Hey guys! So most of you know me as the Managing Editor of this here crazy site. But you may or may not know that I'm also a photographer! And one of the perks of working my butt for Ariel is that she lets me self-promote. So let the awkward self-promotion begin!

Offbeat Bride has already featured my work for OBT member Ragani's cinematic gala wedding in Oakland, and my friend Alex's Mexi-kitschy forest wedding in Santa Cruz. But what you haven't seen yet is the fabulous and crafty wedding of another OBT member, CaseyB.

Casey and Colin got married in the Temescal Gateway Park in the Santa Monica mountains. The gorgeous setting was a photographer's dream. And all the amazing details are an offbeat bride's porn-a-licious drool-fest.

Casey hand-crafted all of these great fabric roses. She made her beautiful hairpiece and her bouquet out of them. She even made them as lapel pins for the wedding party AND created ones in various colors for the wedding favors. And don't even get me started on her amazing dress…

Continue reading "Super crafty, mountain wedding porn from Megan Finley Photography" →

The Offbeat Bride: Sara, Educational Consultant and Obsessive Blogger

Her Offbeat Partner: Matt, Director of Sharing for a network of charter schools

Location & date of wedding: Sunshine Mountain Lodge in the mountains of Colorado — July 19, 2008

What made our wedding offbeat:We started the wedding planning process by declaring a strict and modest budget: $2,000 to be exact. We wanted our wedding to be about sincerity, authenticity, connection, and a celebration and proclamation of love and commitment. We didn’t want it to be about monogrammed napkins and excessive amounts of fondant. In all honesty, we didn’t want to let our wedding overshadow our relationship (and we needed to save money for the house we planned to buy four days after our wedding).

Continue reading "Sara & Matt's Summer Camp Wedding" →

The offbeat bride: Becca, Medical Biophysics grad student (I study braaiiinnsss!)

Her offbeat partner: Luc, Super Hot French-Canadian Medical Biophysics grad student (microfluidic devices)

Location & date of wedding: On a rock, in a field of flowers, 11,500 ft above sea level, surrounded by 14,000' of mountains, at Yankee Boy Basin, near the town of Ouray Colorado on July 25th, 2008

What made our wedding offbeat: Well the most obvious thing that made our wedding offbeat is that it was on top of a mountain, an Alpine basin actually, 11,500ft in elevation. It was an outdoor Catholic wedding, which 'technically' you can't do….unless the priest is a family friend and allows you to do the necessary bits in the church the night before.

Continue reading "Becca & Luc's Mountain Alpine Basin French-Canadian/American Wedding" →

Amidst all the talk of dresses and decor fetishists and tiny top hats, it's easy to forget one of the core tenets of offbeat bride: that it's about having a wedding authentic to you. That doesn't always mean a day full of non-trad doo-dads and subcultural lifestyle accessories.

Nope, sometimes it just means you and your honey exchanging your vows in the Siskiyou Wilderness of Northern California. And that, THAT is a beautiful thing.

(PS: If you're looking for even more simple mountain wedding inspiration, head over here!)