Roller Derby Wedding!
May 14, 2009So remember back in March when I spent a night at the roller derby and thought it was the coolest thing ever? Yeah, that experience got topped. Because last weekend, not only did I attend the championship of the North Star Roller Girls, I got to witness and help photograph a derby wedding. Say what?
Below is the lovely wedding couple whose post-wedding names are Cookie and Fadam Strange. They got married at the half-time of the Championship bout at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Prior to that, we met at St. Anthony Main to do some portraits because really, could they be more fun looking? Both hairstyles are courtesy of Cookie.
The first look…


Photo booth fun at Nye’s Polonaise.

What else would a derby wedding cake look like? Hand-crafted by roller girl Becky HomeWrecky. (If you need your own awesome cake, you can contact Becky HomeWrecky (Karna Hudoba) at karnaann(at)msn.com.)


All the roller girls served as bridesmaids at the wedding. And you’ve never seen a finer looking bunch, let me tell you.


The ceremony was performed by Kili St. Cyr and that stunningly dressed ring-bearer on the left is announcer Grizzly Madden. You might wonder how Mom would feel about a roller derby wedding. Take a closer peek at Mom’s outfit…that bit of red poking out is her Violent Femme’s uniform.


First dance to Foreigner’s I Want To Know What Love Is…


You might not think a derby wedding would be all that sentimental but there were some teary eyes as the couple danced the bridesmaids sang and waved their arms. In reality, as crazy and different as it was, it was really everything a wedding should be – fun, meaningful and full of friends. I was honored to witness it.


And then back to business!




You can also see the whole wedding party portrait, taken by Preflash Gordon.









Jennifer Chaney posted the following on May 14, 2009 at 6:46 pm.
This is the craziest wedding I’ve EVER seen! Awesome job, Mandy. Makes me wish I had been there!
stalker posted the following on May 14, 2009 at 6:48 pm.
i *love* your photos! thanks so much for being there to help out! can’t wait to see more of you next year…
Rachel posted the following on May 14, 2009 at 8:02 pm.
Mk,
These are outrageous! Awesome captures. You rock.
Vanessa Lam posted the following on May 14, 2009 at 8:07 pm.
These are so COOL!!!! You did an amazing job Mandy. This has got to be the most original wedding I’ve ever seen. Love it!!!
cassie posted the following on May 14, 2009 at 8:18 pm.
Great colors! Looks like a very fun day!!!
Kellie posted the following on May 14, 2009 at 8:20 pm.
These are really great…
Candy posted the following on May 14, 2009 at 8:29 pm.
SWEET! love. them. all.
Orange Ruffy posted the following on May 14, 2009 at 8:37 pm.
Mk, thank you so much, these are great pictures. you made this Momma really happy. Cookie couldn’t be happier with how the whole day turned out and now she has these great photos to remember it. I can’t wait till her kids want to get married and I get to pull these out!!!!
Maria Hays posted the following on May 14, 2009 at 8:46 pm.
So super cool. I bet it was such a blast shooting this, and your pictures rock!
Megan posted the following on May 14, 2009 at 8:50 pm.
These are so cool and unique, I LOVE them!
Laurie K. posted the following on May 14, 2009 at 9:08 pm.
Wow, I have never seen anything like this. I love all the vibrant colors!
gwendolyn waite posted the following on May 14, 2009 at 9:20 pm.
coolest. wedding. ever. you rocked the photos.
Buglady posted the following on May 14, 2009 at 9:47 pm.
I want to get married again so you can photograph it !!!!
Deirdre posted the following on May 14, 2009 at 10:14 pm.
I have to know what you are shooting with and how you shot this because….. they are all BRILLIANT! You are such an amazing photographer!
Preflash Gordon posted the following on May 15, 2009 at 1:39 am.
I just *knew* from the word go you would do brilliantly on this day, and looking at these shots MK I’m absolutely bouncing up and down. One after another after another of this is absolutely AWESOME. Wedding and derby shots both! You really have made a HUGE contribution to the day and I hope (like Stalker says) you’ll be around the North Star Roller Girls for a good long time to come. :-)
mickeydismantle posted the following on May 15, 2009 at 7:05 am.
Thanks for coming back for more! Beautiful pictures. The b&w in front of the ticket booths is my favorite.
Libby Doe posted the following on May 15, 2009 at 8:23 am.
WOW! Beautiful pictures. I can only imagine that this couple would have a life filled with happiness. Imagine how cool it would be to be a child in a house hold that enjoys life so much! Congrats to the happy couple, and to the derby mother in law that just adopted a pretty cool looking son for her beautiful daughter!
THanks for sharing these pictures,
Derby luv-
Libby Doe
Fox Cityz Foxz
Appleton, WI
Emily posted the following on May 15, 2009 at 8:27 am.
That looks like such a fun wedding! I hope you didn’t have to put yourself in harm’s way to catch any of those action shots!
Colette posted the following on May 15, 2009 at 9:08 am.
This has got to be one of the coolest weddings I’ve seen. I love how the couple did the wedding ‘their’ way and didn’t succumb to what society wants/says. You did a great job of showing how they obviously feel about each other :)
Betsy posted the following on May 15, 2009 at 11:15 am.
This looks like such an original & honest idea for a wedding – and you captured it just beautifully! I especially love the ticket booth photos. Awesome, Mandy!!
misty posted the following on May 16, 2009 at 10:56 am.
Looks like tons of fun! Great job!
juliek posted the following on May 16, 2009 at 1:14 pm.
This looks like quite an adventure. Great expressive faces. I enjoyed the pix
Your Auntie Julie
kendi posted the following on May 17, 2009 at 12:29 am.
cool!
Lindsay posted the following on May 18, 2009 at 12:11 pm.
Oh my gosh MK…..how fantastic are these?!? How much fun! I normally hate shooting weddings but this would have been an absolute blast!!! Fab job!
Cara posted the following on May 19, 2009 at 9:34 am.
You rock! And so does this bride and groom. Love how you captured *their* day and how special & unique it was. You’re so dang talented!
Lexx posted the following on May 22, 2009 at 6:03 pm.
Those are my two best friends!! :) Uggh, they are so cute together. You did a great job on their
wedding!
Thanks!
sally oakley posted the following on May 26, 2009 at 4:47 am.
wow, i love it!!!! great pictures! makes ME wish i’d been there, too.
Erica posted the following on June 2, 2009 at 9:05 pm.
These pictures are awesome! My husband is a ref and I play roller derby. We got married in Vegas(because I was pregnant, and insurance and legal reasons) but when we have the “real” ceremony I want to do something like this… too bad I have this ugly post-baby body now!
SheNaNigans posted the following on June 17, 2009 at 10:32 pm.
This is the coolest thing ever! Thanks so much for catching that and sharing with us!