We've been bugging OBT member Megan Kugler about how she made her GORGEOUS crystal bouquets, and voila! She finally gave us the scoop. The process is simple, but it'll take some time. So grab your favorite bromedy, a cup o'cocoa and get makin'! – Offbeat Shrie

Hello all! This post is going to teach you how to make your own crystal bouquets. It's pretty simple once you get the hang of it, but it IS time consuming (so don't be like me and wait until the last couple of months before your wedding to make them!).

However, because we didn't want to spend the money on flowers, making crystal bouquets actually saved us a ton of money. We made seven bouquets (mine included), and thirteen bouts for just about $100, give or take, and that was with leftover crystals and wire.

Continue reading "How to make your own sparkly crystal bouquets" →

The Offbeat Bride: Mysi, Fledgling Photographer (and OBT member "mysi anne")

Her Offbeat Partner: Craig, Photographer, Journalist, Historian, Constant Student

Location & date of wedding: Lake Summerset Lodge, on Lake Summerset in Davis, Illinois. My parents have a summer house there and we wanted to honor their favorite place. — 7.11.09

What made our wedding offbeat: Our whole wedding was planned with this in mind: we'd each been to ONE wedding in our lives. We wrote our ceremony and during the vows, we each asked each other: "Will you navigate the Great Material Continuum with me?" (We fell in love watching seven seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine).

Continue reading "Mysi & Craig's antiquarian librarian meets Tom Collins wedding" →

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" →