photo by Drew Orrin-Brown

The offbeat bride: Tessa LeTaunt, Pin Up Model & Mommy

Her offbeat partner: Ronnie, Stay-at-home-Daddy

Location & date of wedding: The Uptown Theater in Kansas City, MO — July 11th, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: Instead of having a unity candle, we had a Native American water ritual, which consisted of both my groom and I drinking from a double-spouted jug made of clay. Although this took away from our overall theme, both of our families have strong Indian heritage, which we felt the need to embrace during our uniting as one.

Continue reading "Tessa & Ronnie's Vintage Cabaret, Uptown Theater Wedding" →

The Offbeat Bride: Emily, bodyworker (and OBT member "Emily L")

Her Offbeat Partner: Mark, Case Manager

Location & date of wedding: Yerba Santa Goat Dairy, Lakeport, CA — 5/16/09

What made our wedding offbeat: We wanted everything to be as 'green' as possible. We bought and then donated all our plates, silverware and glasses. We sat on hay-bales which were later fed to the goats. We made as much by ourselves and with friends as possible and kept the food and drinks very local — we served veggies all grown within 100 miles of our home, buffalo raised 20 miles from the farm, a goat and goat cheese raised on the farm. We served Sonoma and Napa County wines, home-brewed beer by a dear friend of ours, and olives picked from Mark's mom's front yard and brined by us.

Continue reading "Emily & Mark's homemade Goat Farm, Native American, Albanian Orthodox, Love Fest" →

The Offbeat Bride: Sharla, newspaper production designer (and OBT member "Firecracker")

Her Offbeat Partner: Kris, engineer

Location & date of wedding: Moab, Utah — April 25, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: We love Moab for its scenery and fantastic trails, so we chose to get married there. We had about 23 guests, no attendants, and very little of the traditional trappings. I made my own gown in blue silk, and I had orange crinoline, orange shoes, orange fishnets, flowers, etc.

Our table decorations featured local rock arrangements, handmade tablecloths & runners, thrift store bowls with miniature Jeeps and chocolate rocks. And we served gourmet sandwiches and cheesecake to our guests. I walked down the aisle to Funtwo's electric guitar rendition of the Canon in D, and our ceremony was brief and nonreligious. The town mayor performed the ceremony, which included a Native American wedding blessing as well as just the right touch of humor.

Continue reading "Sharla & Kris' Moab, Utah Motorhead Wedding" →

You've seen Fancy Pony Land on offbeatbride.com before — now here's the story on Lorna's own wedding!

The offbeat bride: Lorna Leedy, fashion designer and creator of Fancy Pony Land

Her offbeat partner: Peter Maggio, Park Ranger

Location & date of wedding: 7/8/6, The Gould Community Center in Gould, CO (North-Central Colorado)

What made our wedding offbeat: We had a Frontier Pioneer themed wedding in the North Park area of North-Central Colorado, where my family has a fly-fishing ranch. It's one of the most gorgeous places on earth.
The wedding was supposed to be at my family's cabin on the Ginger Quill Ranch, overlooking the North Platte River, but torrential rain forced us to have the wedding in the reception hall, the Gould Community Center. It's an old wooden building with exposed beams and a giant fireplace. We had 175 people packed in there and the crowdedness made it really intimate and wonderful. We couldn't have planned it better.

Continue reading "Lorna's pioneer wedding in Colorado" →

The offbeat bride: Annalise, Makeup Artist

Her offbeat partner: Adam, Carpenter

Location & date of wedding: Minneapolis, MN, November 3, 2007

What made our wedding offbeat: People loved to remark that our wedding was "our big, fat, vintage, native-american, Dia de los Muertos wedding."

We got married in a Native American church, using the traditions such as smudging, a water ceremony, and a quilt ceremony with our elders, and my husband spent some time in the teepee with our elders before the ceremony.

We also managed to fit it in with our favorite holiday, Dia de los Muertos, and my love of all things vintage into it.

Continue reading "Annalise's big, fat, vintage, native-american, Dia de los Muertos wedding" →