The Offbeat Bride: Taryn, Public Servant

Her Offbeat Partner: Craig, Public Servant

Location & date of wedding: Gothic Church and Wine Bar in Windy Wellington, New Zealand — 20 June 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: Every little detail was perfectly us! We made a whole heap of compromises to keep family happy, but they were easy things to do because we love our families. However we also pushed back on things that were really important to us. Craig's cousin Jessica is his best friend, and it was really important to him to have her in his groom's party, even though that upset some people. My family is traditional South African Indian Seventh Day Adventist and Craig's is pure Kiwi Party Animal so it was always going to be a delicate balancing exercise.

Continue reading "Taryn & Craig's Silly, Fun-Filled, New Zealand Winter Wedding" →

Can't wait until I have more to share with y'all about the wedding of OBT member Monika and her husband Carter. I'm positively gurgling with glee over Monika's teeny top hat and blue neo-Victorian wedding gown. For now, we'll just have to be make do with the slideshow:

Continue reading "Teeny hat! Blue neo-Victorian dress! Swooning!" →

To celebrate the season, we're featuring a Halloween wedding every week for the month of October!

The Offbeat Bride: Kymba, RN (and OBT member)

Her Offbeat Partner: Kerry, Paramedic

Location & date of wedding: Shaffer Hotel, Mountainair, New Mexico. A haunted pueblo-deco, built in a unique style with an attached park, gazebo, firepit, game room, multipurpose room, an attached restaurant, and a ghost or two who joined in our fun — October 31, 2008

What made our wedding offbeat: As a free-spirited, multi-ethnic, democratic hippie marrying a former military, Lutheran, republican — there wasn't a whole lot about our wedding that was considered "normal" by either side of the aisle (well, except the aisle itself). My family was very happy with the whole Halloween wedding in a haunted hotel in costume vibe. His family was very happy with the gazebo ceremony site, country music reception, and the great local food.

Continue reading "Kymba & Kerry's Haunted Hotel Halloween Wedding" →

You might remember OBT member "AuberrySwirl's" wedding from this post highlighting the awesome bridesmaid's peacock inspired fashion. Now get all the beautiful peacock-y wedding goodness…

The Offbeat Bride: Aubrey, Grad Student — Higher Ed. Administration

Her Offbeat Partner: Tom, Chemical Engineer/Environmental Consultant

Location & date of wedding: St. Thomas Lutheran Church and Niswonger Performing Arts Center, Van Wert, OH — 21 Feb 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: I think our attempt to bring back our old ancestral traditions, ironically, is what gave our wedding the most offbeat look and feel to our family and friends. In their own words, they had never seen anyone do a Fir Bough Walk for luck, or Nuremberg Two-sided Bridal Toast; they never would have thought to decorate the reception like the Rhine River Valley Wine Region or play Hide-and-Seek with German gnomes. But we thought it was the thing to do since both of our families predominately hail from Deutschland, and we had already decided to honeymoon there.

Continue reading "Aubrey & Tom's Jazzy, German Custom-Filled, Peacock-themed Wedding" →

Photo courtesy of Closed Circle Photography

I've heard of couples hiring fire performers at their weddings, but never seen photos of a bride actually BEING the fire performer! Thanks to Kelly G from Closed Circle Photography (aka @circlephoto) for submitting these photos of a bride named Amanda spinning fire at her recent wedding. To see the full series, keep reading…

Continue reading "Bridal fire spinning" →