Michelle & Phil's Oscars in space sci-fi extravaganza

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The Offbeat Bride: Michelle, Associate Creative Director

Her offbeat partner: Phil, QA Analyst

Date and location of wedding: Firehouse Chicago, IL - July 18, 2015

Our offbeat wedding at a glance:

We wanted our wedding to encapsulate everything that we love and especially the nerdy things that brought us together. I called our wedding theme "Sophisticated Sci-fi," because the decorations were all white, gold, silver, and Star Wars/ Star Trek-themed. It was like an Oscars in space.

I had always wanted an excuse to get an epic green evening gown, so I had a custom green and gold wedding dress made by the amazing Rachel Alvia of Avail and Company. A friend of mine made my father a tie out of the extra green fabric from my dress. Since I was the colorful one, the wedding party wore glitzy whites, silvers, and grey.

Tell us about the ceremony:

We hosted the ceremony and reception at a recently renovated 100-year old Chicago Firehouse. They kept the original fire pole (and yes, one drunken guest did eventually climb it). The wedding parties came in from the back to the orchestral theme from Star Trek (TNG).

Once they were all in place, the music faded, and the Throne Room music from the end of A New Hope began. Many of the guests turned to look, and the massive wooden doors in the front began to open, spraying sunlight across all the guests to reveal me standing outside with my father. It was an overwhelming moment for me.

My best friend's father, JoeDad, officiated the ceremony in a white tuxedo, and Phil's sister did a reading adapted from Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot" quote. We wrote our own vows. I pretended to have time-traveled to ask Future Michelle if this was a good idea and Phil told me he loved me more than he loves the Packers.

When it came time to exchange the rings, JoeDad produced an engraved wooden spatula with the rings tied to it. Spatulas have been a symbol of our love since Phil made me watch the movie with a faux commercial that proclaims "What better way to say 'I love you' than with the gift of a spatula?." The first time we said "I love you" it was written on a spatula and sneaked into my work bag

Tell us about the reception:

While wedding planning, we went to a comic convention together and bought tons of action figures that we used to build Star Wars and Star Trek snow globes for the tables. Now they all decorate our apartment! The base of my bouquet was Darth Vader's lightsaber and Phil wore a Lt. Worf boutonnière.

Instead of a cake, we had a sweets table complete with Wookiee cookies and Death Star cake balls. We had themed drinks like "The Beverly Crusher" (which was an Irish Redhead) and "The Dark and Stormy Side."

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On the gifts table, we had a framed painting of us that Phil had commissioned for our anniversary. It depicts us together in the classic original Star Wars movie poster pose, complete with our cat as Darth Vader (we had to have her there somehow).