Awesome gamer-geek lesbian wedding

Offbeat Bride celebrates the wedding of Anli and Laura, two Australian gamer-geek women who had a genuinely awesome wedding! I would have blogged this yesterday, but I was off celebrating my own anniversary (we were married in Toronto's weird white-elephant castle, Casa Loma, in steampunk drag, by a magician in Templar robes who recited Jabberwocky and made the rings appear in gouts of flame).

We wanted a ceremony that reflected our geeky, romantic, pink aesthetic, while at the same time being profound and meaningful. Our ceremony was themed around the video game Portal and the anime series Revolutionary Girl Utena.
We incorporated lots of geeky details, from the table names (Revolution, Sierra, Katara and GLaDOS) to the choice of music. We also kept several traditional elements such as bouquets, dresses and bridesmaids. However, we both walked down the aisle unaccompanied and skipped the garter/bouquet toss.

Anli & Laura's Lesbian Gamer Geek Wedding

Previously:

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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mgfarrelly

Well that started my day off with a smile. What a lovely couple!
Thanks Cory.
adamnvillani

only 2.9 percent of all marriages were interracial in 2002

I took a look at what I presume was the same article from Cornell (November 2, 2005), and it wasn’t really clear whether they meant “new marriages” (i.e., weddings) or 2.9% of all existing marriages. The numbers have got to be pretty different. The article was talking about trends over time, but the figure would have made sense either way one interprets it.

Also, at first the article said it was only studying white – black – hispanic marriage rates, but later mentioned Asian rates. Weird.
Padraig

As a married man (to a woman, of course. I mean who the hell else can get married in Australia!! :)) with three children (*1), I have to say: “what a lovely looking wedding’.I’d have loved to have been there.

Bring on the future fast please so any consenting adult can marry any other consenting adult.

(*1. Pointed commentary to those lusers who think marriages will somehow be diminished because some lesbians or gay blokes get married.)
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Pointed commentary to those lusers who think marriages will somehow be diminished because some lesbians or gay blokes get married.
  
  Can’t say what effect gay marriage will have on straight marriage, but I’m pretty sure that wedding receptions are going to be a lot more fun.
astallings

Re: The Morgan’s comment.

So, I run Offbeat Bride (hi!) and I make a point with all the weddings I feature to let the couple self-identify themselves. (For example, I would never label anyone’s wedding as “nerdy,” but if they want to call it that — then amen!)

When Anli submitted her story to us, she described her wedding as a “geeky lesbian pink romantic garden ceremony.”

So, while I very much appreciate the values and motivation behind The Morgan’s concern, this particular situation isn’t an instance of someone being labeled. It’s self-identification — and the way I see it, since it’s Anli’s wedding, she can call it whatever she wants. :)
- Gloria
  
  Pretty fair. Always interesting to hear it from the horse’s mouth!
Cefeida

I find it valid information that it’s a lesbian wedding, that way I know I’m looking at a photo of two brides, and not a bunch of bridesmaids, for example. It’s good journalism to give relevant details.
- LB
  
  Valid point.
  
  It’s also important to note that the two women are getting married to *each other*, since there are people who will do dual weddings with their best friend (I just saw a picture of two brides while flipping through Offbeat Bride, and it was helpful that the site labelled it as a dual wedding, otherwise I would have assumed they were a couple).
- Gloria
  
  Photo captions are handy. How do I know the photo here is necessarily of the brides? It could *still* be of the bridesmaids.
  
  Hell, even knowing it’s a lesbian wedding, I’m *still* not sure which of the ladies are the brides. They’re all wearing white, right? (I’m assuming it’s the seated pair, because they’re more elaborately and individually dressed.)
  
  Practically speaking, if I read a news item about a wedding and saw a photo of just two women in white, I’d assume it was the couple. Most wedding articles focus on the couple and not the secondary players.
  
  Does “lesbian” belong in the headline (if the couple didn’t label it that way themselves)? If I was the editor, I’d say no. Still, I can see how it can be argued as a stylistic choice.
Ito Kagehisa

Congratulations Laura and Anli!

Cory, thanks for the wonderful thing!
Anonymous

How cute i just got married to this gorgeous lady her name is cameron awesome pic.
Anonymous

Very cool. Thank you for sharing this.
John Napsterista

Well, I see from the ‘previously’ box that boing boingâ€™s already linked to the awesome “Steampunk robot wedding-cake topper,” but why has there not yet been a link to the full-on steampunk wedding cake itself??

http://offbeatbride.com/tags/wedding-porn/page/5

Yup, those gears are edible!
astallings

Permalink to the cake John mentioned:
http://offbeatbride.com/2009/10/steampunk-wedding-cake

And for those who are into the steampunk weddings:
http://offbeatbride.com/tag/steampunk
O_M

“They are really nice, the wedding photo’s are almost so sweet you get diabetes.”

…That’s why my blood sugar’s through the roof this evening. I thought it was that bite-sized Almond Joy I had for dessert. Thanks a lot, Cory. What’re you trying to do? Kill us diabetics??
octopod

omg, the cake is not a lie and looks so awesome. congratulations.
ToddBradley

That pink hair kicks ass.
Anonymous

Come to Canada where gay marriage is totally legal and where I’ll be tying the knot with my gf next fall!
EH

Gosh, it only took two comments for someone to piss on the thread.

