You’ve seen her before on offbeat bride — but here’s the full story on Princess Lasertron’s wedding!

The offbeat bride: Megan, designer

Her offbeat partner: David, student and medical tech

Location & date of wedding: The Slowdown, a music venue in Omaha, Nebraska. May 31, 2008

What made our wedding offbeat: I proposed to him with a ring, we cried for a while, then we set off to create the fun, offbeat, DIY party that we always wanted to have … and hopefully get married too. From the vegan menu to my confection of a pink polka-dot dress, we wanted to throw a party that everyone would love.

Read the rest of this entry »

A while back I ranted about how I think brides are best off having their wedding dresses custom made — you’ll get a better fit, exactly the design you want, and won’t have to suffer the attitudes and obscene prices of a bridal boutique.

There was some grumbling in the comments about “Ok, fine: but how do you find a custom dressmaker?” My best advice is start in your immediate circle and work your way out &mash; do you know any seamstresses or amazing sewers? Do any of your friends or family known any? If not, search online or in the Yellow Pages for someone locally. Being able to do fittings in person is a big bonus. If there’s no-one in town you like, then start looking online for seamstresses with styles you like who will work with you via email.

The ladies of the OBT came to the rescue with lots more tips on picking a custom dressmaker, as well as specific dressmaker recommendations:

Read the rest of this entry »

I know some of you out there are hard at work planning your winter weddings, and I can’t help but link this dramatic shrug with its fabulous “evil queen” stand-up collar from Etsy seller Rohm.

I love this thing, and of course it gets major bonus points from me for being handcrafted and custom-made for each bride.

Another gorgeous wedding dress from Fancy Pony Land, this one worn by Fiona, a dancer from New Mexico.

I’m just madly in love with Fancy Pony Land’s stuff — did you see Lorna and Fancy Pony in the current issue of ReadyMade? Yes I’m biased, but Lorna’s custom made wedding dresses are really something else. They’re definitely not cheap, but they’re gorgeous.

Here’s another shot of Fiona in her dress.

(Thanks to Lorna and Fiona for sharing the photos!)

Several people have asked me about the outfits Andreas and I wore at our wedding, and while I go into detail about them in the book, I must take a minute to call-out one of the indie designers we worked with — Chaya Branley, who works under the fabulous name of DaintyCore. Chaya worked on everything that Andreas and I wore, with the exceptions of my bustier and ribbon veil.

Chaya does all sorts of awesome work, but you must check out this wedding dress she made a few years ago. I think “dress” is almost an insult — it’s almost more a contraption, with all the delicious grommets and ribbons and laces and layers. When I saw the series, I was like “YOU! WOMAN! CLOTHE ME!”

The only sad part of this story? Chaya isn’t actively taking clients at this point — if you’re inspired by her fashions, you could try begging. Or just drooling over and over again at this gallery.

For those uninterested in princess wedding dresses, prepare to have your head explode from the innovative gorgeousness that is indie-designer Chrissy Wai-Ching Leung’s dress line. Hailing from Seattle via Chicago, Hong Kong, and Nice, France, Chrissy specializes in making custom silk wedding dresses that fly (or in some cases float) in the face of over-brocaded poofy white wedding wear. Using hand-dyed silks, each dress is custom made to meet the needs of the bride’s tastes and curves, ensuring that your wedding dress is truly one of a kind.

Chrissy caters to brides all over the nation via her website, but if you happen to be looking for a Seattle wedding dress, you owe it to yourself to visit her cozy Pioneer Square loft studio where, if you’re like me, you’ll want to fondle the samples and pet the silk-ribboned pillows for a couple hours. Forget the “white blindness” so common at bridal boutiques — at Wai-Ching you bathe in rich blues and reds and greens.

I wrote in Offbeat Bride about how great it was to work with two independent designers to craft my weird-ass wedding outfit. Obviously tastes vary, but I think that for many offbeat brides, independent designers are the ideal for wedding wear. Not only do you have the joy of having something custom made just for you and your style, but you also get to support an independent artisan. And if you’re going to go spending money on a dress, better to give it to a hardworking indie designer, rather than an overpriced wedding salon!

In that vein, every once and a while I’ll be pimping an indie designer who is worthy of offbeat attention. The photo here shows rock photographer Marina Chavez and her groom Diamond Dave Cooper. Marina is wearing a custom design by Lorna Leedy of Fancy Pony Land. That dress! I am dying from the gorgeousness and already knocking down Lorna’s door to see if I can get more pictures of her custom wedding work. (Just wait until you see the shots from Lorna’s wedding. More on that later.) For one more great shot of this beautiful white and red gown, read on …

Read the rest of this entry »