The offbeat bride: Ali – pediatric nurse

Her offbeat partner: Phil – electrician

Location & date of wedding: Brethren Church in Toronto, Ontario: wedding upstairs, reception in the gym downstairs. May 9th, 2009

What made our wedding offbeat: I'm from New Jersey, he's from Fiji. We met on a ship in Liberia, and he proposed with a tie wrap in Canada. My wedding ring is wooden; he carved it for me while we were apart during our engagement.

We wanted our faith to be central, so we started our ceremony by sitting back down with our guests while my cousins led worship. Phil is Fijian-Indian, so we had an Indian food buffet for lunch. My brother's mother-in-law did all the decorating and flowers for us, my uncle married us, and my brother emceed.

Continue reading "Ali & Phil's laid-back lunchtime celebration" →

The offbeat bride: Naomi

Her offbeat partner: Casey

Location & date of wedding: First Assembly Church Chapel in Cedar Rapids, IA. November 1, 2008

What made our wedding offbeat: For starters, I wore a black dress. It was actually a bridesmaid's dress, which made it tons cheaper.

Then, we did almost everything ourselves. I made our invitations on postcards. No real flowers — my bouquet was handmade from little christmas bulbs and tulle. Oh, and little white lights. Yes, it lit up!

Every tradition in weddings we pretty much went against. No unity candle, I stood on the 'wrong' side, my mom and dad walked me down, Casey had his parents walk him down.

There was no white was at our wedding — it was all black and bright blue.

Continue reading "Naomi & Casey's punk rock Iowa wedding" →