Steampunk!

Already I know a bunch of you are going, "huh?" Steampunk?
That's right; we finally made at least one major decision about having a wedding, and we settled on something we're really excited about: Steampunk. For those of you who are unaware of Steampunk as a genre, culture, art, or fashion trend, I encourage you to take a look at these websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk
http://steampunkculture.com/
I've been enamored with Steampunk culture since the first time I really encountered it at Burning Man. In 2007 there was a fantastic Steampunk tree house with an eerie steam whistle out on the open playa. Russell was also introduced to Steampunk art and fashion out at the Burn, and we've both really enjoyed it. Upon further reflection, we realized that a lot of our movie and literature preferences also fell into the Steampunk category. Russell, for instance, really enjoys the anime series FullMetal Alchemist, and we both enjoyed the His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman (the first movie of which has already been released: The Golden Compass).
In my case the clothing style is really inspiring; it's got all the romance of Victorian style, with the quirky attraction of DIY upcycling of found materials like gears and clockwork. A broad color palette and a variety of sub-categories make it so flexible in its details. We could take it in a vaudevillian/circus direction, or a post-apocalyptic flavor, or perhaps airship pirate style...
This got me thinking hard about some of the ideas we already had, such as renting a beach house and (possibly) doing the ceremony at the aquarium. How could Steampunk fit in with an easy-breezy beach wedding? The two things didn't seem to fit together well at all. In fact, I had been ruminating on the Steampunk theme idea for a few days without mentioning it, because I had a feeling that Russell would be all for it and I wasn't sure I was ready to commit to it! But I couldn't stop thinking about it, so I said "We could go steampunk" to Russell and that was pretty much that. Now we just have to put it together.
We watched this video (Thanks, StumbleUpon.com, for throwing this one at me): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfJ2xa9nzmw
and it gave me a genius idea and the connecting thread I'd needed: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. One of the iconic examples of early Steampunk, Jules Verne, with an obvious under-sea theme. Perfect for a wedding in an aquarium. And allows for a lot of great images for use in jewelry and on invites... I, for one, am excited.
This is also a huge costuming challenge for me in every way I adore. I'm still in the collecting info stage, but my research so far has been sooo inspiring and fun. I'm about to embark on a major DIY adventure - I intend on doing a lot with feathers, gears, keys, and nautical/sea creature motifs in everything from my bouquet to headpieces. We may even get Steampunk rings, just to be fun.
It's not going to be a normal wedding, but we knew that from the start, I suppose.
We're still trying to make final decisions and settle on dates and places and things, and obviously we've got some time if we're planning on doing this in May 2011. However, the aquarium does get booked up, so we have to move relatively soon. The original date we chose isn't available - but the next day is, which is also Orion's first birthday. We're not sure if we want to double dip like that, but it could happen.
The artwork I've included here is an image I discovered while Google searching ideas, and is attributed to an artist by the name of Lone Momo from the website http://www.hunterbonyun.com/web/about.html - I definitely recommend you take a look at the portfolio - so many fantastic images and great character ideas, with a lot of Steampunk flavor throughout. I'm using it as a basis for my inspiration for the design... And now I'm off to do some sketching! Ahh, inspiration!