The Offbeat Bride: Cassie, events coordinator

Her offbeat partner: Ryan, piping designer

Date and location of wedding: Broken Arrow Church of Christ, Broken Arrow, OK - October 29, 2011

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: Ryan and I met at a running race, and got married exactly one year later. We started our morning running the same race we met at, and then had a running-themed wedding that afternoon. We even had our shoes on the altar. Gatorade bottles and ribbons were our centerpieces. We had the start and finish line banner along with race bibs for decorations, too!

Tell us about the ceremony:
Ryan walked his mom to her seat before the ceremony. Both my dad and stepdad walked me down the aisle. Our moms lit the unity candle. We left the altar with our running shoes on to the Rocky theme music.

Our biggest challenge:
With Ryan and I both having parents who are divorced and remarried, we had to consider several different options when it came to them - seating in the church and tables at the reception, family pictures, and who would be involved in the wedding. Clear communication between me and Ryan (discussing our decision before telling the family about it), helped us get through it all.

My favorite moment:
Running the race that morning with Ryan was a symbolic representation of us starting our life together.

For my "something old," I carried a picture of my grandpa (who passed long ago) around my flowers.

My funniest moment:
Before the kiss at the ceremony, Ryan turned around to his best man who had a small bottle of mouth wash. Ryan put it all in his mouth, swished, looked around for somewhere to spit, shrugged, and swallowed it in one big gulp. I was bent over laughing, and then my next thought was that he was going to be sick. He then whispered that it was only colored water!

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding?
Wedding planning does not have to be stressful! We planned the whole wedding in seven weeks since the race we wanted to include was coming up soon. We didn't sacrifice anything that we wanted, but it made us focus on making decisions fast and accurately without a lot of changes to plans.

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

Enough talk - show me the wedding porn!