The offbeat bride: Grace, Library Clerk

Her offbeat partner: Thomas, Warehouse Material Handler

Location & date of wedding: Inniswood Metropark Westerville Ohio - October 3rd, 2008

What made our wedding offbeat: After plans for a low-key affair with family and friends didn’t quite materialize as we had envisioned it, we decided to buck tradition and “elope,” so to speak. We didn’t, however, want to sacrifice any of the romance or ritual we loved in wedding ceremonies. So we agreed to get married at an absolutely gorgeous local park.

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The offbeat bride: Laura, history detective

Her offbeat partner: Jim, army captain

Location & date of wedding: Gazebo in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Lovingston, Virginia. July 26, 2008

What made our wedding offbeat: When Jim and I made the decision to get married this May, we knew we weren’t going to have the luxury of a long engagement; Jim had recently received orders for a 400-day mission overseas and we knew we would have to have everything done and in order before he had to report for training in mid-August.

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The offbeat bride: Elaina B., Marketing Coordinator

My offbeat groom: Matt S, Computer Programmer

Location & date of wedding: Victoria, British Columbia - March 10, 2007

What made our wedding offbeat: We eloped to British Columbia. He didn’t propose, but we decided together to get married. This was a huge part of our philosophy: marriage not as a theatrical event, but as a discussion where we are both equal partners.

We wanted to elope, because we didn’t want all the commercial/plastic stuff that comes with weddings now-a-days. Plus, we are both pretty shy people and hate having spectacles made of us.

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The offbeat bride: Rei Chee, naturalist

My offbeat groom: Bryan Perez, musician

Location & date of wedding: Backwoods on my friend/reverend’s property in Boston Hills, NY. May 2006.

What made our wedding offbeat: Our wedding was not the ball of the year, but being in the presence of nature & our close friends made it very magical.

My husband & I eloped in my woodman friend’s backyard, which was a huge tract of natural land. He was also our Reverend. We were married between a shagbark hickory (signifying solidity & strength) and a beautiful white pine, the Tree of Peace among the Iroquois Indians. Our invited guests were my parrot, a few special humans, and the Reverend’s pack of border collies in a very whimsical ceremony.

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