Remember when we introduced you to the "My Black Wedding" wedding? Well, here's the whole scoop behind the beautifully goth celebration…

The Offbeat Bride: Olga, Web Designer

Her Offbeat Partner: Sergei, Network Engineer

Location & date of wedding: Ascension Wine Estate, Matakana, New Zealand — 8.05.2009

What made our wedding offbeat: We decided on black rings, black dress, no cake, no dances, and a non-traditional gothic style wedding (although we are not hardcore goths). We also decided to make all the decorations, invitations, etc., ourselves to make sure none of the mainstream stuff would get in.

Continue reading "Olga & Sergei's dark, gothic, wine-country escape" →

Here's another round of reader Q&As! Not wedding advice, and not stuff covered by my FAQ … just questions from you!

If you were to mentor other businesswomen – what would your pearls of wisdom be? -Jac

My biggest business advice would be to always recognize the folks who inspired you. All's fair in love and biz, and there are very few truly new ideas — the key is to acknowledge and respect the folks who came before you.

Continue reading "Advice for indie biz women, and offbeat bride + the mainstream media = ???" →

Remember the wedding style-induced fashion-gasm I had last week? Well get ready for more of it, because Janleen's been kind enough to give us the whole scoop!

The offbeat bride: Jaleen, Designer/Project Manager/Flying Trapeze Instructor

Her offbeat partner: Andrew, Designer/DJ/Juggler

Location & date of wedding: Supperclub, San Francisco CA — September 5, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: My dad's friend asked him if he was walking me down the aisle, and he replied, "I don't even know if there's going to be an aisle!" So much of this was our version of wedding: reimagined.

Supperclub is this strange white-box dinner theatre/nightclub venue where everyone sits on beds along the room's perimeter. Our party started at 8:45 pm with a cocktail hour in the front all-red room, which we attended in party clothes, and then stole away to change into wedding attire.

Continue reading "Jaleen & Andrew's Surreal Love Circus Party-time Wedding" →

Anli on the left, and Laura on the right. Photo by Capturing Essence

The offbeat bride: Anli, data analyst

Her offbeat partner: Laura, public servant

Location & date of wedding: The Old Stone House, NSW Australia — 5 September 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: We wanted a ceremony that reflected our geeky, romantic, pink aesthetic, while at the same time being profound and meaningful. Our ceremony was themed around the video game Portal and the anime series Revolutionary Girl Utena.

We incorporated lots of geeky details, from the table names (Revolution, Sierra, Katara and GLaDOS) to the choice of music. We also kept several traditional elements such as bouquets, dresses and bridesmaids. However, we both walked down the aisle unaccompanied and skipped the garter/bouquet toss.

Continue reading "Anli & Laura's Lesbian Gamer Geek Wedding" →