Can you steer me in the direction of wedding hair for chicks with dreads? My mom is fucking tripping (which is so completely weak considering that I'm 32 and paying for the shindig) so I thought I'd get her to chillax with some dready wedding goddess hair pix. Thanks so much… I must say Mama~ Andreas SCORED! (Will you thank him for sharing you with us?!) — Reba

Aww, *blush*. Thanks, Reba! I'll remind Andreas of that next time he's irked at me for leaving a trail of girlwind detritus behind me all over the house.
Ok, now to answer your question about wedding dreads! Hoo-boy. This is a beloved topic of mine, since back in the day (creak creak creak) I used to have some wild dreads myself. There's so much great inspiration for you out there!

Let's start with what not to do. I was a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding back in 2000, and we went to a traditional hair salon to get our make-up and up-dos. Here's how I ended up. The look was sorta psychedelic Marge Simpson, and while it was relatively tidy, I'm not sure I'd recommend the look to anyone else. (And don't even get me started on the heavy make-up. Dre could hardly look at me all day!)

Anyway, for lots of inspiration for how you could style your dreads, keep on reading…

Continue reading "How to style your dreads on your wedding day" →

It's another episode of Offbeat Bride video advice! Woohoo! Apologies for the delay on this one — this vid is actually a few weeks old (my hair is now six inches shorter), but I was having issues with my camera's memory card. Bla bla bla, technical difficulties whatever — here we go!

I have stretched earlobes, 2G to be precise. Not as big as they could be, but they're definitely not bridal-jewelry accessible. Even though my ears are larger-than-the-average-bride, I want to play with the wedding bling too! i've seen some beautiful large-gauged fancy filigree, and diamond studded plugs online, but I've yet to find anything that really looks "wedding day" to me. have you run into any other large-gauged brides who've faced this issue and succeeded fabulously? i'm desperate for some inspiration! -Laura Sina

I love it when I get questions that other people have already answered for me. There's a whole discussion happening right now on the OBT about earrings for stretched lobes — and I figured I'd borrow some of my favorite answers from there to share, plus some of my own findings.

Continue reading "Earrings for brides with stretched lobes" →

There's been talk about wedding ring workshops before on offbeatbride.com (remember how Elaina did a workshop to make her wedding ring?) and for those of you who have been intrigued by the idea, keep reading!

Wedding ring workshops happen all over the US and in two UK locations, and here's how it works: you take a day with a master jeweler who gives you one-on-one guidance through the process of designing, fabricating, and finishing your truly unique wedding rings. I've always been a big proponent of custom rings, but actually making the rings your damn self!? It don't get much more DIY than that!

Continue reading "Wedding ring workshop" →

Part II of my series on dready weddings is a guest blog from none other than Ms. Siouxzi Rodeman, steampunk bride and fake dread aficionado.

First, ask yourself…
What makes you feel amazing or really brings out the sparkle in you?
How far do you want to take your "offbeat" look?
What do you want to think 30 years from now when you see your wedding pictures.

Likely one wouldn't be thinking about dreads if they didn't feel spectacular in them to begin with. But your wedhead should be something that really turns the beauty of you up to 11. When I do hair for people, even if it is wild colors, I aim to make it as realistic as possible. When you go see a magician, you don't want to know the secret of the trick, at least not during it. You want the pleasure of enjoying the show in all your innocence. If you saw the stage hand release the dove a little part of you would be disappointed. For me, fakehair is the same way.

Saying all that, here are my best suggestions.

Continue reading "Dread extension advice for brides" →