A modest budget of $12,000, didn’t stop Molly and Bryan from having the fantasy-inspired wedding of their dreams! This pair pledged their love with a day that celebrated their shared passions for videogames, art and fantasy, all while proving that a magical wedding doesn’t have to come with a hefty price tag.

Both the bride and groom are artists who build the 3D worlds for videogames, so having the charming, beautiful architecture and aesthetic environments for the wedding was important to them. They chose Balboa Park’s Alcazar Garden for their ceremony and and the courtyard of Horton Grand Hotel, in San Diego, for their reception.

“I had a low-key fairy tale, boho style for my outfit and I wanted to go for a wedding theme revolving around a colour palette of my favorite greens, gold and cream”, Molly told us. “I was so excited to have my wedding dress be lime green (my favourite color) and to carry a rainbow succulent bouquet. I think a lot of people are driven to do very traditional weddings to please their families and don’t embrace creativity by adding their own personal twist. The guests all commented how the wedding felt so special and very much ‘me’ and I couldn’t agree more. Do what makes you happy, it’s your big day!”

They wanted a warm, cosy atmosphere so integrated decorations made of worn wood, soft dried flowers, fluffy pampas grass, antique lanterns, fairy lights and little white pumpkins. The bride also loves succulents, so included a bunch of cute rosette succulents on the cake, in the flower arrangements and she wore some in her hair.

The couple’s creativity really did shine through in every detail, many of which were homemade. Their rings were held in a Masterball from Pokémon and guests were serenaded as they arrived by a barbershop quartet singing tunes from Bioshock Infinite and The X-Files. “Having the quartet sing God Only Knows was a nod to the first game we played together. It was these personal touches that made our day truly unique,” the bride explained.

Some other game elements included Molly wearing a Witcher 3 medallion (her favourite game) and having an ‘I Choose You’” cake topper with pixel perler characters of their favorite Pokemon, Vaporeon and Gengar. Their table names were inspired by locations from their favourite games, too.

“We handed out game quest maps I had made of Balboa Park to guests at the ceremony, as well as set up a game table at the reception that included Star Wars themed decks of cards, Mario Uno cards, board games and Tamagotchis”, she said. “We even had the menu drinks named after drinks in videogames like Skooma (from Skyrim), and the gift bags that each guest received were pouches with ‘inventory’ items including the item stats on their info cards.”

“Every part of the day was magical and unforgettable,” Molly concluded, “Be yourself, focus on you two, and what you want out of it. Think about what the most important things are to you and how they will make you feel on the day. We were happy to save money on things like my dress ($150 bought online) as we’d rather have a house some day. However, even if you cut costs, I think it’s still important to have a great photographer for the occasion. You’ll never regret having fantastic photos of you at your finest to look back on and cherish!”