In the glorious Offbeat Bride community, there are loads of different kinds of people into loads of different things. You name it, we got it! From tattooed rockabillies to tight-panted hipsters to earth-lovin' hippies and every idiosyncratic style (lifestyle?) in between. One aspect of the Offbeat Bride army, if you will, that we often don't associate with being particularly offbeat and is definitely under-represented on OffbeatBride.com are military brides. Yeah, I said it… military brides can be offbeat too!
On the Offbeat Bride social network, Offbeat Bride Tribe, there is a group devoted entirely to brides and their partners who have served or are serving in the armed forces, police force or firefighting arena. There's a little sumpin' sumpin' about a man or woman in uniform!
Unlike civilians, who can get weddinged and go on honeymoon whenever and wherever they damn well please, sirs and ma'ams on active duty are often relegated to before or after long deployments, leaving one partner at home with the bulk of the planning.
And the armed forces don't work on any kind of real-life time line, switching tour dates and locations to and fro, changing up units at the last minute… torturing the heck out of the home-bound other halves! It's a hard row to hoe, but these offbeat military guys and gals wouldn't have it any other way.
"I knew what I was doing when I started dating a military man and ultimately said 'yes' to his proposal of marriage. I can't see myself being with anyone other than him…so this is the life we lead…" – Nikki
Sam and La rocked a Day of the Dead/outdoor wedding without a lot of military incorporation, while Jessica and Josh (once again Tinywater Photography stuns with amazing shots) honored Josh's Navy background with him decked out all snappy-like in his Navy blues.
Melissa and Sean planned a strikingly colorful, and very military-esque Scottish wedding from CANADA (all over email purportedly)! Her custom-made medieval dress… his Canadian Highland regiment dress uniform… the wonderfully mismatched bridesmaids and uniformed groomsmen… in a castle on top of a volcano! (I'm fanning myself as we speak… whew!)
There are tons of ways to incorporate armed forces participation into your wedding (or not!), so don't let the white wedding police shut you down. Dust off those dress uniforms and throw out tradition, because being in the military doesn't mean you can't be offbeat!
Comments on "Offbeat military weddings"
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Ammie
December 17th, 2008 · 5:38 PM · #
I was so excited when I saw the post about military couples on OBB today! My fiance is currently serving a year long deployment in Iraq and I am planning pretty much the whole wedding while he's gone. Thanks for recognizing the military couples on here!
Cate
December 17th, 2008 · 11:38 PM · #
There is certainly something to be said about a man in uniform…be it a Scottish kilt or Navy blues.
Heidi
December 18th, 2008 · 10:16 AM · #
Thanks! I enjoyed this fun post. Hard to imagine what military couples face~ planning weddings & being married, deployments, pending deployments…
Melissa
December 18th, 2008 · 11:42 AM · #
ZOMG, it's me!
Mad props to the military brides, and to Ariel, who is made of awesome!
Nicole
December 22nd, 2008 · 1:41 AM · #
Snaps to ariel! I'm a soon to be airforce wife & a little offbeat… You get me!! :p
Kari
December 26th, 2008 · 12:23 PM · #
Yay for military brides! I'm going to be one in a year, and I'm really looking forward to seeing my Marine in his dress blues at the end of the aisle! (there really is something about a man in uniform, no??)
ang
February 24th, 2009 · 7:27 AM · #
YaAyy finally! Everywhere I look I always see the same thing… marine blues, white dress bride with red bridesmaids… I'm changin it up come september. RED wedding dress… black dress bridesmaids… ((him still in his dress blues tho cuz omgaHhh does he look stunnin in them))… our reception at a nightclub… and one of those crazy lookin twistd up cakes. Our first dance? Salsa. Am I offbeat or what?
Liz
March 14th, 2009 · 9:34 PM · #
I'm going into the Coast Guard (yes, CG is military) this summer with a wedding set for Halloween. What the heck is up with military weddings meaning brides marrying military guys? I can't find any inspiration for civilian guys marrying a military bride!
Sara
April 21st, 2009 · 12:36 PM · #
I love it! I'm one of the brides planning a wedding sans my man. He is stationed in Virginia while I'm planning a wedding in Montana. I'm down to 25 days before I say I do and cannot wait to marry him. Its not easy but finding some quirky other weddings really put me at ease. check out my blog to see the fun going on.
liv chavez
May 17th, 2009 · 12:00 AM · #
wow! Me too. My fiance is going to korea for a year,right now hes in missouri,so im doing all the wedding stuff alone too. Cheers to all the military partners!
Liv
May 17th, 2009 · 12:01 AM · #
oh and were getting married on the 4th of july. lol
Tedde
May 22nd, 2009 · 3:09 PM · #
Thank you! My fiance and I are both in the marine corps and I'm trying to plan a wedding without any leave to work around.
It's nice to find inspiration for something beautiful (I'm so tired of my coworkers' dress-blues-boring weddings). I love my job, and I'm not marrying it, but it's hard to ignore that it changes some aspects of a wedding, and I'm glad to relate a little to the girls on here.
One of my biggest regrets with this is not being able to find enough time to craft it all up, but thank god for etsy.
Angela
August 9th, 2009 · 11:55 PM · #
Because society is sexist like that.
Carlene
September 15th, 2009 · 11:12 PM · #
I totally get it,my FH is a Coastie (ahem, I'm sorry, "Guardian" as we're supposed to say now*rolls eyes*). His roommate/one of my best friends is a 6'1" female Lieutinant. She's intimidating to say the least. She's marrying a civilian guy, but having the hardest time! Everyone assumes the GROOM is the one in the service, not the BRIDE.
Melissa Ratcliff
December 15th, 2009 · 8:04 PM · #
My wedding is up there, and both of us are military. I just didn't want to wear my uniform for the wedding!