Category Archive

Alternative Wedding Ceremony Ideas & Examples

We’ve got SO much wedding ceremony advice like how to officiate a wedding, tons of wedding ceremony readings, a bazillion wedding ceremony scripts, and even wedding vow examples! We’ve also got info about handfasting and other unity ceremonies. You’ll want to start here: Wedding Ceremony 101.

16328860705 4f5f286c1c c alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

Barbara & Ned’s vintage travel wedding will give you wanderlust

This pair knew that they wanted to have a wedding that was a reflection of their love for travel. The groom wanted a wedding on the water, and the bride wanted a barn wedding, so they chose a renovated warehouse on the Hudson River to combine both of the elements. What transpired is pure vintage travel bliss.

penguin wedding vows1 alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

Sweet wedding vows that include mating penguins and Broad City

Ten years ago I was sitting in a darkened movie theatre watching the documentary “March of the Penguins” and struggling not to cry. It was the scene where the emperor penguins had traveled over 100 kilometers to their ancestral breeding ground and had begun to pair off as mates, crossing their beaks over each other to show their love. It was beautiful and moving, but I also remember thinking: “Where’s my penguin?”

Announce that all are welcome with this simple wedding greeting

If you’re searching for a way to show solidarity with loved ones or simply a way to announce that your wedding is a safe space for all, steal this greeting.

self officiated wedding script alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

We couldn’t agree who should officiate, so we had a self-uniting wedding

We couldn’t agree on anyone to be our officiant — each person we thought of “belonged” too strongly to me or to my husband; no one belonged enough to both of us. We aren’t religious, so there was no minister in our life, and we didn’t want to bring in someone we didn’t know. So using resources I found here, including Wedding Ceremony 101 and a few wedding ceremony scripts that I collected from my family, I wrote our ceremony, divided up the text between me and my husband, and we officiated our own wedding…

unicorn ceremony script alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

A unicorn wedding ceremony script with coinflip vows

Our officiant wrote most of our ceremony, and really knocked it out of the park. But my partner and I each picked out a reading, and I took a bunch of Daily Odd Compliments and put them together in a way that flowed. Then we wrote the unity ceremony part, and used a unity ceremony we found here on Offbeat Bride. I’m mostly in love with it, so I want to share it with you…

Our big gay pagan rainbow woodland festival wedding

Wrestle power from the government with this blessing for your nonlegal wedding

I was browsing through Molly and Laurie’s wedding photos and came across an officiant’s blessing that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. The couple said their vows in Washington before the state had legalized gay marriage, and their celebrant closed the ceremony with this statement: