After four years of dating, Andi & Brian were engaged while on a trip to Australia. Brian proposed while they were visiting Luna Park in Sydney, which is affectionately referred to as the ‘Coney Island of Australia’. So when it came to planning their wedding this was their starting point.
“We really wanted to have a wedding that was very fun and non-traditional, so we kept with a vintage Coney Island/sideshow theme”, explained the bride. “It was perfect for us. Having the right décor was key in making the vintage-y, Coney Island feel that we were hoping to accomplish. We were so lucky to work with great vendors who were excited to help, especially Obnoxious Antiques who we rented the vintage carnival and sideshow pieces from. They also provided the sideshow banners that were hanged throughout the venue. A friend even painted a custom sideshow banner of Brian, me and our dogs!”
“It was also important to us to have a vegan wedding”, Andi continued. “We worked with Miss Rachel’s Pantry. She and her people created a killer vegan menu for us that kept within our fun, Coney Island/carnival theme. The best vegan bakery on the planet, Vegan Treats, created our blue velvet tiered cake and both the popcorn box cakes which were all were decorated with gold-leaf popcorn.”
The ceremony also had a lot of added extras. They wanted to keep it short and non-traditional ceremony with lots of surprises for their guests. “To start, all of our guests received a ‘ceremony snack’ of popcorn and a prop (moustache, lips, glasses, etc) on a stick, along with the wedding program. Our abbreviated vows were then followed by our officiant’s act of fire breathing, while confetti cannons were set off in the audience!”
Andi & Brian wanted to provide lots of fun activities for their guests to get involved in. They had a photo booth, fun house mirrors and an antique ‘guess your weight’ chair. The evening was rounded off by sideshow entertainment from Olde City Sideshow. “Even the reception seating was geared to be fun”, Andi remembered. “Instead of table numbers, guests were seated at ‘sideshows’. I created the main centerpieces from cigar boxes and decoupage pictures of vintage sideshow banners. It was really cool to see the guests checking out the boxes on other tables. For the guest’s table settings, each napkin ring was created from carnival roll tickets.”
So fun! Thank you to Andi & Brian and their wedding photographer Mike of Allebach Photography for sharing with us today.
