Marissa and Nick bonded over their mutual love of Dashboard Confessional on Twitter in 2014. They finally went on their first date just before Nick left for Warped tour with his band Vanna, and the rest, as they say, is history! 

“We knew we’d be on our annual beach wedding when we wanted to get married,” Marissa told us, “so we decided to get married there too. Everything was super relaxed, and due to covid it was just as an our families present. It was so nice to have something that felt normal in the midst of everything.”

They had a budget of just $1,000 – basically the only thing they spent money on was catering for everyone. Their photography was a trade for Nick’s tattoo services, and Marissa’s dress a gift from her friend at Older Ghosts. Her jewellery was an vintage chain with a ring from each of their four grandmothers strung on it.

“We had minimal decorations, the only aesthetic decision we really made was a Hawaiian shirt dress code for the guys that started with our son’s outfit choice.” The day was held on the beach and at Nick’s family cottage so they had no venue costs, either.

The couple wrote their own vows, which included Marissa promising to not get upset with Nick for leaving the drinks cabinet open all the time and for Nick to not make fun oh how many times she watched the new Charlie’s Angel movie. The whole day was super relaxed, with no rigid time table to follow and they just took the day as it came. 

“The best and worst parts of planning our wedding are intertwined,” Marissa told us. “I’m glad that we had our families help to get everything taken care of and to help the day run smoothly. However, I get totally overwhelmed when planning big things so it was hard to get everything organised.”

“My advice to other couples planning a wedding would be to do what feels right for you. The size of the ceremony isn’t as important as how relaxed and comfortable you can feel.”