The offbeat bride: Christina, Curator

Her offbeat partner: Marius, Artist & blogger

Location & date of wedding: Sister's garden in Oslo, Norway AND Galapagos Art Space, Brooklyn, NY — June 22, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: He's Norwegian and I'm American, so we decided to have two parties — one in Oslo, Norway and one in NYC.

Continue reading "Christina & Marius' stellar trans-continental, Oslo to NYC, wedding celebration" →

The offbeat bride: Marylyle, Librarian (and OBT member)

Her offbeat partner: Jordan, Computer Programmer

Location & date of wedding: The garden outside UVA Alumni Hall in Charlottesville, VA. — 08/16/2009

What made our wedding offbeat: Jordan is a Sephardic Jew and I am Unitarian. It meant a lot that both of us and our traditions be represented equally. We worked together really hard to craft an interfaith wedding ceremony that was meaningful to both of us.

It was important to him that we include Jewish traditions such as the chuppah and circling each other. I chose Celtic traditions to connect with own my heritage such as handfasting and jumping the broom. We wrote our own ketubah and our own translation of the seven blessings. We also drank wine from both a Jewish Kiddush cup & from a Scottish quaich, or loving cup, during the ceremony. Jordan's mother, a rabbinic student, and an interfaith minister, performed the ceremony.

Continue reading "Marylyle & Jordan's Sephardic, Celtic, Balkan bash" →

The Offbeat Bride Arroxane, Technical writer (and OBT member)

Her Offbeat Partner: Mike, Techie, inventor, and business owner

Location & date of wedding: The Max recording stage in Dallas, TX — January 18, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: From the theme to the attire to the food to the entertainment, it was about what we liked and wanted. OK, there was some "make the folks happy" and crowd-pleaser elements, but 90% of the wedding was creative expression of our love(s).

Continue reading "Arroxane & Mike's celestial, multi-cultural ceremony of matrimony" →

The Offbeat Bride: Taryn, Public Servant

Her Offbeat Partner: Craig, Public Servant

Location & date of wedding: Gothic Church and Wine Bar in Windy Wellington, New Zealand — 20 June 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: Every little detail was perfectly us! We made a whole heap of compromises to keep family happy, but they were easy things to do because we love our families. However we also pushed back on things that were really important to us. Craig's cousin Jessica is his best friend, and it was really important to him to have her in his groom's party, even though that upset some people. My family is traditional South African Indian Seventh Day Adventist and Craig's is pure Kiwi Party Animal so it was always going to be a delicate balancing exercise.

Continue reading "Taryn & Craig's Silly, Fun-Filled, New Zealand Winter Wedding" →

To celebrate the season, we're featuring a Halloween wedding every week for the month of October!

The Offbeat Bride: Kymba, RN (and OBT member)

Her Offbeat Partner: Kerry, Paramedic

Location & date of wedding: Shaffer Hotel, Mountainair, New Mexico. A haunted pueblo-deco, built in a unique style with an attached park, gazebo, firepit, game room, multipurpose room, an attached restaurant, and a ghost or two who joined in our fun — October 31, 2008

What made our wedding offbeat: As a free-spirited, multi-ethnic, democratic hippie marrying a former military, Lutheran, republican — there wasn't a whole lot about our wedding that was considered "normal" by either side of the aisle (well, except the aisle itself). My family was very happy with the whole Halloween wedding in a haunted hotel in costume vibe. His family was very happy with the gazebo ceremony site, country music reception, and the great local food.

Continue reading "Kymba & Kerry's Haunted Hotel Halloween Wedding" →