The offbeat bride: Laura, editor/writer

Her offbeat partner: Peter, director of knowledge management

Location & date of wedding: The Walter R. Schuele Planetarium at the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center in Bay Village, Ohio. Reception at The Nicholson House in Lakewood, Ohio. — October 10, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: We were married in a planetarium, by the planetarium director, under the stars with a spotlight shining on us.

My bouquet was made from kale, we didn’t have a bridal party, and our invitations were handmade from recycled paper by a nonprofit. Instead of programs, we made a PowerPoint presentation complete with photos and quizzes displayed on the “sky” before the ceremony. We also had a pre-ceremony animal show featuring an owl, falcon, and skunk. We wrote the ceremony ourselves and walked down the “aisle” together.

Continue reading "Laura & Peter's vegan, starry, planetarium wedding" →

The offbeat bride: Diane, Domestic Violence Counselor

Her offbeat partner: Taren, Mental Health Advocate

Location & date of wedding: North Park Lodge, Pittsburgh PA — 10/3/2009

What made our wedding offbeat: The groom and I are both members of Arn Draiocht Fein (or ADF for short), an international Neo-Pagan Druid Fellowship. Despite honoring many deities, the one consistent thing about ADF is its liturgical format. We based our ceremony on that format while still adding elements of our own.

Continue reading "Diane & Taren's Pagan/ADF, Druid, fall-fest wedding" →

Wow, we've been teasing this wedding for quite a while now… Remember the "Yay!" flags, made by OBT member Michele, that everyone loved so much that we made Michele give us an "how to" post? And then remember the awesome steampunk groom fashion post? Well that was all from the same wedding and we finally have the whole scoop!

The offbeat bride: Michele – interior designer (and OBT member)

Her offbeat partner: Matt – character animator

Location & date of wedding: The James Ward Mansion, Westfield, NJ — October 9, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: The decision to throw a Steampunk cocktail party came early, so we decided to address every detail by making nearly everything to create the wedding of our dreams.

Continue reading "Michele & Matt's steampunk, cocktail party wedding" →

The offbeat bride: Danielle, Attorney

Her offbeat partner: Dave, Computer Programmer

Location & date of wedding: The ceremony was held in the arch under the Manhattan Bridge, and the reception was held at the Dumbo Loft, Brooklyn, NY — August 29, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: Our wedding invitation was illustrated by our friend Lee Moyer and it was full of emblems of us and loosely based on the tantalizing Codex Seraphinianus, an art encyclopedia that is full of puzzles that often seem to hover just beyond the edge of understanding.

Continue reading "Danielle & Dave's geeky, puzzle-laden, Brooklyn wedding" →

Remember the bellydancing bride we fell in love with a little while back? Well, she was kind enough to give us the whole scoop on her amazing wedding festivities.

The Offbeat Bride: Christina, Jewelry Designer

Her Offbeat Partner: Jason, 3D designer

Location & date of wedding: The Maryland Renaissance Festival, Crownsville MD — October 17, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: I always knew that I didn’t want the traditional white dress and church wedding. I’m Pagan, and Jason isn’t particularly religious. Plus, I look dreadful in white! The Maryland Renaissance Festival has been a part of both of our lives for a long time — I’ve been going every year since I was a little girl! We look forward to it and always have so much fun there, so it seemed natural choice for venue. Problem solved!

Continue reading "Christina & Jason's colorful, Renfest, dance-apalooza wedding" →

Nationally award winning designer, Joi of Dress Forms Design Studio, LLC creates one-of-a-kind unique wedding gowns and apparel for any kind of special event.

Though most of you have already fallen head-over-funky-heals in love with Joi and Dress Forms Design Studio without even realizing it when you saw Megan, aka. Princess Lasertron, in her original polka dotted wedding gown.

All of her dresses are custom made to not only to perfectly fit your body (based on custom measurements), but she also designs them to fit your unique personality as well (because Joi is a freaking genius like that).

And in "exciting news!" news: Joi is designing the Princess Lasertron collection that will debut next summer. And we have the adorable picture to prove it:

Lasertron + Dress Form Design = fashion magic!

Joi's goal is to open up options that her clients did not know existed when looking for the perfect wedding dress design. And she literally makes each design a work of art. And along with a fabulous work of art, Joi also has a special deal to offer her Offbeat Brides, so keep reading to check it out.

Continue reading "Incredible custom wedding dresses from Dress Forms Design Studio" →

The offbeat bride: Kory Bingaman, illustrator and comic book artist

Her offbeat partner: Ben Francka, writer and cook

Location & date of wedding: Riverwalk Jazz Café, Ozark Missouri — September 19, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: Neither of us were caught up on traditions or thoughts of "we have to do this because that's what you do in a wedding." A lot of it wasn't intentional, as my experience with weddings was very limited and I had no knowledge of the "do's" and "don'ts", so we made it up as we went along. And it was cheap!

Continue reading "Kory & Ben's Dia de los Dinosaurs Wedding" →

Looking for a wedding dress in any other colors besides "white" or "ivory?" Maybe say… something like that black beauty for your Halloween wedding?

Yeah, well … good luck with that. Shopping for a colorful gown can range anywhere from frustrating to completely frustrating, forcing brides to either relive prom dress shopping or scouring the bowels of the internets for creative alternatives. That is until Wedding Dress Fantasy showed up on the bridal scene!

Based in New Jersey, they have an online store full of colorful wedding gowns! You can now easily find the perfect red dress for your gothic castle wedding, or blue dress for your urban loft wedding, or pink dresses for, oh I don't know, your lesbian gamer geek wedding? Or even the ever rare and elusive gold wedding dress for your elegant lodge wedding. They also gots tons o' love for the plus size brides as well.

Oh, and maybe you're a budget bride, but you feel weird about ordering a custom dress from overseas. Wedding Dress Fantasy's custom dress prices are uber-affordable, ranging from $299 to $599.

So, when you're ready to easily track down your perfect colorful wedding dress, head over to Wedding Dress Fantasy.