Today I get to share with you this gorgeous outdoor wedding of two roller derby players from Karen Leah Photography.
We first appeared on each other’s radar when my roller derby team went to San Diego to play against his then-girlfriend’s team. He was there jam timing. I even have a picture of me skating during warm-ups, and what looks like him watching me. We didn’t talk to each other, but he found me and friended me on Facebook two days later. A few months after, they broke up and he moved to Phoenix, while I’m in Los Angeles, and then a few months after that we started chatting online. We ended up having our first date ten months after that game, while we were both in Las Vegas for RollerCon.
The highlight of our day I would say was when we took our wedding photos with the truck we are restoring together. By the afternoon, the ceremony was done, emotions were calm, and I finally began to feel like myself in my hair and make up. We were both relaxed and happy. It was nice to be with one another without having to juggle friends and family.
Even though our lives revolve around roller derby, I’m a former skater and now a referee, and he’s skates with a men’s league and refs with my league, no derby was tied into our wedding. I actually did that on purpose. What was repeatedly thrown in were black sheep. We identify ourselves as black sheep, and when I would send postcards to him when we were apart, I would draw two black sheep on the cards, in the style of Minor Threat’s “Out of Step.” Two black sheep, one with a pink bow, were our wedding cake toppers, and they were also drawn on the tags for our party favors.
Our wedding was filled with DIY creations, partially because we were on a very low budget, and also my friends and I are very creative folk. The sheep cake toppers were made by me from Fimo clay. Will was so proud and loved their uniqueness. The sheep snuggling at the campfire on the party favor tags were also drawn by me. The candle and flower jars were done by my wonder friends, the Karens. Also, my maid-of-honor made these amazing fire-fly-like glowing jars which hung over the drinks stand.
I often forget I have tattoos. I picked a dress based on what seemed fitting for me and was a good price. I actually got my dress online a couple of months before he proposed. I had a feeling… and the price was too good to pass up! Hahaha! However though, we couldn’t find a jacket that worked for Will. So we opted with a vest and liked the notion even better because he could roll up his sleeves and show off his tattoos, if he wanted.
How gorgeous is Carly & Will’s day? I love their donut wedding cake – What a great idea! Thank you to them both and to Karen Leah Photography for sharing with Marry Me Ink!