I fear it’ll be a fair while before that changes.

“Oh the pain…the pain!”
- The Morgan
  
  What on Earth are you talking about?
cymk

Thanks for the post Cory, and a big congrats to the lovely new couple along with best wishes.
bibulb

Adorable … or MORE adorable?

Goddamn, that’s just as sweet as hell. Awesome indeed.
benher

This sure beats my wedding of going to the town hall to sign a piece of paper. Congratulations to you and awesome hair!
- stegodon
  
  They are arranged in order by hair color, from dark to light.
Anonymous

I wrote the below, it never occurred to me that multi-racial was an issue. I am proud of myself. I have a big smile on my face. Now I am back off to the garage to upgrade the distrib on the V8 to a ‘scorcher’. ps: I hate VB, MB is much better.

The head should of been:
“Awesome gamer-geek lesbian wedding happened in bogan Australia. How?”

Sadly, they can’t do this legally in Oz, yet.

ps: I am a bogan, love VB, V8′s and Vegemite. More power to them. Best wishes for future.
The Morgan

Lovely.

It’s too bad we still feel the need to point out that it was a lesbian wedding (I mean, I can’t imagine there are too many people who would say “straight wedding”). I fear it’ll be a fair while before that changes.
- japroach
  
  You might have a point if gay marriages weren’t in the extreme minority.
  
  And you’re right, that’s not going to change anytime soon, unless you can dig up some of these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_bomb.
  - Gloria
    
    I think The Morgan’s points stands, regardless.
    
    Interracial marriages, for example, are “in the extreme minority” in the United States. A quick Google search pulls up a Cornwall University article that reports that only 2.9 percent of all marriages were interracial in 2002 according to the U.S. Bureau of the Census. If that isn’t “extreme minority” …
    
    But yeah, I don’t see many people pointing *that* out about a marriage these days.
    - Jerril
      
      But yeah, I don’t see many people pointing *that* out about a marriage these days.
      
      Except when some lunatic judge decides to deny the marriage, wailing “Think of the chiiiiiildruuuuun” as he does.
Anonymous

Wow, I actually know these girls(second from the right in the photo is my ex-girlfriend, she was a maid of honor). They are really nice, the wedding photo’s are almost so sweet you get diabetes.
VICTOR JIMENEZ

Cool!
Did one of the brides turned into an sports car and flew from the oppressive castle of heterosexuality to ride into the metaphor of freedom and sex?

Because that would be AWESOME.
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1Glu3ffHZg[/url]
Anonymous

The head should of been:
“Awesome gamer-geek lesbian wedding happened in bogan Australia. How?”

Sadly, they can’t do this legally in Oz, yet.

ps: I am a bogan, love VB, V8′s and Vegemite. More power to them. Best wishes for future.
Anonymous

Very cool and cute,
But marriage, really, what decade is this? Why support such a ridiculous, non-inclusive and outdated tradition? If you want to really hang on to your geek identities, invent something for yourselves completely outside of the confines of religious ceremony; support something that doesn’t discriminate against homosexuals in so many parts of the world.
Cefeida

Hmm, but you know, when you use the word ‘lesbian’ in a headline like this, it can have a very positive effect. Since homosexuality and especially non-hetero weddings are still not entirely out of the taboo category, boldly attaching the word to a positive news item like this one is a GOOD thing.

And like it or not homosexuals are a minority. When you look at the general population of the Earth, homosexuality is unusual. Unusual things are worthy of pointing out, if only so the readers can be properly informed of what they are reading about. Whether the journalist wants to push one agenda or the other by pointing out the uncommon fact is another story.
- Gloria
  
  I guess what I had in mind was the fact that one of the biggest points of contention in the gay marriage debate is calling it gay “marriage.” A lot of people feel that it isn’t a “marriage” unless it’s a man and a woman, so we gotta call it something else — i.e. the “civil union.” It doesn’t have the word “gay” tacked on it, but it might as well.
  
  Here, “lesbian wedding” is definitely a good start, for the reasons you point out. But I’m thinking we need to take it one step further and just call it a “wedding.” It’s a wedding when it’s for a man and a woman, so it’s a wedding when it’s for a woman and a woman — just like how everyone, gay and straight, gets married and not civilly united.
  
  And of course, congrats to the happy couple! My manners.
  - Cefeida
    
    I think that will come, but in time, when gay marriage will become legal in more places and people who never thought past marriage meaning man+woman will no longer find it an incredibly odd thing that gay people can and do get married. In other words, when gay marriage will be just another boring topic. But for now I still think it’s a point of interest- just like the fact that the wedding is geek-themed. It makes it more interesting, because it’s outside of what most people deal with every day.
    
    Although at the same time, since I presume gays will always be a minority, it’s good to have a pointer that this is an article that could interest other lesbian couples for example, as it could interest the community of gamer geeks. Otherwise it just says ‘Awesome Wedding’ and there are no target readers.
Anonymous

“We wanted a ceremony that reflected our geeky, romantic, pink aesthetic, while at the same time being profound and meaningful. Our ceremony was themed around the video game Portal and the anime series Revolutionary Girl Utena.”
Well I guess there’s a limit to the amount of meaningfulness and profoundness you can fit into 8bit aesthetics.