What is a nerd?
If you are a nerd, you know it. There is no specific set of criteria that determine whether or not you are a nerd. There is no action that you can take to pass you over to the realm of nerd-dom. You cannot choose the nerd life, the nerd life must choose you.
So if you are one such individual, fly your nerd flag high! There is no shame in being a nerd. Take full advantage of your unique personality, interests, and lifestyle. Allow it to guide your wedding planning. Make decisions on venue, invitations, attire, and decorations based on the question: WWDD (What Would the Doctor Do?)
How do I achieve an adorkable wedding?
Okay, so now that you have been convinced to host a nerd themed wedding, here comes the fun part! Centering a wedding around your favorite video games, films, and novels actually makes the planning process so much easier. Start by making the decision whether to focus on one of your favorite fandoms or to include several of your favorites. Each option has its benefits. If you the biggest Lord of the Rings fan you know (and you know a lot of LOTR fans), then perhaps you should just stick to that. If you can’t possibly choose between Pokemon, Doctor Who, or Harry Potter, use elements from them all.
Planning, one nerd element at a time:
Step 1: deciding to have a nerdy themed wedding.
Step 2: selecting which aspect of nerd-dom you would like to tap into.
Step 3: purchasing or creating the most adorkable decorations, attire, and other wedding elements.
Nerdy Invitations
Let your guests know what they’re getting into from the moment you invite them to your wedding. Let your save-the-dates, invitations, response cards, and other wedding stationary say it all.
Purchase:
While every wedding is different, one thing they all have in common is invitations. A wedding cannot exist without the inviting of guests. Due to the universal need for invitations, the market is huge. You can find just about any type of wedding invitation you could desire through various online source. Type “nerdy wedding invitations” into Etsy, Zazzle, and other online wedding invitation sites. Find a design you love, enter in the personalized information for your big day, and enjoy!
DIY:
Due to the quirkiness that is the nerd theme, you may want to allow for more opportunities to customize your invitations, to stray from any potential adherence to the mainstream. By making your own wedding stationary, you can insert nerdy sayings, images, and styles that more exactly reflect your particular personality. Include sayings such as “”xx + xy chromosomes welcome” and “honoring the bond of (your names).” Refer to you and your betrothed as Player 1 and Player 2. For general DIY wedding invitation guidelines, refer to our article for assistance!
Nerdy Venue
Depending on your geeky preferences, you can reveal your passion for all things creative, literary, and cinematic through your venue. A library, book store, record store, comics store, museum or more provide a ready-to-go backdrop for any nerdy affair. Such locations are gorgeous enough on their own, requiring little decoration and thus creating a little wiggle room in the venue section of your budget.
Some museums host personal special events such as weddings. Some such museums include the National History Museum of Los Angeles on the west coast and the American Museum of Natural History on the east coast.
Most local libraries will be willing to work with you to hold your wedding ceremony. Just be aware that you will have to work around the library’s schedule as they cannot close just for your big day. A more nationally recognized library wedding location is The George Peabody Library in Baltimore, MD.
Nerdy Bride and Groom
You can channel your favorite characters by donning their famous attire on your big day. You can stick to the traditional black and white colors by selecting those characters carefully.
Purchase:
No matter what your specific nerdy preferences, your groom could probably purchase a simple hooded robe and transform into any character he desires. From Legolas to Darth Vader to Albus Dumbledore, you really can’t go wrong.
DIY:
Thanks to the passion of nerds for their favorite fandoms, the internet is chock full of tutorials on how to achieve the looks of your favorite nerdy characters. For instance, if you would like to channel Princess Leia on your big day, look below for assistance for making her ceremonial dress and attaining her quintessential hair style.
Nerdy Bridal Party
Give your bridesmaids intergalactic droid dresses. Ask each groomsmen to dress as a different superhero character, or at least wear an appropriately geeky t-shirt under their button-down. Have members of your bridal party, or even all your guests, grab their robes and wands as if they are headed off to Hogwarts.
Purchase:
Again, thanks to events such as Comic-Con, holidays like Halloween, and any costume party ever, you should have no trouble finding outfits from your favorite film, book, and comic. Just imagine a company of stormtroopers, or bridesmaids dressed as stormtroopers that is, standing beside you at the alter. Or your husband could have the ultimate group of superheroes supporting him as he recites his vows.
DIY:
If you are considering the t-shirt route and would like to be as economically conscious as possible, make your own shirts! A fun activity for the bridesmaids or groomsmen to do together, DIY shirt printing is very achievable with the appropriate supplies. For an added bonus, you can customize these shirts however you desire.
Nerdy Bouquet & Boutonniere
Most bouquets and boutonnieres that veer toward the nerdy will involve a little creativity on the part of you and your bridal party.
Action figures can serve as boutonnieres for the men, and that is a DIY project because your favorite nerdy men should already have several such figures in their possession.
The women can create bouquets out of paper flowers, using paper from newspapers, books, and comic books (and maybe even a Doctor Who screwdriver as the handle).
