The offbeat bride: Sharon, Admissions Officer/Blogger

My offbeat groom: Tim, Software Engineer

Location & date of wedding: Ceremony at Crissy Field and Reception a short walk away at the San Francisco Film Centre. August 2007.

What made our wedding offbeat: For an outsider it may have seemed somewhat traditional, but for us it was about doing the traditions our own way. We wrote our own ceremony which included a reading from "The Little Prince" and a tree planting. It was officiated by Tim's brother who was deputized for the day. All the ceremony music was Sufjan Stevens. There were a ton of DIY elements — my mother-in-law hand-wove shawls for the bridal party, we ordered the flowers directly from an organic farm and made our own bouquets, nearly all of the reception decoration was from recycled/reused materials.

Continue reading "Sharon's DIY SF wedding" →

The offbeat bride: Leila Easa, teacher

My offbeat groom: Gavin Murphy, engineer

Location & date of wedding: On Nov 4 2006, The Mexican Bus took us to three San Francisco locations: Bernal Heights Park, Seward Street Playground, and the cave near the ruins of the Sutro Baths

What made our wedding offbeat: We just decided to do something meaningful to us, not our grandparents. To be honest, this was difficult. I wrestled with whether or not we were being selfish. But in the end, we had it our way: a bus adventure, three locations with symbolic meaning, a reception at home, very low costs, no wedding dress, tux or diamonds, etc.

Continue reading "Leila Easa's magical mystery wedding tour" →

I love the photos from Sarah and Preston's San Francisco bike wedding. There's lots of talk of eco-weddings these days, but it doesn't get much more earth-friendly than this … the couple riding off into the sunset on their bikes. Plus, spandex makes for a lovely wedding fabric.

Strap on your helmet and check out the full set of bike wedding shots.

(Thanks to squishy for the photo!)

The offbeat bride: Lisa Marie Grillos, Photographer (and Offbeat Bride lab rat!)

My offbeat groom: Stephen Grillos, poker player

Location & date of wedding: August 6, 2005; Ceremony: Pulgas Water Temple in Woodside, CA; Reception: My in-law's backyard in Atherton, CA

What made our wedding offbeat: Our wedding was a fun backyard bbq with all our closest family and friends there. We didn't think that spending a ridiculous amount of money on a wedding would make us any more married than if we spent less, so we saved a lot by doing DIY projects — invitations, programs, favors.

Continue reading "Lisa Marie Grillos' Bay Area backyard BBQ" →