Remember: your wedding is not a contest

The offbeat bride: Annalise, Makeup Artist

Her offbeat partner: Adam, Carpenter

Location & date of wedding: Minneapolis, MN, November 3, 2007

What made our wedding offbeat: People loved to remark that our wedding was “our big, fat, vintage, native-american, Dia de los Muertos wedding.”

We got married in a Native American church, using the traditions such as smudging, a water ceremony, and a quilt ceremony with our elders, and my husband spent some time in the teepee with our elders before the ceremony.

We also managed to fit it in with our favorite holiday, Dia de los Muertos, and my love of all things vintage into it.
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Offbeat discount:
Mention you saw JKraftArt.com on Offbeat Bride and get a 10% discount!

While many ketubah* designs can be heavy on the outdated floral elements, JKraftArt.com offers colorful works of art based on nature, architecture and spiritual symbols. JKraftArt.com features ketubot with original designs custom-tailored to your taste, using your images, photos, favorite artists and styles. Check out the gallery.

I especially appreciate that the artist, Jessica Kraft, notes that prices are negotiable depending on the couple’s budget. She also does ketubah designs for same-sex couples, which I only recently realized is sorta rare.

*Quick cultural lesson for the gentiles in the house: a ketubah is a Jewish marriage contract.

I’m seeing a lot more little cocktail top hats on brides — adorable! You can buy them on Etsy, but you can also decorate your own. Here’s a how-to, courtesy of Lily from the Offbeat Bride Tribe!

1. Hit up a craft store and checking out their stuffed animal section for top hats.
You should be able to find something like this (scroll down).
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I was interviewed by a Canadian newspaper for an article about the red wedding dress trend: Bold brides see red when it comes to wedding dresses.

“I’m not saying that all nontraditional weddings should be reactionary, or that your wedding is a place to be rebellious,” the Seattle-based writer told the Georgia Straight. “But I think red wedding dresses are a superficial expression of a deeper commitment to doing what you want to do. The woman wearing it shows that she’s willing to do what she wants to do, and take on the challenges and criticism that comes with that.”

Read the article.

This Etsy seller took the “trash the dress” concept to a whole new, awesomely crafty level. From the Etsy listing:

Handspun Art Yarn from my wedding dress - UpcycleBB Contest Entry - take something no longer useful and upcycle it to a higher purpose…One (1) 16 yr. old size 8 country tulle style wedding dress. Cut into long thin strips and scraps using sewing shears. Handspun into singles on a foot operated spinning wheel. Plyed on a drop spindle. No other material used. Transformed into 181 yards of useable art yarn.

(Thanks for the heads up, Marie!)

Prepare yourself for some guh-guh-guhmazing wedding porn from One Love Photo, based here in my homeland of Western Washington.

When photographer Heather Gilson contacted me about advertising, I went to go peek around her website to see if she did work I thought my offbeat brides would enjoy.

And what did I see? Amazing mod garden ceremonies. Grooms in chucks. Wai Ching dresses. In other words: quintessential offbeat brides.

Want to keep feasting your eyes? (Nyom nyom nyom: wedding porn!) More One Love Photo shots below!
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How to avoid a floral-induced psychosis