in the end, it didn't matter at all to me. He was told not to smile for pictures... but guess who smiled his goofy-ass face off all day long?

My favorite moment:
My father walking me down the aisle was really special to me. My sweet dad has been battling aggressive prostate cancer for over two years now. He was on hormone therapy and was worried that he would be overly emotional walking me down the aisle. He was. And it was fine.

The guests made it all come together. Seeing all of our friends and loved ones come from so far away and connecting in ways unimaginable - that made it for me.

My funniest moment:
Our beautiful puppy dog Mickey was our ring bearer. We had a reading of Taylor Mali's"Love is Like Owning a Dog" in her honor. She was standing up front with Matt's brother and when the reading started, she plopped down on the ground and let out a big drawn-out doggy sigh.

Matt also broke a broomstick in half going to town on the piñata, which was a huge blue dinosaur.

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding?
I learned how to not be controlling or obsessive, because you honestly can't control anything. Oh, I also had the "Pinterest fever." For months I would dream about the day, pinning pins that never came to life, scrolling all the way through the depths of this website, pining after others' beautiful perfect pictures and DIY crafts... "I WILL DO ALL OF THE PINTERESTS!"

...Nope. I didn't do all the Pinterests. But the wedding was beautiful anyway. Looking back, I wish I'd spent more time reading books or learning how to play classical guitar or maybe talking to my fiancé once in a while. The reality of the wedding day is that it was just that - A DAY. And it was over before I knew it. You can spend countless hours trying to make your wedding Pinterest-worthy, but when it's over what do you have left? A big ol' mess, a muddy dog barfing up pork in the camper, and a husband with a funny face. And I wouldn't ask for anything else.

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

Enough talk - show me the wedding porn!