Here's another round of reader Q&As! Not wedding advice, and not stuff covered by my FAQ … just questions from you!

If you were to mentor other businesswomen – what would your pearls of wisdom be? -Jac

My biggest business advice would be to always recognize the folks who inspired you. All's fair in love and biz, and there are very few truly new ideas — the key is to acknowledge and respect the folks who came before you.

Continue reading "Advice for indie biz women, and offbeat bride + the mainstream media = ???" →

How did you manage to attract the initial OBBs who have been so eager to share their stories with you? -Monica H.

When I first started researching my book in 2005, I did what most journalists do: I put a call out to my network of writing colleagues across the country to see who had great stories to share. I'd followed a few stories on the Kvetch boards on Indiebride and contacted those folks directly. A couple of the brides featured in the book were people I knew personally, but most of them are stories that I found through research and networking.

When I launched the website in January 2007, the profiles were originally just my way to give a bit more background on the brides featured in the book. I quickly realized that there were other folks who might want to share their stories and set up the questionnaire so that blog readers could submit their weddings.

These days, there are so many weddings submitted that there's no way I could feature them all … even with Megan posting four or five a week!

Do you ever get tired of talking about weddings? -Karolynn

Continue reading "Where did the original OBBs come from, has my relationship changed post-wedding, and do I ever get sick of weddings?" →

This is my new regular feature where I answer questions from readers. Not wedding advice questions (I do that over here) but personal questions, blogging questions, etc. Let's dive in…

Do you have any pics of yourself and Andre [sic] re-using wedding stuff? (Like your outfit?) -Corinne

I swear Andreas wore his sleeveless tux jacket to a friend's wedding, but I can't find any photos … but my wedding corset has gotten a ton of re-use! Here's my mom rocking it while she gets ready for her wedding:

Continue reading "Rewearing wedding outfits, blogger time management, and raving" →

Inspired by Princess Lasertron (because really, who isn't?) I've decided to start doing a semi-regular feature where I answer reader questions. Not, like, wedding advice questions. But questions about other stuff — the site, the world, whatever.

Here are the first batch of questions, which came in via Offbeat Bride's Facebook page:

At OBB, we're all about honoring the personally meaningful, no matter how weird or "tacky" But I bet you've heard about some pretty off-the-wall wedding choices…what are the strangest things you've come across in your OBB travels? -Ariel H.

Ha! I love this question. I've definitely seen some things that aren't my personal aesthetics, that's for sure…

Continue reading "Questions from you: Strangest weddings, what inspired me to start OBB, what I regret from my wedding, and more!" →

OBT member Rodrigues left this message on the OBB facebook page:

I am glad to see you touching on subjects of marriage and tradition/values rather than just "wedding detritus." I think its really important to steer the focus away from stuff whenever possible, especially since its so easy to become obsessed with it while you are planning.

It's only been three days since I got married and already the "stuff" we had at our wedding seems frivolous — the best and most important parts were the ways in which people we loved were able to participate, seeing so many friends and family travel across and country and across continents to see us exchange vows, and the actual vows themselves.

Amen, girl. Oh and by the way? Your first dance looks like heaven…