So I got married in June and when we were planning it we often got asked if we had a theme or what sort of feel we wanted from the day and if there was a colour scheme we were working to. “Yes” we would reply “We like blues and purples, we want it to be quite informal and like one big party” Nodding in agreement “Oh and it’s going to be geeky, with hints towards RPG’s, with a bouncy castle”
Slight furrow of the brow and a long silence.
Our wedding wasn’t particularly traditional, it wasn’t in a church, we didn’t have fresh flowers and we didn’t do a waltz for our first dance.
Our wedding was everything we wanted and more.
If you haven’t guessed by the title of this post me and hubby are both quite into our games and other geekery. I like games with good stories, I am a bit of a fiend for the Dragon Age series, and life simulators like The Sims whilst Chris is more of a social gamer with his taste ranging from Rocket League to WOW. We have both played DnD, completing a 3-year long campaign with a group of friends but tying those interests into the day and making things unique, without going too far so the parents and none geeky people still knew what was going on, was a challenge.
Save the dates and invitations
We started with the save the dates (as you normally do!). Chris thought of using floppy discs for the Save the Dates and I quickly knocked up a design for the label. Finding floppy discs in the UK was a bit of a challenge and once we got them Chris thought maybe we should put something on the disc to act as an Easter egg, so we settled on a voucher for a free drink at the bar. You had to bring a copy of the voucher and present it to one of the best men to get a token which could then be used for the drink. This was to try and stop people printing off loads of vouchers as the best men would know who they had given tokens too. It worked pretty well though I think a couple of members of my family might have abused what drink they ordered.
We sent many of our guests on an unintentional quest for a floppy disc drive as they suspected there was something on them. One of our friends got laughed out of Maplins when he asked if they had any old ones he could buy.
To be honest we weren’t too worried about the stationary side of the wedding. I know some people love heavy weight card stock and can spend hours and hours crafting these beautiful invites but we just wanted something simple and settled on a flat post card without added bows and sparkly butterflies.
The invites were designed with a “questing” theme in mind. We wanted it to look like a board in game where you could find quests to accept or decline. So I used an image of antique paper and hand wrote the invite text in Coral using the calligraphy pen. I designed a “logo” of a tied heart and we used it throughout the venue. Then I created the “wooden” frame using a few effects in photo shop and finished it off with a couple of pins. I then decided the back of the invite was too plain and drew a picture of me and Chris in wedding attire, holding weapons and striking poses. To avoid Chris getting any ideas of what my dress might look like I drew myself in a plain strapless gown as I knew I wanted something with straps and Chris in a traditional morning suit and cravat (turns out that’s what he chose).
Bonus points if you know where the sword and the staff are from.
The bouquets and the button holes
I like fresh flowers, especially lilies, but I knew I didn’t want them for the bouquets or button holes as I wanted something I could keep forever. I looked into alternatives to real flowers bouquets and found some button bouquets. I liked the idea of buttons being used as the centre of the flower so looked into how to make fabric flowers and went about combining the two. I produced the “flowers” for the bouquets by cutting circles of fabric and hand sewing around the edges to gather the fabric then gluing a button on to the centre. Chris’ flowers where produced a similar way except he had individual petals which were then all sewn together and a button attached to the centre. Chris got the medieval style buttons from a local haberdashery store. He went in there one day on his lunch break and one of the older ladies tried setting him up with the younger assistant until he told them the buttons were for his wedding button holes.
Music
To get everyone in the geeky mood we had music from games and films we love as the waiting around music before the ceremony. I choose to walk down the aisle to “Forbidden Friendship” from How to Train your Dragon, an instrumental piece I loved the moment I heard it in the film. Whilst we signed the register we had a selection of Zelda songs playing and we walked out as Man and Wife to “Hukuna Matata” from the Lion King.
The signage around the venue
Aside from the standard reserved seating signs I also designed a few other signs for around the venue. These were all printed on card with an antique paper finish to tie in with the theme.
This included a card box sign, signing board sign, confetti sign and my favourite a, To the Wedding sign.
We also had a Zelda chest for cards brought from The Burnt Tree on Etsy. We wanted something we would use afterwards and it is now being used to store little bits and pieces.
