Rachel Garcia is the creative force behind Brilliant Imagery Photography in Las Vegas. Her style is a fusion of photojournalism and fashion photography with a dash of dreamy and unconventional imagery.

Rachel loves to shoot weddings with unique themes and locations so she's a perfect match for offbeat brides. And you don't have to be in Las Vegas to hire her — she's more than happy to travel, and even has convenient flat travel fees depending on your neck of the globe.

Brilliant Imagery is now offering a totally free "trash the dress" session with every wedding booked. Use it as a chance to do the trash the dress thing or just use it as an extra portrait session without having to take time away from your wedding day.

Whatever you choose to do with your Brilliant Imagery wedding package you'll definitely be having an amazing time and come away with really gorgeous shots. So contact Rachel today and have fun with your wedding photography.

The idea of spending money on tablecloths that are guaranteed to be stained with bbq sauce (to the tune of 120 bucks) made me angry and frustrated. How would I wash them? How could I throw them away? I didn't personally feel good about plastic ones in part because the way the plastic sounds — when it rubs against itself it's like fingernails on the chalkboard to me (heebiejeebies).

So, after a festive jaunt to a local fast-food place, I had an epiphany.

I don't need them! It's much easier to wash the tables themselves.

Then another epiphany, while throwing away the refuse… paper placemats!

So I got home and got to designing and have come up with these babies for our medieval-inspired ("Liz and Kevin are Weird and in Love" – themed) wedding dinner.

It was really fun to work on this together and be giant kids. We plan to put them on the tables with some crayons for all our kids-at-heart to enjoy.

And in case you all would like something similar, I'm listing the links for do-it-yourself game creations:

• Crossword Puzzle
• Word Search
• Maze
• Coloring Pages

The offbeat bride: Christina, Curator

Her offbeat partner: Marius, Artist & blogger

Location & date of wedding: Sister's garden in Oslo, Norway AND Galapagos Art Space, Brooklyn, NY — June 22, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: He's Norwegian and I'm American, so we decided to have two parties — one in Oslo, Norway and one in NYC.

Continue reading "Christina & Marius' stellar trans-continental, Oslo to NYC, wedding celebration" →

Thanks to Orbasm for submitting this shot to the Offbeat Bride pool!

In nine months I will be married. It doesn't seem that long ago I was sporting short hair, dockers, button-downs and ties and hitting the bars. Now, I have hair down to the middle of my back, wearing a f'ing Vera Wang wedding dress and participating full force in the bridal industrial complex. I'm currently taking a feminist studies class and it reminded me how I was when I first started doing my feminist/women's studies coursework for my MA: idealistic but still angry about how the world works. While I'd like to think that some of that rage is still inside me and I don't think I have become soft, I think I have become more tolerable and understanding of others and their beliefs.

There are some who may think that a woman changing her last name is “unfeminist.” To me this is a very tricky and personal decision for every woman who is about to get married. First, there is no one singular socio-political belief system known as feminism. There are multiple feminisms to reflect the diverse experiences of women around the world. However, the underlining goal of feminism is to improve the lives and experiences of women (and men) by ending gender oppression and injustice. Therefore, I find it difficult especially within this context to label the act of changing one’s last name to her husband’s as being “unfeminist.”

Continue reading "Musings on feminism and weddings" →

The offbeat bride: Fanny, Graphic Designer, Illustrator and Graphic novelist wannabe (and OBT member "Fanny Rdz")

Her offbeat partner: Luis, Helpdesk, geek and muse

Location & date of wedding: Ceremony: Parroquia Sagrado Corazon de Jesus. Reception: Akbal Lounge, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico — October 31th, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: Luis and I where supposed to get married in July of this year in a wedding according to our culture and our families… but we aren't like that (I don't drink, he don't dance, we hate crowds and many other things). On July of 2009 we canceled everything, except our photographer and adventure, to have our wedding for Halloween, to be ourselves.

Continue reading "Fanny & Luis' improvised, geeky, Wonderland in Mexico wedding" →

The revised and updated second edition of my book, Offbeat Bride: Creative Alternatives For Independent Brides, is now available for pre-order on Amazon! I know from the reader survey that two thirds of you haven't read the book, so here are 13 reasons why you should get the book and not just read the website.

What's new and awesome in this edition:

• New introduction, mentioning some of the crazy lessons I've learned in the three years since my book first was published … mostly stuff I've learned from offbeatbride.com readers!
• All new chapter on budgeting, with quotes from budget brides I've featured on this website.
• Brand new cover, which is exciting because unlike the cover of the first edition — this time I actually got a say in the matter, and the book cover actually matches the website's illustrations which is nice from a branding geek perspective.
• New subtitle. The old subtitle ("Taffeta-Free Alternatives For Independent Brides") was always a little confusing (you'd be surprised how many people don't know what taffeta is, and pronounce it ta-FETA, like the cheese) and honestly, I don't have anything against taffeta. The new subtitle, "Creative Alternatives For Independent Brides," is both easier to pronounce AND more in keeping with Offbeat Bride's positive, pro-active mission.

All this is to say that if you have the first edition, there's probably no need to buy the second. There's not THAT much different. But if you've been putting off getting the book because you knew the new edition was coming … GO HOP ON THAT PRE-ORDER!

Finding the perfect non-cheesy songs for your wedding can be a difficult task, especially finding songs that haven't been used to death. That is why Jennifer Haase ("rhymes with classy") has come up with this unique solution to the problem — she's a singer/songwriter who takes commissions to create custom songs for special occasions. For instance, oh say like… an offbeat wedding!

I've actually been to a wedding where the bride performed a song that she wrote for her husband in leu of a first dance. It was beautiful. It was super touching. And it was something that I only wish that I had the talent to do. Thankfully, Jennifer Haase has enough talent to go around!

Clients can negotiate custom packages to fit their wedding needs…

• Do you want just a simple demo plus lyrics so that you can perform your own wedding song your way?
• Or a fully-produced professional recording, with full instrumentation to play while you take your first dance?
• Do you want it all and, hey, maybe even have Jennifer come perform the song, while you walk down the aisle?

It's all affordable and do-able, and Jennifer is flexible about meeting your offbeat budgets.

Oh and have I mentioned that Jennifer can really sing?

For a custom song sample go to her website and click on the "MUSIC" link, then find "CUSTOM SONG: 'It's How We Love'" on that page. Please, also check out the great quote from the client who commissioned that song by clicking on the song name for more details.

So if you'd like someone to help you create, or record the perfect wedding song for you — exactly the song that will express exactly what you want to say. No gimmicks. No suits. No cheese (unless you're into that kinda thing). Just a girl, a guitar and a journal full notes.

Email Jennifer so she can get started on your theme song!