Nerdy Arch
You can use any nerdy supplies to create the perfect arch for you and your geeky soulmate. Such an arch will again, probably necessitate some degree of do-it-yourself.
Only a box that’s bigger on the inside is capable of containing the depth of you and your spouse’s love for each other. Seal your love and commitment under an arch that pays homage to your favorite police box.
Books, a nerd’s best friend! Display your unapologetic affection for all things literary with a book arch.
Nerdy Cake
When you are planning a nerdy wedding, the cake is no exception! In fact, this traditional wedding dessert is the perfect opportunity to clearly reveal your favorite hobbies and interests.
Purchase:
Your options in regard to nerdy wedding cakes are endless, assuming you have access to a talented baker. Theme your entire cake around one particular aspect of nerd-dom. Reference your various nerdy passions on each respective layer of the cake. Divide the cake in half and feature your favorites on one side and his favorites on the other.
DIY:
While it would take considerable talent and experience to bake and assemble any wedding cake, you make this dessert DIY-friendly by sticking with a simple cake garnished with unique toppers. Set two pairs of glasses, mathematical protractors, action figures, or Rubiks cubes on the top of your cake for just a hint of nerdy.
Nerdy Food
Let’s not forget what comes before the wedding cake, the food for your meal! Don’t neglect the opportunity to cater the cuisine you serve on your big day to let your nerd flag fly. Feast like a hobbit with breads, soups, and drumsticks. Set up a candy bar that would make Harry Potter proud (you can even purchase chocolate frogs). Eat like Hans Solo and Spock would have had to and and give your guests the experience of freeze-dried foods — start them off easy with freeze-dried fruit or really stretch them with freeze-dried ice cream.
Nerdy Drinks
What would a nerdy wedding feast be without equally appropriate beverages? Talk to your bartender about creating custom drinks to serve to your guests, or make them yourself. The secret is to serve any uniquely colored liquid in an unusual cup. Give the beverage a nerdy name and viola, you’ve got yourself a nerdy beverage! You could dye lemonade into a fluorescent yellow hue, serve it in a flask, and call it a Hogwarts potion.
Nerdy Escort Cards
Nerdy escort cards will involve a mixture of purchased products and creative effort. Compile supplies such as lego men, scrabble pieces, Pokemon cards, or test tubes. Carefully scrawl each guest’s name and table number on your chosen supply and set on a table for a purposeful source of decoration. Make your guests work a little by giving each one a math equation to solve, the answer of which is their table number.
Nerdy Centerpieces
Some pieces are sure-fire winners for any aspect of your nerdy wedding. They can be utilized in any combination for any of these wedding categories. To start sparking your geeky mind, think:
–books (the older the better)
–book pages (or newspaper or comic book)
–light sabers (preferably fully functioning ones)
–comic books (colored or black and white)
–robots (either mobile or immobile)
–calculators (and any other mathematical symbol or tool)
–potions (not legitimately deathly ones, just pretty ones in cool bottles)
–swords (just be sure to put them out of reach of children)
–legos (guests will enjoy playing with them during free time)
These ideas are only the start of endless nerdy elements to implement into your wedding. Your area of dork expertise will dictate which strand of nerdiness you choose to run with.
Nerdy Signs
Give added interest and decoration around your ceremony and reception with appropriately nerdy signs. Name your tables with sci-fi movie titles. Use romantically nerdy sayings that reflect your unique love. On wooden boards or chalkboard signs you could write “sin^2 (x) + cos^2 (x) = 1,” with each function representing the bride and groom respectively. Keep it simple with “1 + 1 = <3,” an equation more guests will understand. Or you could spell “love” with lithium, oxygen, vanadium, and europium from the period table. Get creative, be unique, and enjoy! Have the officiant hold up a sign reading “Achieve unlocked: obtain a wife.”
Nerdy Lighting
From Harry Potter to Lord of the Rings to the Hunger Games to Game of Thrones and more, most quality films, novels, and comics are centered around the fight between good and evil, between the light and the dark. Reference this common motif through your lighting! Use any combination of the below fixtures:
-candles
-twinkle lights
-lanterns
-light sabers
-chandeliers
Nerdy Photos
Forever remember your nerdy day with nerdy photos! Pose with you, your bridal party, and your favorite novels. Have the bridesmaids and groomsmen battle with light sabers or face swords. Use the force to put a choke hold on your groom (just have him jump in the air). Utilize photoshop! Paste your favorite villains in the photos and pretend to fight them… or running away from them.
Nerdy Transportation
Don’t forget to use your getaway as one last opportunity to seal your wedding as a nerdy affair. Hop into a DeLorean as you speed away to your honeymoon (just be careful not to go back to 1955). Grab the reins to a decked-out horse and carriage. Throw your bouquet in the basket and cruise away on bikes. Cater your wedding day transportation to your nerdy interest and enjoy!
Your perfect nerdy wedding is within reach! Between your ceremony and reception, from invitations to centerpieces to photos, make your big day a truly adorkable affair!
