The offbeat bride: Tasha, Customer Service

Her offbeat partner: Andrew, Art Gallery Director

Location & date of wedding: The Balcony on Dock St., Wilmington, NC — 10/25/2009

What made our wedding offbeat: We made our wedding offbeat by keeping the decorations simple, but with tons of personal touches. We actually had three beach houses on N. Topsail Beach for everyone to stay in for the entire weekend. We made our own invitations, programs, favor boxes, centerpieces and cupcake toppers. Everyone close to us contributed in some way. My bouquet was made by the Maid of Honor, out of hand sculpted and painted birds. We made the groomsmen handkerchiefs with a variety of mustaches for them to wear.

Continue reading "Tasha & Andrew's fun, elegant, mustache extravaganza wedding" →

The Offbeat Bride: Jennifer – Journalist

Her Offbeat Partner: Adam – Bike mechanic

Location & date of wedding: Coledale School and Surfclub, NSW Australia — February 28, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: We rode together on our brompton folding bikes to our wedding.

I had to put a big knot in my wedding dress, that my aunt had passed down to me, so it wouldn't catch in the spokes.

We rode past a bunch of teenagers who yelled "Don't do it" but we just smiled and did it anyway!

Continue reading "Jennifer & Adam's "Tour d' Amour" cycling, camping & surfing love fest!" →

The Offbeat Bride: Kelly, Make up Artist

My Offbeat Partner: Chris, Software Engineer

Location & date of the wedding: New York, NY courthouse, and reception at Alice's Tea Cup. March 20, 2009.

What made our wedding offbeat: I bucked tradition by having a mid-day tea party wedding: Everything was exactly like the tea parties I had in mind when I poured (water) tea for my dolls at age 6!

Continue reading "Kelly & Chris's NY Tea Party Wedding" →

My fiance and I are having a bit of trouble (okay, a lot of trouble) figuring out how to entertain our guests during our reception. The whole dinner and dancing thing really doesn't suit us, but when I've asked for advice from the "professionals" in our area, their eyes glaze over at the thought of not having a father-daughter dance, etc, etc. —Lauren

As a semi-retired raver, I simply can't imagine not dancing — but I realize that's MY brand of weird and not everyone else's. If you don't like dancing, ug: there's nothing worse than hosting a miserable, requisite dance floor that you spend the whole night avoiding.

Luckily for you, there are lots of non-dancing options for your guests …

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