A Punk Rock Wedding ceremony

Giving away the punk rock bride

We did it!

WHO BE YOU?

Alexzandra, Chicago, IL USA, Sewchiatrist by day and cupcake mistress by night, and Kevin, Chicago, IL USA, Misanthrope by day and cannibal by night

WHAT MAKES YOUR DAY A ‘SKULLY’ WEDDING?

We are both born and bred punk rockers who love to follow a DIY ethic. Everything about our wedding reflected us. We didn’t throw tradition entirely out the window, because we wanted the essence of a wedding to be there without all of the conformation. We didn’t have a theme, but we had a color and pattern palette; Oxblood Red, Zebra Print and black could be found just about everywhere.

We had our ceremony and reception at one of the oldest houses in Chicago, The Glessner House Museum. It was built as a rebellion, every house around it was Victorian and here comes this fortress like structure. The neighbors weren’t pleased by this “eye sore,” but it made for a beautiful and somewhat creepy backdrop for our wedding.

 

Yaaaay!

We both really wanted a photo booth, but were not willing to spend $1000 on it, our photographers heard me saying how I wished we had a photo booth and surprised us by setting a “Prom Photo” area towards the back of the venue! The photo’s we have of people are priceless and are some of our favorites.

The day of the wedding the entire bridal party helped out, it was a team effort to get everything in place and we couldn’t have done it without them. 
 

Alex's awesome bridesmaids

TELL US ABOUT YOUR FAVOURITE WEDDING DETAILS

The Dress: I actually had three. I know, I know, I am a little vain . My first dress was purchased from Brides Against Breast Cancer they are an organization that sells new and used wedding gowns and accessories for a great cause. Their prices are incredible and the staff generally consists of experts in the field of weddings.  It had a corset and a six foot train, I ended up adding all the little buttons going down the back and redoing the front of the skirt to make it lacy.

My second dress was found at Ross, yes that Ross. It was under $15 and was a godsend. Without this dress I would have been wearing 35lbs of satin for eight hours. My third dress was used for taking pictures around the city; it was a beautiful antique lace with a silk bust.

Alexzandra's second of THREE dress. Isn't it awesome?That THAT'S what I call a wedding band!

When I say we did everything, I really mean it. I made thirty centerpieces, four bouquets, a ton of corsages and boutonnieres and random floral bubbles to fill empty spaces. Thankfully my bridesmaid Mary helped me out, because I was up till about 2AM the night before my wedding and not even half way done. I wanted to make sure that even though we were on a ridiculous small budget that we were able to have a beautiful wedding that reflected us. The venue had all the charm in the world, but I didn’t want to just put a bunch of tables in a room and call it a day so that’s where the super creative side of me went wild.

One of Alex's DIY arrangements

Each table featured one large centerpiece with at least three smaller ones surrounding it, rose petals and pearls were also on each table in addition to votives. The table cloths were black and I made round zebra overlays to make things stand out a bit more. The large centerpieces had beta fish inside of them and stood for our little friend Seamus who passed away earlier in the year, he was only one and half years old and loved the aquarium at the hospital, his mommy was my maid of honor and we had planned for him to be the ring bearer.  We had an all adult wedding and I think it was best for everyone, we were able to have fun and adults could be adults.

Alex's zebra print decor

My favorite part of the flora was the aisle, I wanted to walk on a bed of roses and that is exactly what I was able to do. We strung garlands of ivy on either side of the aisle and were married under a beautiful ivy and rose adorned arch. Our ceremony was written by us and was short and sweet, well under 15 minutes. 

For the décor the flowers were definitely a very important part, where there weren’t flowers there was a giant candy bar that I created with 35 different types of our favorite sweet treats! We had everything from gummy bears to chocolates to Jelly Belly’s to candy sticks. We made little Chinese takeout boxes with our names on them for each guest and had them fill them up throughout the evening as our “favor.”

The Cake, oh my god, this was our splurge item. I would have done anything and I mean anything to have this cake. Our baker was Michelle Garcia of the infamous Bleeding Heart Bakery in Chicago. She is a punk rock cake diva who is known for being the owner of the first organic bakery in the country. She made our cake and not only was it delicious it was zebra print airbrushed fondant with oxblood underneath AND spiked collars! This cake was my vision and she went above and beyond. 

Is there anything MORE punk rock than this wedding cake?Seriously, you think so? Because I don't think there is. And I write this wedding blog, so I think I have some authority on the matter.I mean, just LOOK at it!

Our invited were fairly traditional looking, but warned our guests to…”Dress to impress we will do all the rest the only thing traditional will be the brides white dress”

MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT

Well, right as we were about to take the photos one of my bridesmaids fell into the water feature.  
 

M*wuh!

ANY ADVICE FOR WEDDING SKULLS

If you are on a tight budget do as much as you can by yourself. We purchased everything we could on our own so we didn’t have to deal with extra fees that vendors charge. Don’t get overwhelmed though, there is a reason why there are professional florists and caterers and they do a great job, but if you think you can do it yourself and you have to practice, take the plunge.

We had a top shelf bar with everything you could imagine for well under what a beer and wine package would have cost us through a caterer. The food was really important to us so we splurged with a better caterer, but still got a killer deal.

Photography, is expensive, but not if you look for it. We found a two person team who were incredible. I posted a listing on Craigslist that stated how much we were going to pay them ($45 per hour) and that we were going to need them for a test shoot.  We got hundreds of responses, but narrowed it down to the portfolios and attitude we liked the best. We were able to get two for the price of one and they did a fantastic job. They were straight out of college and had never shot a wedding, we got an amazing deal, fantastic photos and they now have a great wedding portfolio. They were great to have at the wedding and took some amazing photos. 

4 VERY beautiful ladies That's one hot wedding party

It’s your day, make it your own. Punk rock glamour is who we are and that’s what we think our wedding conveyed. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!