This weekend I attended the wedding of my brother-in-law Chris in Missoula. He and his fiance, Sacha, had intended to get married in September … but when they got the word a couple weeks ago that Chris’s mother’s cancer was back with a vengeance and her time is limited, they moved the wedding up by four months.

The wedding was positively beautiful, and lead to me to think about how in many ways wedding planning will expand to fill as much time and/or money as you want to throw at it. If you have two weeks to prepare, you strip it down to the most important things and the result is deeply meaningful. In the case of this wedding, the top priority was that the mother of the groom be present. And she was.

My pictures of this backyard Montana wedding are over here.

Expect less blog posts than usual for the coming week — things are a little crazy at the Offbeat HQ what with my birthday tomorrow, and a trip to Montana to meet my nephew and attend my brother-in-law’s backyard wedding. As always, the OBT is here to keep you company while I’m gone.

Those of you who’ve read the book know all about Jen Moon, the Seattle bride who’s wedding was actually a full-fledged musical performance back in 2002.

Well, finally (FINALLY) Wedding! The Musical is online for your viewing pleasure — and trust me, you’ll want to watch it all. From Jen’s entrance via trapeze to the moment when they shoot the bouquet out of a canon, the whole wedding’s fucking awesome.

So go! Watch!

Everyone warns you about Bridezilla, but no one tells you about how your mom will morph into Momzilla! We set the date for June 2009 and my mom’s trying to plan everything now. She’s totally not listening to me about what I want, or what is important to me. She and my father are paying for it. Would it be selfish of me to tell her it’s my wedding, and not hers? Or should I let her have her way because she’s paying for it? -Jenna

My simple rule: If mom’s payin’, you need to listen to what she’s sayin’.

For the longer answer, keep reading.

Keep reading »

You won’t find many wedding stationers who divide their invites into categories like Rockabilly, Punk, Gothic, and Fetish — Uber Angel is one in a million!

Danni founded Uber Angel (based in the UK) because, as she explains on her about page, while there are a few non-traditional stationers out there, most of them are focused on “black & purple with celtic or mythical elements.” And while sure, that works great for a pagan wedding, it might not work for those of you who want tattoo-themed invites for your rock ‘n’ roll nuptials. In addition to her standard offerings, Danni also does custom commissions.

Offbeat promo: Buy Uber Angel invites and receive a 20% discount on extra stationery, table plans, place cards etc.

Check out Uber Angel and get inspired!

Oh hai. I can haz hottie groomsmen breakdancing at reception, plz?

I wish we could have seen the bride break out HER moves, since the bride and groom are both professional dancers. Check out Steelo & Penelope’s wedding shots from Scott Robert Photography over here. I especially love this shot of the groom and his b-boy groomsmen:

I’m all a-twitter over the amazing photos and stories from the wedding of two members of the Offbeat Bride DC Wedding Co-op.

…The bride had a sword!

…The groom wooed her with a bowl of brownies he baked that morning!

…They did all their flowers themselves!

…The bride’s entrance was one of the most dramatically beautiful I’ve ever seen.

…The location (Adelphi Mill) was insanely gorgeous!

Basically, you should just go read the groom’s incredibly sweet post about the wedding. I’m going to go lose myself in the photos again, myself…