You've seen this wedding before when Ariel raved about the "best woman's" amazing outfit. Now get the entire scoop on my friend Alex's beautiful offbeat redwood forest wedding that I was lucky to attend.

The Offbeat Bride: Alex- Community Manager

Her Offbeat Partner: Mark- Restaurant Manager

Location & date of wedding: Nestldown, Los Gatos CA (aka Paradise) — June 25, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: Mark and I wanted to make this wedding as much about our personality and love as possible. We had a close friend become ordained in order to marry us. She did an unforgettable job!

Continue reading "Alex & Mark's Mexi-Kitchy-Chic-Forest-Wonderland Wedding" →

And in case you missed my two part series, here 'tis! "Planning A Wedding from Afar Part I and Part II". Tips and tricks galore.. now dive into our wedding!

The offbeat bride: Shrie, Sign Designer/Music Writer

Her offbeat partner: Brett, Senior System Engineer

Location & date of wedding: YWCA in downtown Fort Worth, TX on Friday March 13th, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: I didn't wear a white dress… or a wedding dress! We had a close female friend become ordained to marry us (much to the chagrin of my family) and our dog was our ring bearer!

Continue reading "Shrie & Brett's Vintage 50's Mexican Fiesta Hitchin'!" →

"How to plan a wedding from afar: part 2"… GO!!! Here are even more tips and tricks to planning a wedding from a location far far away (and not freaking out in the process)! If you missed it last week, here's Part 1!

3) Venue!
Your venue should be among the first things you consider. Planning our Texas wedding from Seattle definitely had it's challenges venue-wise. I had to be dogged about internet research and on the ball with my organizational tools (see "Tools!" section) in order to keep my sanity. I did have to fly to Texas for the venue search, but before I left I scoured the Internet, contacted venues (including rock clubs, outdoor gardens, parks, theatres, sports stadiums, museums, private farms etc.) and started a spreadsheet with possible options broken down into categories.

Because I was only going to be viewing the venues once before choosing the right one, it was imperative to start a list of questions about each venue: capacity, rehearsal times, cleanup rules, parking situation, decorating stipulations, extra costs, kitchen availability…

Continue reading "How to plan a wedding from afar: part 2 (by Shrie)" →

I'm by no means a wedding planner. I had never even planned a large event before I got engaged… but in planning our wedding from over 2,000 miles away I found that there ain't jack shit for resources on this topic.

So here it is, "Shrie's Humble Guide to Planning A Wedding from Afar: Or How to Get Hitched Without Pulling Your Hair Out." I hope my teeny tidbits of advice will help at least one crazed, "I don't know where to start!" bride-to-be looking for a little relief.

Getting married and putting the whole shebang together can be awesome fun. Getting married and putting the whole shebang together at a location 2,100 miles away from where you live can be awesome fun AND a little stressful. Lucky for you, I've been through all that and will graciously divulge all my time-saving, stress-free secrets…

Continue reading "How to plan a wedding from afar: part I (by Shrie)" →

The Offbeat Bride: Laura, Looking for Work!

Her Offbeat Partner: Rob, Bar Back

Location & Date of wedding: Union Depot in St Paul, MN — 03/14/09

What made our wedding offbeat: Okay, so we had the money (given to us) and the social pressure to do a mostly traditional wedding, nice place, sit down dinner etc. But we are offbeat people and we needed something to make the wedding truly special, fun and ours. We decided on a Day of the Dead theme for a few reasons. First, we love and collect Day of the Dead art. Rob has Day of the Dead tattoos as his arm sleeve. Second, Rob's parents retired in Mexico and collect/make Day of the Dead art. Third, my son [editors note: major cutie] is half Mexican, it all seemed to fit! Til Death do we Part!

Continue reading "Laura & Rob's Day of the Dead Wedding, Vintage Style" →