The table plan
This was Chris’ master idea and the whole table plan was designed to look like a World Map Screen. We started by painting scrap wood and sanding them slightly to give them an aged look. I then painted the World Map title and all the pieces were glued into place. Peoples names were printed on card and glued onto pieces of suede which was left over from the favours.
Chris found an artist called Nate from Sellsword Maps who designed us a map with the lands named after areas from games, films and anime. The map and the lists of names were again all finished with an antique paper look. Nate even put landmarks onto the map so each area had its own points of interest.
We got a few copies printed, just in case any got damaged, and we loved the finished product so much we have one framed, hanging in our house.
The areas we used for the table names were
- Sol – from Mass Effect
- Fereldan – from Dragon Age
- Namek – from Dragon Ball Z
- Fuyuki – from Fate Stay Night
- Azeroth – from WOW
- The Nether – from Minecraft
- The Isle of Berk – from How to train your Dragon
- The Mushroom Kingdom – from Mario
- Hyrule – from the Legend of Zelda
The centre pieces
We brought wooden bases and stumps from M H Woodland and decorated them with our own figurines and toys from the corresponding franchise. As an added extra we got the bases engraved with the table name. We are going to make the bases into something for our house or garden so any ideas on what we could use them for would be greatly appreciated!
The place names
Again these were simple antique look card with the person’s name on. For an added bit of fun, we knocked up a fantasy name generator in Excel and gave everyone a randomly generated “quest name”. It worked really well, so much so that when my Uncle and Auntie gave us their present they said “Forest Song and Iron Dwarf present you with this gift”. It was great to see people getting into the role playing aspect even if it was only during dinner!
The favours
These were all on Chris and to be perfectly honest he nailed them. He cut about 70 suede circles, punched several holes in each of them and laced them together with suede cord and a push button stopper to make a small pouch that we then filled with gold Mario themed chocolate coins. He also used a pyrography pen to burn each person’s name into a suede tag to personalise them. I knew he was more creative then he let on.
The wedding cake
This went through several design changes. Initially we thought about having game themed cupcakes. Then we changed to a 3 tiered cake with each of the tiers themed on a different game or anime. Each tier changed several more times as to what colours and theme it could be. Then one afternoon after we had spent what felt like several hours finalising the design we had a break from wedding planning with a few biscuits and a cup of tea when Chris picks up a pencil and starts sketching again. When he’s finished he slides me the design and says “What about something like this?” I glance at it and say “That is completely different to the design we have, but let’s give it a try”.
So back to Photoshop I go and mock up the design.
It doesn’t follow our colour theme, there’s quite a lot of empty space on the cake and it’s quite simple and modern in its design.
I love it.
WHY COULDN’T YOU HAVE THOUGHT OF THIS DESIGN IN THE FIRST PLACE!
We also got some awesome custom wedding toppers made by The Little Shop of Toppers on Etsy. Chris decided to be Archer from Fate Stay Night while I chose to be a Grey Warden Mage from Dragon Age.
Entertainment
I always wanted a live band at my wedding and thankfully we knew an amazing one due to the fact our friends had them at their own wedding five years earlier!
Not only did they provide an amazing performance of our first dance song “Accidentally in Love” by Counting Crows they also provided a DJ service for the break between sets to keep the party going!
We were also lucky enough to have an amazing close up magician perform for us during dinner.
His tricks will amaze and confuse you. To this day I’m still trying to work out how he got a five pound note inside a piece of fruit…
And finally the bouncy castle!
Ah yes the bouncy castle, Chris’ one requirement for the wedding apart from me turning up. We found a local company who could provide an adult white wedding bouncy castle and I’m really glad Chris convinced me to have one. Our guests got some laughs out of watching me attempt to bounce in a full length dress, the kids really enjoyed it and we got some great photos. One in particular captured Chris doing a somersault in mid-air. So if you want something fun and slightly quirky at your wedding I can highly recommend a bouncy castle. Just be prepared for the strange look and the polite “oh that’s sounds… nice” when you tell people about it.
All photography in this post is by the amazingly talented guys from
The Geeky Wife 