The offbeat bride: Gem - art lecturer (and OBT member!)

Her offbeat partner: Mel - sex boutique proprietor

Location & date of wedding: Brighton Town Hall/beach/pier, Brighton UK. Wednesday the 6th of August 2008.

What made our wedding offbeat: Being a gay couple started events in a generally non-regular tradition and our family and friends realized quickly that it wasn’t going to stop there … we wanted a day that would fulfill our dressing up fantasies, even if that meant just being really comfortable. We didn’t want anyone in starchy suits if they weren’t going to feel at ease and our wedding was primarily about enjoyment.

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Ariel,
I received my copy of Offbeat Bride in the mail yesterday and am already more than halfway through it. I just wanted to say.. THANK YOU.

My partner Georgia and I are far from traditional - we’re gay, which is probably the biggest (and most exciting) challenge in planning a wedding (yes, a real wedding - thank you Canada!!!). She’s the long-haired, broken-shit-fixin’, boy-clothes-wearin’, hairy-legged, likes to be spooned gender enigma, and I’m the equally puzzling short haired, boy’s-name-havin’, makeup-loving girly girl. Needless to say, we’re throwing most tradition right out the window.

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The offbeat bride: Brit, Admin

Her offbeat partner: Cecilia, Accountant

Location & date of wedding: Historic building outside Boston, MA, October 13, 2007

What made our wedding offbeat: We made the decision early on that we would keep whatever traditional wedding elements we liked, and ditch those we didn’t! This meant the white dress was out, along with “tossing” of anything, but the ceremony and reception with all our friends and family were in. We had a modest budget, and incorporated lots of DIY. I made all of our paper products, centerpieces and my bouquet. We also used rented audio equipment and mix cd’s for the music and did all the decor ourselves. Other things that puzzled our families included walking down the aisle together, not having a bridal party and planning the entire thing ourselves.

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The offbeat bride: Liz, Marketing Communications

Her offbeat partner: Laurie, German studies scholar and language teacher

Location & date of wedding: The Night Kitchen restaurant at the Montague Book Mill, Montague, MA

What made our wedding offbeat: Probably the most “offbeat” aspect of our wedding, aside from our gayness and my burgundy gown (are those things even offbeat anymore? Please!), was our dress code: we specifically instructed our guests to Outshine the Bride. It was right there on our website and in the invitation, and our guests did an amazing job!

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Really, you must check out the entire set of photos from Sam and Julia’s wedding. Thanks to Closed Circle Photography for the shot!

So, here’s an experiment for you — instead of writing my advice, I decided to try just doing it via video. Lemme know what you think of the format.

My fiancé’s family (mother, father, brother etc.) are protesting our wedding. They say it is not because of us, it is because they do not believe in gay marriage (ass-holes!) How do we go about filling in the holes? we are both very close with my family and they will be playing major roles in the wedding. We are having a hard time incorporating my family without putting a huge red spotlight on my fiancé’s lack of family. For clarification, my fiancé considers herself the Groom, and me the Bride, which only matters in terms of roles her family would have filled. -Lara

Offbeat Bride Advice #1 from arielmeadow and Vimeo.