Well, that didn’t take long! As seen on OBB yesterday, here’s the full scoop on Sandy’s colorful wedding and her Christmas ornament bouquet.

The offbeat bride: Sandy - high school secretary/craft maniac

Her offbeat partner: Josh - middle school social studies teacher/musician

Location & date of wedding: 3/15/08 at Butler’s Courtyard in League City, TX

What made our wedding offbeat: We wanted the wedding to reflect us as a couple and be memorable, but we also didn’t want to alienate any family members or make them feel uncomfortable along the way. We wanted to express ourselves while still making everyone feel welcome. We chose a rather traditional venue, but it still had enough character and history (we both majored in history) to make us fall in love with it. Also, the owners seemed to really be on board with any and all ideas we had, so that made it excellent.

Read the rest of this entry »

There’s been talk about wedding ring workshops before on offbeatbride.com (remember how Elaina did a workshop to make her wedding ring?) and for those of you who have been intrigued by the idea, keep reading!

Wedding ring workshops happen all over the US and in two UK locations, and here’s how it works: you take a day with a master jeweler who gives you one-on-one guidance through the process of designing, fabricating, and finishing your truly unique wedding rings. I’ve always been a big proponent of custom rings, but actually making the rings your damn self!? It don’t get much more DIY than that!

Read the rest of this entry »

There are lots of books for different sorts of nontraditional brides — indiebrides, anti-brides, offbeat brides … and now there’s a book for DIY brides!

I recently had the chance to interview Khris Cochran, author of The DIY Bride: 40 Fun Projects for Your Ultimate One-of-a-Kind Wedding and editor of diybride.com.

Keep reading for her take on the projects that didn’t make it into the book, how to overcome “DIY-er than thou” competitive issues, and what one project even the most enterprising of DIY brides should probably hire someone else to handle.

Read the rest of this entry »

Are you looking this picture and thinking to yourself, “Self, I want to know more about those awesome colorful pom-poms and non-froofy centerpieces”?

Well, thanks to a wonderful comment to my old non-floral centerpieces post, I happen to have a link to Crystal’s page full of photos of these here pom-poms and stick centerpieces. Oh, and when I asked Crystal about making the pom-poms, she admitted they were from Martha. But what *I* want to know is whether Martha intended the pom-poms to be abused in such wonderful ways.

This Etsy seller took the “trash the dress” concept to a whole new, awesomely crafty level. From the Etsy listing:

Handspun Art Yarn from my wedding dress - UpcycleBB Contest Entry - take something no longer useful and upcycle it to a higher purpose…One (1) 16 yr. old size 8 country tulle style wedding dress. Cut into long thin strips and scraps using sewing shears. Handspun into singles on a foot operated spinning wheel. Plyed on a drop spindle. No other material used. Transformed into 181 yards of useable art yarn.

(Thanks for the heads up, Marie!)

I’m seeing a lot more little cocktail top hats on brides — adorable! You can buy them on Etsy, but you can also decorate your own. Here’s a how-to, courtesy of Lily from the Offbeat Bride Tribe!

1. Hit up a craft store and checking out their stuffed animal section for top hats.
You should be able to find something like this (scroll down).

Read the rest of this entry »

How much do I love these Save the date cards?!