The handmade invitations and RSVP cards from OBT member Hurricane Me (aka. Kate) just blew me away. Here are the pictures and her explanation taken from her wedding planning update.

I sat around stressing out over what kind of image I wanted … I knew I wanted to do it myself but had no idea where to begin stylistically. But I finally buckled down and did the block print of the hands, and as soon as I lay the ink on I knew I had my design. I couldn't decide on a color. So I didn't.

I just put cardstock through the photocopy machine at Kinkos to make the text and the RSVP inserts, then cut the smaller block print stamps of bicycles and letters, and started stamping.

Continue reading "100% homemade, recycled paper wedding invitations, by Hurricane Me" →

Getting lingerie from my future MIL in front of a room full of near strangers wasn

Ah, the "wedding shower" — A wonderful tradition rife with feminist solidarity and celebrations of love, marriage and family bonding?

…Or torture in the form of humiliating games and awkward, voyeuristic present-opening rituals? If I were to answer this from my own experience (see the picture of me to the left, taken during my nightmare wedding shower), I'd have to say a little of the former and whole lot of the latter.

But fear not this same cruel fate! Because OffbeatBride.com is here to tell you that it doesn't have to go down like that!

Future brides, family members, bestest friends and future-in-laws, put down those rolls of toilet paper and read this:

Offbeat Bride's list of (dare we say it?)
FUN & TORTURE FREE WEDDING SHOWER IDEAS…

Continue reading "Torture-Free Wedding Showers" →

I officially launched Offbeatbride.com on January 1st, 2007, so it seems fitting to relaunch the site on its two year anniversary.

The design should feel pretty familiar. I'm keeping the general structure pretty much as its always been … the biggest change you'll notice is the addition of illustrations from Donna from Butterflies Kiss, who you may remember me featuring a couple months back.

I decided that Donna's images were so perfect for Offbeatbride.com that I had to get 'em on the site permanently, and Donna even made me a custom illustration — that's me on my wedding day up there on the "Author" button. Many thanks to Donna for her awesomeness … and she's doing that 10% discount for offbeat bride readers!

Another big change is that the tags for each post have been moved up to be front and center. The tags are those words off to the right of each post. If you see a subject that interests you, just go ahead and click the tag to see all the posts on Offbeat Bride that have been tagged with the same words.

I've also added a couple pages to help folks find their ways in the offbeat empire … a page for the newly engaged, and a Frequently Asked Questions page addressing Offbeat Bride, offbeatbride.com, and the Offbeat Bride Tribe.

There may be a few bugs here and there — lemme know if you come across anything on the site acting wonky!

Welcome to OMGOBT, a new category of posts on Offbeat Bride that feature some of the most inspiring, most helpful, and most awesome posts from the OBT. This first installment involves love and cat vomit, and is by OBT user Cassie.

So the other day I was looking at my cat. More specifically, I was looking at my cat as she spewed what seemed like a quarter pound of half-digested tuna/chicken feast all over one of my favorite sweaters, which I stupidly left unsupervised on the bed. And I thought, "Sweet lord above this cat is driving me crazy, what with all the puking and crapping lately, but I love her to bits and wouldn't give her up for anything."

And here is where the most pathetic realization came over me: My relationship with my future husband is like my relationship to the cat …

Continue reading "How my cat taught me marriage isn't so scary after all, by Cassie" →

In the glorious Offbeat Bride community, there are loads of different kinds of people into loads of different things. You name it, we got it! From tattooed rockabillies to tight-panted hipsters to earth-lovin' hippies and every idiosyncratic style (lifestyle?) in between. One aspect of the Offbeat Bride army, if you will, that we often don't associate with being particularly offbeat and is definitely under-represented on OffbeatBride.com are military brides. Yeah, I said it… military brides can be offbeat too!

On the Offbeat Bride social network, Offbeat Bride Tribe, there is a group devoted entirely to brides and their partners who have served or are serving in the armed forces, police force or firefighting arena. There's a little sumpin' sumpin' about a man or woman in uniform!

Continue reading "Offbeat military weddings" →