The offbeat bride: Kate, admin lackey (midwife-wanna-be)

Her offbeat partner: Matt, wind turbine tech

Location & date of wedding: My parents’ backyard in Wadsworth, Ohio. May 10, 2008.

What made our wedding offbeat: Well, first of all, we were already married! We met in a chemistry class last fall, got engaged by Thanksgiving, and decided we wanted to be married in February. So we went down to the courthouse with our parents while still planning the small ceremony in May.

Matt & I wanted a ceremony and dinner that was small, non-formal, and personal. No big, cold, overly-glittery venue for us. We didn’t want to spend much money, and neither of us had much time to put into planning, since we both work and go to school. I have much more fun planning events like this, though, so I gladly took on most of that task.

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The offbeat bride: Meagan, artist

Her offbeat partner: Nigel, logistics analyst

Location & date of wedding: The Plantation, Port Elizabeth, South Africa. May 10, 2008.

What made our wedding offbeat: The first thing offbeat about us is that we are a mixed couple in South Africa. Thankfully, this is slowly becoming more accepted here. We first chose a theme of “black and red/joker” using a deck of cards as our inspiration, then planned our wedding around that. I made everything thing that I could such as the invites, menus, table runners, even my veil and the vintage head-pieces for the bridesmaids.

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You all remember Megan, aka Princess Lasertron, right? You’ve seen her on obb.com before … She of the pink polkadot wedding dress? She of the magenta crinoline? She of the magical felt-and-button wedding bouquet?

If you were drooling specifically over the button bouquet, you are in luck because Princess Lasertron makes them for a living. Well, bouquets along with boutonnieres, barrettes, and tons of other felty, buttony, vintage magic. Based in Omaha, Nebraska, Megan says “I spend a LOT of time searching for vintage materials to make my products. Every bouquet features mostly vintage buttons and other antique findings like ribbon, seam binding, thread, and felt. (But nothing dull or dingey!)”

You can buy her goods on Etsy at princesslasertron.etsy.com, read more about her process on princesslasertron.com and drown in button bouquet wedding porn on her Flickr photostream.

The offbeat bride: Jessica, Photographer

Her offbeat partner: Matthew, Musician & Photographer

Location & date of wedding: Mashamoquet State Park, Pomfret CT. 10/7/2006

What made our wedding offbeat: We decided to get married after having seen each other in person only five times (over a year and a half) and burning through countless verizon cell-to-cell minutes. We had only two months to plan the wedding, and I (the bride) was living in California while the groom and the wedding was in Connecticut. I arrived in Connecticut four days before the wedding and thankfully had family and friends who handled all the preparations while Matthew and I generally freaked out.

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Whitney Lee is a wedding photographer (and artist who does kitschy latch-hook rugs) in Austin, TX who is on the hunt for offbeat clients. She explains, “I love the non-traditional and the traditional-with-a-purpose. My favorite is to work with self-confident couples who view the wedding experience as an expression of themselves and their relationship.”

Whitney’s got a fabulous photo blog (I think this post is my favorite!) and is so committed to wooing offbeat couples that she’s offering a 10% discount to new clients who mention they found her on offbeatbride.com. Get in touch with Whitney Lee to make the magic happen!

Getting weddinged, verb

1. The act of having a wedding after you’re already legally married.
2. See Jeannie & Aaron of gettingweddinged.com, who got married six years ago for the health insurance, but are now planning their fall 2008 wedding. Or rather, planning to get weddinged.

For more about getting weddinged, straight from Jeannie & Aaron’s FAQ, keep reading…

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It’s that time of year when all the outdoor wedding brides are FREAKING OUT over the idea of rain.

Believe me, I remember the panic: I spent the week leading up to my wedding reading the NOAA weather report every half hour, freaking out over impending precipitation.

But here’s the thing: rainy weddings can be awesome, if you’re prepared. In the case of cutie mcbriderson here, that means the most adorable polka dot umbrella evar! Look at that gorgeous diffused light. Look at those polkadots! Look at that green shrug! LOOK AT THAT SMILE!

So rainy wedding brides … fear not. Your day is going to be awesome!

(Thanks to uberbabe8 for the photo!)