The Offbeat Bride: Holly, SEN Teacher

Her offbeat partner: Sam, Incident Manager

Date and location of wedding: The Crooked House, Himley, Dudley, England - March 30, 2015

Our offbeat wedding at a glance:

We got married on the 30th of March, exactly three years after we first met. We knew from day one that our wedding would not be 100 percent traditional. Sam proposed to me at our Halloween party with him dressed as Joker and me as Harley Quinn, which kind of explains us as a couple.

We wanted something that really represented us: weird, geeky, offbeat, fun, relaxed, and family-orientated. We decided on a steampunk theme within a few days of getting engaged.

It was really important to me that the day was true to us, so I handmade as much as possible. I made many of the fashion and decor items myself.

Tell us about the ceremony:

Our ceremony was a pretty tradional registrar ceremony. I walked down the aisle with my dad to Jose Gonzalez's "Heartbeats," singed the register to You Me at Six, and walked out to Muse's "Feeling Good."

My brother read from Corelli's Mandolin.

Tell us about your reception:

Our reception was a relaxed party - we wanted everyone just to have fun and enjoy themselves. We had an amazing three-course meal followed by speeches. Our table names were names of characters from my favourite games, and our venue was decorated steampunk-style.

For the evening we had a hog roast followed by a candy cart, popcorn, candy floss, and milkshakes. Our first dance was Red Jumpsuit Apparatus' "Guardian Angel."

Then came my father/daughter dance (*guilty whispers* Taylor Swift's "Best Day"), but my niece stood on the dance floor shouting, "No! No, Grandad, dance with me!" So she was picked up by my dad, and my other niece, seeing this, comes running up and throws herself into my arms turning our father/daughter dance into a father/daughter/niece/granddaughter dance.

What was your most important lesson learned?

The hardest part for me was trying to explain our steampunk theme to our older and more traditional relatives. There were doubts, but just stay true to yourselves and what is important to you. We wanted our day to be about us, weird and geeky and individual, but we still wanted to include some traditional elements.

Vendors

• Photography: Dawn Molina Photography
• Venue: The Crooked House
• Dress: http://www.tailorwedding.com/
• DJ: Sounds Good Dudley
• Bridesmaids Dresses: Lindy Bop
• Brides and bridesmaids Corsets: Corsets UK
• Made by the bride: Favor boxes with sweeties, hot chocolate favors, party bags for the little ones, sweetie cart, cake stand, cakes, cupcake stand, cupcakes, centerpieces of copper candelabras, mine and my bridesmaids' bouquets, boutonnieres, maid of honor's shoes, decal-ed vases for on tables, place names, card box, order of service, invites, save the dates, large order of the day, confetti and confetti cones, hair comb and hair pins, fascinators for bridesmaids and my mum and mother in law, my garter