In keeping with the season, it's time for our weekly Offbeat Halloween wedding!

The Offbeat Bride: Shel, Coordinator

Her Offbeat Partner: Mike, Fire Arms Instructor

Location & date of wedding: Holiday Inn Select, Trevose, PA — October 31, 2008

What made our wedding offbeat: We tried to make the day about the two of us, our love, and Halloween all at the same time.

We got married in a hotel, had pumpkin place cards, black and white everything. We had a life size motion activated skeleton bride and groom. We were introduced to the song, "Crazy Bitch." We had a shoe cake cutter and skelton bride and groom cake topper and I wore neon blue high heels.

Continue reading "Shel & Mike's Black & White Halloween Wedding" →

What was I just saying about bar weddings? Here's another one!

The offbeat bride: Baxter – writer (and OBT member!)

Her offbeat partner: Chris – Buyer at Amazon.com

Location & date of wedding: Discovery Park and Sunset Tavern – Seattle, WA (06-07-08) [Editor's note: Sunset Tavern, previously seen on OBB.com]

What made our wedding offbeat: Our ceremony was a short and sweet number is Discovery Park, overlooking the Sound with only family and a few friends in attendance. I wore a red corset top and a black skirt. He grew out his chops and wore a custom vest to go with his black pinstripe suit. A friend played "The Air That I Breathe" on acoustic guitar. Another friend officiated. We wrote our own vows which were basically love letters to each other, posed for some pictures and then it was on to the real party!

Continue reading "Chris & Baxter's Old-Timey Gothic Karaoke Wedding" →

The offbeat bride: Laura (At the time an office manager and now an offbeat wedding planner!)

Her offbeat partner: Dave (Animation Production Coordinator)

Location & date of wedding: We were married at a gay karaoke bar called The Boulevard in Pasadena, on 07/07/07 — us and about 38,000 other people thought that was a good idea!

What made our wedding offbeat: We were a straight couple getting married in a gay karaoke bar with a musical theater themed ceremony. Not being much for tradition, when it came time to plan our wedding, we completely decontructed the entire process and put it back together again from scratch. We started by thinking "OK…if we were going to throw a big, fun party that *wasn't* a wedding, where would we do that?" The answer: In a karaoke bar! (We're theater people – need I say more?)

Continue reading "Laura & Dave's karaoke wedding" →

The offbeat bride: Elisa, Secretary/Adjunct Professor/Grad Student cum Rock Star

Her offbeat partner: Evan, Sound Engineer/Guitar Player

Location & date of wedding: Friend's home in Miami, FL. 2/29/2008

What made our wedding offbeat: Evan and I spent the whole day together with our bridal party, bucking tradition. We also had a Pagan handfasting, complete with broom-jumping. The reception was a BBQ buffet with karaoke and a Super Mario Brothers-themed wedding cake.

Continue reading "Elisa's Leap Day wedding in Miami" →

My fiance and I are having a bit of trouble (okay, a lot of trouble) figuring out how to entertain our guests during our reception. The whole dinner and dancing thing really doesn't suit us, but when I've asked for advice from the "professionals" in our area, their eyes glaze over at the thought of not having a father-daughter dance, etc, etc. —Lauren

As a semi-retired raver, I simply can't imagine not dancing — but I realize that's MY brand of weird and not everyone else's. If you don't like dancing, ug: there's nothing worse than hosting a miserable, requisite dance floor that you spend the whole night avoiding.

Luckily for you, there are lots of non-dancing options for your guests …

Continue reading "Dance-free wedding reception" →