The Offbeat Bride: Jamielynn, Director of Wish Granting for Hero Network

Her offbeat partner: Matthew, Regional Sales Manager for Apple

Date and location of wedding: YMCA Camp Ockanickon, Medford, NJ - November 2, 2013

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: We did not follow many traditions at all. We had an entire wedding weekend which included campfires, archery, boating, a ropes course, and a trebuchet! Matthew and his family (with some help from my family) spent about six months prior to the wedding building a massive trebuchet which we used to toss the bouquet. We called it the "Trebouquet."

We had no wedding cake but had a giant creme donut, all home-brew beer at the bar, and a fajita buffet with lots of guacamole for the reception dinner. My gorgeous flowers were a gift from a friend of mine who is a florist at Whole Foods. Instead of a videographer, we had a GoPro camera mounted to my wedding bouquet to film the day from my point of view. Instead of a rehearsal dinner on Friday night, we had a "roast" of us followed by a late-night campfire with s'mores.

Tell us about the ceremony:
Some of our favorite parts were the ring warming ceremony, the included equality statement, and the vows we wrote.

This was the equality statement we included:

As we are gathered here to celebrate this marriage, Jamielynn and Matthew would also like to acknowledge those who are not afforded the same legal right. We are excited about the increased marriage equality in the State of New Jersey, and hope the rest of the nation will follow soon. Jamielynn and Matthew have asked that I share a reading from Massachusetts Supreme Court Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall:

'Marriage is a vital social institution. The exclusive commitment of two individuals to each other nurtures love and mutual support. Civil marriage is at once a deeply personal commitment to another human being and a highly public celebration of the ideals of mutuality, companionship, intimacy, fidelity, and family. Because it fulfills yearnings for security, safe haven, and connection that express our common humanity, civil marriage is an esteemed institution and the decision whether and whom to marry is among life's momentous acts of self-definition.'

Our biggest challenge:
It was challenging at times hosting our wedding somewhere that was not a typical wedding venue by nature. We did not have the benefit of an onsite wedding coordinator or anything like that. There are so many things you don't realize you have to think about from timing out the ceremony to the layout of the reception to the logistics of our guests getting from one side of camp to the other for our ceremony. We knew what we were signing up for though and it was all worth it in the end!

My funniest moment:
I loved when my grandmother sang"When Irish Eyes Are Smiling," forgot the words, and decided to instead start talking into the microphone about how she ran into a family she used to babysit for on her way to our ceremony.

My favorite moment:
Having an entire weekend to spend with family and friends was just amazing. Also, so many of our friends and family chipped in to help us in whatever way they could. I definitely discovered in my wedding planning that we have such a unique set of friends/family with so many talents, and they were all so willing to offer up help to make it our dream weekend.

A part of the day I am so glad that we included was doing a first look. It was such a great way to have a moment of just us in the middle of such craziness. When we looked back on the wedding we realized that after our first look the next time we got alone time together was not until the following afternoon while we were packing up the camp.

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

Enough talk - show me the wedding porn!