We got married on 10.4.08 in Coney Island at the Museum above the Freak Show. Natalie wore red and a little burlesque style hat and got to get ready in the Freak Show dressing room (which, as you can imagine, was full of crazy stuff!). Frank wore a custom made southern gothic style suit. Natalie's Dad walked her down the aisle to the theme song from the show Twin Peaks (Julee Cruise, "Falling"). She made her own bouqet out of fake gerber daisies, feathers, and glowing red lights that ran on a battery pack (which she didn't remember to turn on until about halfway down the aisle. This actually worked well because it allowed for an "ouuuh" moment and a big laugh from the guests which put everyone at ease and set the tone for the rest of the day).
Frank's Best Man was also our officiant and the whole ceremony was custom to us...equal parts sweet and silly. We wrote our own vows (which included a high five in the middle). There was a lot of laughter throughout. Members from the band The Hunt performed a Nick Cave cover about halfway through the ceremony which was a nice musical touch since both of us have played in bands over the years and we are very music oriented people. We wrote our own vows which were again, very us and both sweet and silly. Our rings were custom made by a designer who incorporates textures of nature into her designs. We sent her chunks of boardwalk, shells, and sand from Coney Island and she made us special "Coney Island" rings.
After the ceremony, we were supposed to walk out to "Be My Baby", but the music got messed up and wasn't working. So Natalie just told everyone to picture it in their heads. But the Best Man had a whim of inspiration and started to stomp and clap the drum beat to the song and everyone else picked it up and started to sing a little and it ended up being really neat and magical and nothing we could've ever tried to plan. The whole thing was really great.
Later after photos and toasts and mingling, a group of our friends "kidnapped" us for a ride on the Wonder Wheel! A spin on an amusement ride was the perfect way to "consumate" the marriage! :) Afterwards, we went out to dinner with our families and then we partied into the night at a bar. Our first dance was "Melt With You" by Modern English and we half slow danced romantically to it and half spazzed out like goofballs to it. There was also the Chicken Dance (which Natalie demanded). It was a lot of fun!
The next day we went upstate to stay the night at Kate Pierson (from the B-52s) hotel called Lazy Meadow. It was the perfect little "Love Shack" for a "mini-moon"!
But enough blah blah blah...here are some photos!
This was the front side of our invitations. We LOVE photobooths so it was perfect. Natalie is a graphic designer, so she designed the invites and we had them printed at 1800postcards. They were long and shiny card stock. We wanted to go VERY untraditional. Everyone seemed to love them!
Us! We shot our photos back in September. It gave us a chance to "try out" our outfits and it made things SO much easier on wedding day. Also, it was the last day ever that Astroland would be opened and we wanted to catch that magical moment. Portrait photos by Rose Callahan (rosecallahan.com) an amazing photographer and a friend of ours.
Natalie made her hat. She ordered a tiny teddy bear top hat and added the birdcage veil, flowers, and feathers.
Painting by Natalie (30" x 40" acrylic) that hung at both the ceremony and reception. She also used it as the cover for the CD wedding favors. Not her usual style of painting, but it was fun to make (www.natty.org)
Natalie also made our "cake topper." She love Unicorns. He loves Dinosaurs. And we both hate tradition (hence the stomping on the little traditional bride and groom). Unfortunately, our "cake" never arrived. We were supposed to have a cookie cake that read "Frank and Natty 4EVA." Hee :)
Our "Coney Island" rings designed and photographed by Beth Cyr. Created using pieces of boardwalk, shell, and sand. We love that we'll always have a piece of Coney Island with us at all times.
The Coney Island Museum's stage.
The museum complete with vintage bumper cars and our buffet in the back. We did our own "catering" of veggie platters and cheese and crackers.
A vintage merry-go-round horse and our candy buffet which we put together.
A detail of the candy buffet. It added such a colorful and fun touch. We think it was a big hit. Everyone needed a sugar boost to keep going all day! :)
Fun House Mirrors!!!
Natalie got to get dressed in the Freak Show's dressing room!!! She was so excited about this.
Natalie almost forgot to turn on the lights on my bouquet. It was kind of a "oouuuuh" moment for the guests when she flipped it on halfway down the aisle. We couldn't have planned it better!
Nick Cave was playing a show that night and he is one of Frank's favorite artists. Everyone kept joking that we should invite him to play our ceremony. Instead, we got the next best thing: Our friends from the band, The Hunt, performed Nick Cave's "Into Your Arms" in the middle of the ceremony. It was a lovely touch to have music since Frank is a musician, Natalie used to play in a band, and collectively we go to shows all the time.
In her vows, Natalie mentioned how she was smitten with Frank when he kept high-fiving me on our first date...and so he high-fived me in the middle of the ceremony. Cute!
After the ceremony, we took a spin on the Wonder Wheel with a huge group of our friends.
The view from the Wonder Wheel
Later, at the reception...the first dance was equal parts sweet....
...and silly. The song was "Melt With You" by Modern English. You can see Natalie's patent leather red doc martins and stripey stockings in this shot, too! The stage we were on has some poles, too and you better believe we incorporated them into the first dance as well by swinging around them!
A parting shot... :)
And ever more photos if you are terribly bored or interested:
Our Wedding Portraits
Photos from the Ceremony
Riding the Wonder Wheel
The Reception
Photos of our guests (mostly shot by our guests!)
and
All the little details of the day and event
