Remember Raina, the autumn bride who wore her mom’s dress? Here’s the full scoop on her library wedding!

The offbeat bride: Raina, Graphic Designer

Her offbeat groom: Mike / freelance photographer & TV production guy

Location & date of wedding: The Clayville town library in Clayville, NY

What made our wedding offbeat: We really wanted to save a lot of money and keep it simple, simple, SIMPLE! We only had 7 people at the ceremony besides the two of us.

We did it at the tiny library in the town I grew up in. It was perfect because it was so small on the inside, and it happed to be a church at one point which lent itself to the layout of the ceremony well. We didn’t have a religious ceremony but it was kind of cute to be in an old church turned library (and my job involves designing book jackets, so it was extra special!).

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Those who’ve read my book (which should be all of you *cough cough*) will notice that this wedding sounds awfully familiar. Elisa and I grew up together on Bainbridge Island, and our weddings had a lot in common! I’ve mentioned her wedding before, but here’s the full profile…

The offbeat bride: Elisa, Therapist

Her offbeat groom: Eric, Electrician

Location & date of wedding: My mom’s backyard in a clearing surrounded by Cedar trees on Bainbridge Island.

What made our wedding offbeat: We decided to go low key, fun and DIY! We had a backyard ceremony and I wore the same dress that my grandma and great-grandma wore. It was so special, I’m really glad I did! After the ceremony I changed dresses so I wouldn’t trash the antique one and we danced and hung out all night. I made many of the things for the wedding to keep it cheap and cute, with everything being our colors of bright orange, pink, red, and fushia.

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Here’s a gorgeous shot of Raina to inspire all of you autumn brides.

I extra-love this photo because Raina is wearing her Mom’s wedding dress. Lemme tell you, offbeat brides rock the vintage like no othas.

The whole set’s a dream, really … including this awesome “you may now kiss the bride” photo. Hopefully I’ll have more info about this wedding soon! All I can tell you for now is that they got married in a library in upstate NY.

(Thanks to mike.turz for the photo!)

The offbeat bride: Sharon, Admissions Officer/Blogger

My offbeat groom: Tim, Software Engineer

Location & date of wedding: Ceremony at Crissy Field and Reception a short walk away at the San Francisco Film Centre. August 2007.

What made our wedding offbeat: For an outsider it may have seemed somewhat traditional, but for us it was about doing the traditions our own way. We wrote our own ceremony which included a reading from “The Little Prince” and a tree planting. It was officiated by Tim’s brother who was deputized for the day. All the ceremony music was Sufjan Stevens. There were a ton of DIY elements — my mother-in-law hand-wove shawls for the bridal party, we ordered the flowers directly from an organic farm and made our own bouquets, nearly all of the reception decoration was from recycled/reused materials.

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The offbeat bride: Ingo Pixel, Makeup Artist

My offbeat groom: Andy Pixel, Software Developer

Location & date of wedding: 7/14/07. Henry Art Gallery and Twilight Exit, Seattle.

What made our wedding offbeat: We tried everything we could to stay away from traditional wedding vendors and to involve our friends, family, and amazing network of talented and helpful individuals to make it all intimate and special.

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