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" →

The Offbeat Bride: Holly, Teacher

Her Offbeat Partner: Andrew, Data Backups Network Engineer

Location & date of wedding: British Virgin Islands, Virgin Gorda, at Leverick Bay — July 11th, 2009

What made this wedding offbeat: I have alopecia and instead of wearing a wig to hide it, I rock the bald look (and he loves it). We met in 7th grade and started dating when we were 24. He proposed in front of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame while we were on motorcycles.

We did a destination wedding in the British Virgin Islands, sailing around the islands for a week before and a week after, stopping at Leverick in the middle to get married on the beach, sunglasses tan lines and all. We had our bachelor/ette party on the Willy T, which is a boat/bar that is anchored off of the coast of Norman Island (aka Treasure island).

Continue reading "Holly & Andrew's Sailing Vacation & Island Party Wedding" →

"How to plan a wedding from afar: part 2"… GO!!! Here are even more tips and tricks to planning a wedding from a location far far away (and not freaking out in the process)! If you missed it last week, here's Part 1!

3) Venue!
Your venue should be among the first things you consider. Planning our Texas wedding from Seattle definitely had it's challenges venue-wise. I had to be dogged about internet research and on the ball with my organizational tools (see "Tools!" section) in order to keep my sanity. I did have to fly to Texas for the venue search, but before I left I scoured the Internet, contacted venues (including rock clubs, outdoor gardens, parks, theatres, sports stadiums, museums, private farms etc.) and started a spreadsheet with possible options broken down into categories.

Because I was only going to be viewing the venues once before choosing the right one, it was imperative to start a list of questions about each venue: capacity, rehearsal times, cleanup rules, parking situation, decorating stipulations, extra costs, kitchen availability…

Continue reading "How to plan a wedding from afar: part 2 (by Shrie)" →

I'm by no means a wedding planner. I had never even planned a large event before I got engaged… but in planning our wedding from over 2,000 miles away I found that there ain't jack shit for resources on this topic.

So here it is, "Shrie's Humble Guide to Planning A Wedding from Afar: Or How to Get Hitched Without Pulling Your Hair Out." I hope my teeny tidbits of advice will help at least one crazed, "I don't know where to start!" bride-to-be looking for a little relief.

Getting married and putting the whole shebang together can be awesome fun. Getting married and putting the whole shebang together at a location 2,100 miles away from where you live can be awesome fun AND a little stressful. Lucky for you, I've been through all that and will graciously divulge all my time-saving, stress-free secrets…

Continue reading "How to plan a wedding from afar: part I (by Shrie)" →

A few weeks ago, I put the call out for a new intern to help me keep the Offbeat Empire running smoothly. I was flooded with applications from people who are all so awesome that I wanted to have them all over for drinks, but ultimately I could only pick one … and so I picked Megan. Those of you on the OBT may know her, but I figured the best way to introduce her to the rest of the world was with … well, her bride profile!

The offbeat bride: Megan, photographer

Her offbeat partner: Aaron, sound engineer

Location & date of wedding: Keawakapu Beach, Maui, HI – 10/10/08

What made our wedding offbeat: Well, it all started because of a shark attack. We got engaged after Aaron was almost eaten!

We decided to celebrate the "attackiversary" by getting married on the same island where Aaron was almost killed a year later. Our wedding became more of a 3-day long celebration of life than a wedding.

Continue reading "Megan & Aaron's shark-tastic beach wedding" →