From Hogwarts to NYC: a Brooklyn Harry Potter wedding

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The Offbeat Bride: Sera

Her offbeat partner: John

Date and location of wedding: Tuffet, Brooklyn, NY - July 8, 2016

Our offbeat wedding at a glance:

John proposed to me during our Harry Potter weekend at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, FL, so we knew our wedding had to have a Brooklyn Harry Potter wedding.

We both live in Atlanta, GA, but New York holds such a special place for us since John grew up there and my closest friends live there. We found an amazing bar in Brooklyn called Tuffet with an adorable backyard.

We sent out Hogwarts acceptance letters as invites, and my bridesmaids all represented the different Hogwarts houses. We hired the New York Trolley Company as our personal "Hogwarts express" to transport us from our rented penthouse to the bar.

We rented the bar for the whole night so we all partied the night away. The day after the wedding we decided to celebrate by running around our favorite city and enjoying every minute of our first day as husband and wife.

Tell us about the ceremony:

The Reverend D officiated our ceremony as well as did day-of coordinating. She did an amazing job with a hilarious reading that had the guests laughing and crying at the same time. I walked out to "Hedwig's Theme."

But before the end of the ceremony, we had a sorting hat ceremony. She got the sorting hat and it sorted me into "House Jacobus," John's family name.

Tell us about your reception:

The decor was all Harry Potter-themed. I made chocolate frogs with personalized cards, and there were Honeydukes lollipops, Bertie Botts every flavor beans, A Daily Prophet program, wands for all guests, handmade potion bottle vases, a bouquet made out of Harry Potter books and charms, golden snitch cake pops, and more.

We didn't hire a DJ, but instead spent months curating an awesome '80s/new wave/industrial playlist that played from an iPhone. It was great and had everyone dancing. There were meat and cheese platters for guests as well as BBQ.

We didn't plan for a first dance, but then the minute I heard "The Safety Dance" come on (which is MY FAVORITE SONG IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!) we both burst out into spontaneous dance. It was excellent and the most ridiculous and perfect first dance ever. The small guest list included people who flew in from all over the country and the world. The most important people in our lives were there.

What was your most important lesson learned?

I got married in July after just graduating college in June. The biggest challenge was planning a wedding in another state, while maintaining final projects for graduation, WITHOUT a wedding planner. There were times I almost broke down. I always told myself that there's no point in stressing over anything because if anything goes wrong, more than likely no one will notice.

My biggest advice is to just relax and enjoy the whole planning process. OH, and do hire a day-of coordinator though, if you can afford it. Budget for it!