Making your wedding bigger, better, weirder!?
![]()
About Ariel Meadow Stallings
Author of Offbeat Bride: Creative Alternatives for Independent Brides, Ariel acts as the publisher of all the Offbeat Empire websites. She lives, loves, and dorks out hard in Seattle, WA.








zan said
I am so glad you posted this again. It is not about trying to prove how weird, green or whatever you are. It is about having a great time. I swear my wedding is just a big party I am getting married at. I think if everyone would not competing to the be best or most hardcore (yawn) the happier they will be.
Ariel said
Yeah, Zan … I will admit I worry sometimes that in my effort to support folks in their nontraditional wedding plans, I've inadvertently established yet another way brides can compete with each other while trying to prove something to the world.
Antoinette said
Well, be happy that some of us took the meaning of your book to heart and realized that our weddings could reflect who we were while still satisfying our families and friends. It's not about bucking tradition, perhaps maybe it's about taking traditions and making them your own.
zan said
I hear you Antoinette. I have some very traditional parts to my wedding like wearing white, a veil, having the Lord's Prayer sung by my Aunt who's voice is a mixture of Aretha Franklin and Patti LaBelle, and doing the father/daughter dance. On the other hand, I am also having a burlesque troupe perform, tarot card readers and a belly dancer. And ya know what, both sides co-exist happily. Ariel, your book has been a cheerleader for my wedding and it also helped me explain my vision so well that everyone is excited to be part.