The Offbeat Bride: Katie, Child-Care Provider

Her offbeat partner: Nathan, Software Engineer

Date and location of wedding: Scarborough Renaissance Festival in Waxahachie, Texas - April 23, 2016

Our fairy tale fantasy wedding wedding at a glance:

We had a Renaissance Faire-themed wedding, but within that we wanted to include elements of fantasy that we enjoy. For Nathan, that meant a more woodland feel (the green leaves of his Renaissance faire costume, or the way his wedding ring resembles a tree branch), and for me, it meant fairy tales and Disney, such as Cinderella's castle atop the cake and the bridal look inspired by Queen Elsa. It was truly a fairy tale fantasy wedding.

Tell us about the ceremony:

Our ceremony was held in the Wedding Garden at the Scarborough Renaissance Festival. Absolutely everyone was in-character for the setting. All of our friends and family dressed up in their finest Ren faire garb, and it was so much fun to see all the fairies, knights, peasants, and pirates who'd come to witness our union. Even our officiant, Frank Zepp, performed the ceremony completely in-character; he came as a Scottish nobleman named "Oak Mkoll, the Duke of Inverness." He blessed our marriage in the name of the four winds and the cardinal directions, and performed a handfasting with chords we made ourselves.

To underscore Frank's wonderful blessing, we decorated our handfasting cords with little charms that represented the four seasons: brass leaves for fall, golden sunflowers and daisies for summer and spring, and silver snowflakes for winter.

As Frank tied the cords around our hands, he asked us if we would share each others' joy, laughter, and dreams, and to each one we answered "I will." But perhaps most memorably, Frank asked if we would cause each other anger, to which I, the bride, paused and said, "Well, I might." The crowd tittered at that one, but Frank followed the question with, "Is that your intent?" and I replied, "No," reminding everyone that every marriage will have both joy and sorrow. It was really very sweet.

Tell us about your reception:

The reception was held in the Scarborough Festival's beautiful Castle Pavilion, right in the middle of the faire. After walking through a pike-arch and receiving the appropriate "Huzzahs!" we really did feel like Renaissance royalty. At the reception, everyone enjoyed turkey legs and hearty bread and all that traditional Ren faire food, but the cake was quite the best of all. It featured a castle that looked just like Cinderella's, and big red dragon who turned out to be quite sweet on the inside (see, because he was made of cake. Get it? Get it?). The groom slayed the dragon. I swooned. The king and queen themselves even arrived to give a stirring toast, and merriment was had by all!

After the feast, the toasts and the music, a special horse-drawn carriage arrived to sweep us away into our happily ever after. I tossed my bouquet from the back of the carriage, and we rode off to the cheers of our well-wishers, just like the ending of a classic fairy tale.

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