We're doing a "vegan wedding" theme week on Offbeat Bride! And I love that there are enough vegan weddings out there to profile for a whole animal-friendly week. Do take note that though not all of the weddings are ENTIRELY vegan, but, like anything, there are various styles of vegan weddings, whether it includes just the menu or their lifestyle choices in general. -Megan

The offbeat bride: Fran, a mundane office worker (and OBT member)

Her offbeat partner: Siobhán (also known as Von), youth worker and geek

Location & date of wedding: The Derby Conference Centre, a listed Art Deco building with gorgeous original 1930s interior. The ceremony was held in the lecture hall, a small theatre shaped room, then we had the celebrations in their giant sunken lounge in Derby, UK. — 31st October 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: Living a non-traditional life meant our guests weren't expecting a traditional day from the start, so we had complete freedom. We're bisexual so it was important our day was a celebration of not just our love but of love generally. The top table included a sibling's wife and girlfriend from their poly life, with a toast to the fact we could even have a legal ceremony.

Continue reading "Fran & Siobhán's feminist, disability-friendly, colourful, vegan wedding" →

I love multi-purpose wedding stuff. One of our orange coral centerpieces sits on my bookshelf as decor, and every time I look at it I get the warm and fuzzies thinking about our wonderful day. I also wear my wedding flip flops all the time with the same results. So when I saw OBT member Kim's (aka. "uloveit") wedding cake topper choice, thought it was a great idea! Kim found a pair of adorable salt and pepper shakers to adorn the top of her cake…

Kim's cake topper:
 According to her wedding planning update, she's going to accent this cake topper with the Mary-Chapin Carpenter lyrics, "Grow old along with me" on the cake. Romantic overload.

Kim inspired me to look into some other salt and pepper cake toppers (because how nice would it be to have a functional cake topper that you could use all the time?), and found an incredible array of choices. So I'm gonna share with you my favsies…

Continue reading "Kitschy-fabulous salt & pepper shakers as cake toppers" →

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: Bandora Fox, White Collar Hippie (and OBT member "Bandora")

Her Offbeat Partner: Michael Fox, Licensed Massage Therapist

Location & date of wedding: Palm Island, Savannas Recreation Area, Ft Pierce, Florida — August 29th, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: We had a Pagan handfasting during our own weekend camping festival. The groom wore a kilt, we both had foxtails and the groomsmen (aka. torchbearers) wore sarongs and carried symbols of a nature element. The only one that wore a tux was the dog that carried our rings inside a mini Chinese food takeout box hanging from its collar. And I carried a bouquet made out of swarovsky crystals.

Continue reading "Bandora & Michael's Foxtailed Pagan Handfasting" →

The Offbeat Bride: Gaia, Solar Energy Designer

Her Offbeat Partner: Parker, Gourmet vegetarian chef

Location & date of wedding: Under our geodesic dome at our home in rural Michigan — April 20, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: Our ceremony was about equality and expressing our unique personalities. She's a buddhist, he's a pagan, so we chose very egalitarian vows representing both traditions.

We took all the typical sexist language out of the ceremony, questioned the origin of every tradition and sought out ideas and symbology from many cultures.

Continue reading "Gaia & Parker's Buddhist Pagan Geodesic Hippie Handfasting" →