Austin and Kara wanted their wedding to reflect their shared love of alternative music. They were inspired by the idea of a festival, particularly the many, many Warped Tours they have attended together, but getting married in November made them rethink the idea of an exclusively outdoor celebration.

“We knew we wanted to do things a little differently than all the other weddings we’ve attended”, Kara said.”We had a no white rule and wanted a very inclusive environment for us and our guests. Austin is a musician and we spend so much of our time attending pop punk shows and festivals. We love the energy of the shows and how people from all different backgrounds come together to bring amazing energy and fun. We wanted to create that vibe.”

The venue choice gave them complete creative freedom, but it also meant navigating the complexities of bringing all the pieces together. “It was amazing because we had the creative freedom but we weren’t prepared for all the little extra charges that came with planning everything ourselves,” Kara admitted. “The last few weeks before our wedding were crazy with last minute charges and details.”

Kara wore a custom-dyed black dress from Winnie Couture, which fit seamlessly into the dark, moody aesthetic. Instead of a coordinated bridal party, Kara encouraged her friends to pick their own outfits. The decor was also mostly black, and they scoured warehouses to hand-select pieces that matched their vision.

“We wanted a bold and dramatic look, and those details made a huge difference,” Kara explained. “We did decide to to ditch some of the details to save money though—the things you think you need but your guests don’t care about. We had no heavy desserts, no favours, and no extras like photo booths. We wanted everyone on the dance floor with us with no distractions and that saved some expenses.”

However, one part they certainly weren’t going to scrimp on was the music and entertainment. For the ceremony they had an acoustic guitar playing some of their favourite songs and at the reception a husband and wife team who DJ/ play guitar together. “We had a pop punk happy hour and got so many compliments on the ‘different music'” Kara said. “Our reception was NON-STOP! We are not sure if any of our guests ate dinner. The entertainment was so incredible we had people dancing, crowd surfing and doing the limbo from the cocktail hour thru to the end of the night. We we got on stage too! It felt like we got to be rockstars for the night!”

Looking back, the couple says the planning process was just as enjoyable as the day itself. “We didn’t stress about making everything perfect,” Kara concluded. “We made it about us. We also heard so many couples tell us they didn’t remember their day so we wanted to avoid that. We were surrounded by so many different types of people from all different stages of our life and we felt so loved, but we also felt like we were the only two people in the room sometimes. It was so amazing to see every hand-picked detail come together so flawlessly and then to be able party all night long. It felt like we were at a pop punk concert but we were the featured artists!”