I promise not to let being the center of attention go to my head: My vows for wedding planning
Wedding planning getting you down or feeling overwhelming? You might to exchange wedding planning vows with Offbeat Bride Brigitte Fires. Yes, we said “wedding planning vows” — maybe the second most important vows you’ll ever make.
Who else thinks “sexy” wedding shower games are strange?
I’m not expecting a wedding shower this time around, and as a consequence, I am spared the bizarre rounds of public humiliation that pass on Pinterest as “shower games.” Has anyone else noticed these games? And the number of them that circle around “naughty” ideas? I understand that some of these come from our socio-cultural anxiety surrounding the traditional fact that a wedding is when a virginal girl becomes a sexually experienced woman. But the “naughty party games” feel like a different thing… as if they’re designed to be specifically humiliating.
Offbeat Bride interview about unplugged weddings on New Hampshire Public Radio
I first wrote about unplugged weddings way back in 2011, with a two-post series. The posts went crazy viral and in the three years since then, the idea has picked up major steam. The Huffington Post noticing the trend in 2012, and New York Times picking up on the concept in 2013. I’m happy to say that the concept is now popular enough that it’s no longer seen as “offbeat” in any way.
Warrior Brides of the 21st century: No more resting in bubbles of wedding planning privilege
I am a Caucasian, cisgender, homosexual woman. My fiancé is transgender. Xe was assigned-female-at-birth but identifies as genderqueer and uses the gender neutral pronouns xe/xyr/xem. No one ever uses xyr correct pronouns unless they are explicitly told to use them and even then some people flat-out refuse. So what do we do about it? I am done sitting in my bubble of privilege. I am popping my bubble, donning the outfit of a warrior bride (think chainmail veil), and taking my vocal sword into the crowd and to my wedding!
“Not an effort to be unique, but an effort to be us”
The New York Times recently ran an article called Your Hand in Marriage, and Offbeat Bride got a nod for our DIY posts. That’s cool, but what really caught my eye was this quote from a bride named Lauren Ireland:
“I felt like there’s such a movement to homogeneous wedding styles with Pinterest and Etsy, which are wonderful tools but do seem to make things seem very similar,” she said.
Her wedding, she added, represented “not an effort to be unique, but an effort to be us.”
Wedding stress: why is everyone stressed out but me?
I had an almost “Anti-Bridezilla” moment — “I don’t care which shade of teal they are! If I’m not dealing with wedding stress, why is everyone else stressing?!”