Because our wedding is a bit on the unconventional side, we figure there might be some questions. Here are a few answers we’ve come up with for you.

Why have your wedding on a Wednesday evening?

We are HUGE Star Wars fans and in 2016, Star Wars Day (May 4th) happens to land on a Wednesday. While this isn’t usually a popular wedding day, we decided to just go with it. Also this is Texas and while May isn’t the hottest month, an evening wedding will be a little bit cooler for all our guests (the whole night will be outside under tents). Plus everything is a little cheaper on a week day and we didn’t feel like waiting a few more years for May 4th to land on a weekend.

What is SCARE for a CURE? That doesn’t sound very wedding-friendly.

We met, became friends, and fell in love at SCARE for a CURE, a nonprofit organization that raises money for local charities. It’s called SCARE for a CURE because they raise this money through an interactive haunted house adventure every October (and a D&D/Larp-style quest night in April). Jake is the Special FX Director and Secretary for the Board of Directors for the organization and Nikki is the Social Media & Design Manager for marketing and Assistant Art Director. Since SCARE is such an important part of our life, we decided this was the best place to get hitched. To add to this, the founder of SCARE for a CURE (and our good friend), Jarrett Crippen, will be officiating the wedding.

Is there a theme for your wedding?

Considering we are geeks, YES! Jake’s theme is Star Wars (duh). Nikki’s is Mass Effect (her favorite video game). Which means the overall theme is: SPACE. Because we are definitely geeks for all things space. We will also have some nods to our favorite fandoms throughout the wedding: Tolkien, Doctor Who, Firefly, video games, etc. We also encourage those attending to cosplay and dress up in your own geeky way. But the overall theme itself is pretty much just going to be full-on Geek stuff with Star Wars and Mass Effect as the groom/bride themes and hopefully you’ll all find something you love represented.

What should I wear to this wedding? What is cosplay?

So if you haven’t figured it out, we are a pretty nerdy couple. And we like to dress up in costumes. And tons of our friends love to dress up in costumes. We do work in a haunted house and LARP as a hobby, after all. SO. To keep this wedding as “us” as possible, we are encouraging everyone to dress up however they like. Cosplay, or costume play, is simply the act of dressing up as your favorite characters, whether original or in your favorite fandom. It’s a lot of fun and we’d love to see what our guests come up with.

Of course, no one should feel like they have to dress up. Be comfortable. Come as you are. If you just want to wear jeans and a t-shirt, please feel free! If you want to dress up like you’re going to a super fancy wedding, do that! However, keep in mind that this is an OUTSIDE wedding, it will be warm, AND you’ll be walking on a lot of gravel since that is mostly what SCARE’s roads and walkways consist of. So whatever you plan on wearing, please wearing COMFY SHOES. Or bring an extra pair of sneakers because you’ll definitely want them.

Also, keep in mind that since this is outside and it’s a somewhat remote location, bathrooms are in the form of portable toilets (porta potties). Also, we are in the Texas countryside which means critters of all sorts. Consider this when choosing costumes and foot attire.

Outside wedding? What if it rains?

We will have a very large tent for the actual ceremony space, the food will be served inside the Grub Shack (our kitchen), and we’ll be eating at tables covered by more tents. If it gets really stormy, well we’ll think of something when the times comes. Nikki likes storms. She’ll probably be jumping in puddles in her wedding dress, perfectly happy, if it storms…

What is this livestream business all about?

Since our wedding is a small one, we felt the best way to include EVERYONE we wanted was to do a livestream and recording of the wedding ceremony and some of the reception. Everyone will receive a Save-the-Date which will have our date and our website on it which will have more information about the upcoming livestream. On the day of the wedding, everyone will be able to tune in and see us get married – LIVE. Actual invites will go out to the small group of folks attending the physical wedding, but it’s definitely not all of the people we wish we could celebrate with. So this is our digital solution. We may not be able to see you, but you’ll be able to see us and we are so excited to have everyone celebrate with us, even if it’s through the wonder of technology.

More livestream information will be added to the site once we have that.

Anything else I should know about this unconventional wedding?

We are not traditional. Please do not expect a traditional wedding ceremony. Neither of us are particularly religious and neither of us are all that fancy. This wedding will have a huge emphasis on FUN so that is what we want people to come away with when they leave that night. There will be lots of references to geeky things throughout our wedding so we’re hoping there will be lots of laughter and camaraderie throughout the evening. If you want to catch up with some of the latest nerd culture before you attend (like Star Wars or Mass Effect), we won’t stop you. If you bring a lightsaber, well we’ll love you even more (and you might have to fight the groom).