"How to plan a wedding from afar: part 2"… GO!!! Here are even more tips and tricks to planning a wedding from a location far far away (and not freaking out in the process)! If you missed it last week, here's Part 1!

3) Venue!
Your venue should be among the first things you consider. Planning our Texas wedding from Seattle definitely had it's challenges venue-wise. I had to be dogged about internet research and on the ball with my organizational tools (see "Tools!" section) in order to keep my sanity. I did have to fly to Texas for the venue search, but before I left I scoured the Internet, contacted venues (including rock clubs, outdoor gardens, parks, theatres, sports stadiums, museums, private farms etc.) and started a spreadsheet with possible options broken down into categories.

Because I was only going to be viewing the venues once before choosing the right one, it was imperative to start a list of questions about each venue: capacity, rehearsal times, cleanup rules, parking situation, decorating stipulations, extra costs, kitchen availability…

Continue reading "How to plan a wedding from afar: part 2 (by Shrie)" →

I'm by no means a wedding planner. I had never even planned a large event before I got engaged… but in planning our wedding from over 2,000 miles away I found that there ain't jack shit for resources on this topic.

So here it is, "Shrie's Humble Guide to Planning A Wedding from Afar: Or How to Get Hitched Without Pulling Your Hair Out." I hope my teeny tidbits of advice will help at least one crazed, "I don't know where to start!" bride-to-be looking for a little relief.

Getting married and putting the whole shebang together can be awesome fun. Getting married and putting the whole shebang together at a location 2,100 miles away from where you live can be awesome fun AND a little stressful. Lucky for you, I've been through all that and will graciously divulge all my time-saving, stress-free secrets…

Continue reading "How to plan a wedding from afar: part I (by Shrie)" →

Professional florist and member of the Offbeat Bride Tribe Tiffany Saul aka. Ragdoll shares with us 15 insider tips that florists don't want you to know! Oh and PS: All photos in this post are from the Offbeat Bride Flickr pool — click the photo if you want to learn more about the flowers pictured.

So I am a florist who strictly does wedding work, cake toppers, centerpieces, floral dog collars, and the usual, all for brides on limited budgets. I was visiting a friend of mine at her work (a big money sucking floral shop) and I over heard some things that I could not believe.

A bride was doing a consultation and the florist she was talking to kept trying to "up-sell" or downgrade every idea the bride had! There was nothing wrong with her ideas at all, except for the fact that they wouldn't put enough money in the florist pocket. It was sick. But the sickest part about it was that the bride agreed with every bad idea that the money hungry florist said. By the time my friend finished her lunch break, her coworker added at least a couple hundred more dollars to the unsuspecting bride's budget.

So I felt that I needed to share some tips with you. Tips from an honest, budget friendly florist:

Continue reading "How to not get screwed by your florist, by Tiffany Saul" →

Hey, everyone! My offbeat intern, Shrie, is starting a new series where she explores the hottest topics from the OBT. We're starting off with a topic that's hard to ignore these days: planning a wedding in the middle of a global economic meltdown. On that uplifting note (whee!) take it away, Shrie…

Planning a wedding is tough stuff. Unless you have a ton of disposable income or can count on the 'rents for a large chunk, it can put a real dent in your wallet and in your credit score. Pile on a recession, sky high fuel costs, scarce job market and less than savory housing situation — and you've got a full scale wedding budgeting nightmare.

Nervous brides are scraping the bucket and turning their luxury destination weddings into backyard BBQs, all in the name of saving a little dough. In fact, for the first time in over ten years the average cost of an American wedding is expected to drop, and nearly half of all caterers and event planners have noticed a drop in wedding spending due to the recession.

Monica, a fellow Offbeat Bride Tribe member, is downright apprehensive:

"Is all this recession chatter making any one else nervous? Our wedding is about five months away and every time I hear about people losing their jobs, the economy, high gas prices, grocery prices, etc. it makes me really nervous. I'm concerned people won't be able to travel because they can't afford it, or our caterer will have to charge us more for food or travel expenses." [obt link]

Continue reading "Planning A Wedding During A Recession" →