October 2011 | Offbeat Bride

This casual, outdoor wedding has a ton going for it: pinwheels, kites, aerial silks performance, an elaborate ruse where the couple hides among the guests in disguise, and a hilarious officiant (with video!). We also find out just how far the groom will go to prove his love for his bride… beating up old ladies. Just don't make him prove it.

You'll learn a thing or two from this Monday Montage: use care when axeing your cake, how to create a walking taco, how to have a robot at your wedding somehow… you get the idea. We found some eclectic offerings in the Offbeat Flickr Pool, but all of them are awesome.

Stressful as wedding planning can be, doing so after the loss of loved ones brings up so many more painful questions and emotions. Melissa, who lost both of her parents before her wedding, dives into this, sadly, universal issue. Begging the question: how DOES one juggle grief and wedding planning?

After having to postpone the wedding for health reasons, these two Dutch grad students pulled together their laid-back party with surprise folk dances, interactive games and quizzes, and loads of DIY with friends and family. They also had a gorgeous botanical garden as the backdrop, but only five minutes of sunshine was found the whole day!

For our wine we bought eight cases of Trader Joe's Two-Buck Chuck (four cases of chardonnay, two merlot, two cabernet sauvignon), took off the labels, and slapped on our own. So any self-described "wine snobs" at our event wouldn't get uptight. Since we constantly remove labels and stick new ones on for our home-brewed beer, I have a couple quick tips for anyone pulling the ol' switcheroo to save major dollars on the bar.

I've already told you how great UK photographer Lauren McGlynn is at capturing the feel of a wedding, that she shoots with film if you prefer, AND compared her work to hard-core drugs. So this time I'm gonna hook you up with her new offbeat discount all while showing off a sneak peak of Lotte and David's supertastic funtime wedding. Bouncy castles and dancing wedding parties await…

This couple blends Indian cuisine, fairies, bellydancers, Rajasthani and Tunisian dancers, fire-spinning and yes, Salt-N-Pepa's "Push It" on accordion, into a medley of colors and flavors too awesome to be kept indoors. They had to carve a place in Wisconsin's Driftless Region to hold all of this inspiration.

The wedding ceremony and the following reception seem to be the last social events in our country to change even in the slightest. If you dare to ask what the big deal is about a white dress, people will ask you why you'd want to look like a harlot. If you suggest having canolis for dessert and skipping the cake-cutting ceremony, people will balk as if you've just asked your guests to eat their own toenails. You don't want a bridal party either? Well apparently you have no friends and no respect for tradition. It’s clear that when you deviate from the preordained structure of a “classic” wedding, you’re a rebel, a renegade, an outlaw.