Mary & Michael’s Quirky Yellow and Blue Free Comic Book Day Wedding

Easygoing Mary and Michael love comics, video games, books, movies, and their three cats.  They are also creative and enjoy doing arts and crafts and having friends over for weekly board game nights so it’s no surprise that their wedding was equally fun, artistic, and filled with oh, just the most adorably quirky, geeky touches!

Aren’t they cute???  And what about those checkerboard flower pomanders? I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like them! We are witnessing this delightful wedding today thanks to the talents of Virginia-based Melissa Arlena Photography who has a few more behind-the-scenes details about the event:

Mary & Michael got married on Free Comic Book day and it was an ongoing theme from their engagement session up to the wedding. Each guest went home with their own free comic book! The bride was inspired by other offbeat weddings she saw online and knew she didn’t want anything stuffy or too formal. Her quirky ideas included bouquets made with herbs and vegetables (they smelled divine!!!!) and an asparagus boutonniere from the talented Jane Guerin Florals. Mary included DIY elements such as making her name cards from scratch and her Dad even built an entire two story doll house for people to put cards in!

This wedding is just so full of awesome and I’m so glad I can finally share it with you today! Here we go…

LOVE their comic book inspired invites and the “Guide to Not Falling Asleep” pamphlet!

Really loving the blue and yellow motif!

Spy the veggies in the bouquet & boutonniere?

Aww, the bride’s and groom’s expressions in these pics are priceless. <3

So full of love! The lovely Mary shares a few wedding planning insights with us:

At the beginning of the wedding planning process, Mike and I joked that our wedding them should be “stuff we like”, and we actually just sort of ran with that.  We wanted our special day to be filled with the things that we enjoy, so we could share them with the people we love.  Our wedding date did coincide with National Free Comic Book Day so we did try to incorporate that with our invitations and gifts for our guests!  But in a nutshell, I planned the wedding to be laid back and quirky — just like the two of us!

It was really easy to make our celebration ours, considering our ‘theme’ was things that we enjoy!  We worked with our officiant (who was my big brother, Aaron) to make our vows and ceremony very personal.  We even built a time capsule for our 10th wedding anniversary during the ceremony, neither of us knowing what the other would put in it!

I wanted the wedding and ceremony to be beautiful, but simple. I wanted my guests to walk in and feel at home which is why I chose to have flowers mixed with herbs and vegetables. Decorations were in mason jars or held up by corks, conversation starters were on the back of name cards, and table numbers in picture frames. They were beautiful things presented in a familiar way, and made the mood of my wedding relaxed, and a little playful.

This fantastic dollhouse was built by Mary’s dad!

I hand made all of the decorations, except the flowers and a dollhouse my Dad constructed in secret (it was an exact replica of the dollhouse I had as a little girl, but painted in our wedding colors!)

Conversation starters were at the back of the escort cards. This one reads: “If you were asked to make a Top Ten List of the people you regard as the all-time greatest Americans, whom would you rank in the third, second, and first spots?”

Mary’s favorite memories of the day include the time capsule she and Mike put together and her sister’s toast…

This wedding is just brimming with personal details! Aside from all the stuff they made by hand, the couple had the caterers reproduce a curry recipe they invented together, and had one of their favorite animals, bees, on top of the cake which they got to cut with a replica of Bilbo Baggin’s sword, Sting, from the Lord of the Rings movies!

Advice to future brides and grooms from the couple:

Mike: Clean the house better after the bachelor party.  Your best is not good enough.

Mary: I think that the best insight I have is to not spend as much on the ceremony, and instead use the money to make the reception that much more amazing.  The ceremony is a relatively short affair, so money goes a whole lot farther when you put it toward the hours long reception.  Also, don’t worry too much about what tradition dictates.  Have fun, take all given advice with a grain of salt, and do what feels right (even if that isn’t what is usually done).

Thank you Melissa for sending your beautiful images of this wonderful celebration my way, and congratulations Mary & Michael! Thank you for sharing your awesome day with us!

Photographer:  Melissa Arlena Photography
Event Venue: Inn At The Olde Silk Mill
Caterer: Pick Ups Plus
Floral Designer: Jane Guerin Flowers
Cake Designer: Fat Girl Cakes LLC
DJ: Mike Blaufeld
Dress: David’s Bridal
Suits: I Thee Wed Formal Wear
Flowers: Jane Guerin Flowers
Make up: Susan Alexander (Mary Kay)
Hair: Petite Retreat

Image submission via Two Bright Lights

Tags: DIY weddings, geeky wedding themes, handmade weddings, non-traditional weddings, outdoor weddings