The offbeat bride: Emily, English Master’s Student SIU

Her offbeat partner: Dustin, Undergraduate Student SIU

Location & date of wedding: Centenary Methodist and Hamilton’s Catering Jacksonville IL. March 07, 2008

What made our wedding offbeat: For the wedding ceremony, we stuck with the tradition of a Christian church — but my brother Luke McQuillan, a local musician, played video game music including the Zelda Overland Theme for my bridal march. In addition I drew up a comic strip for the program. My friend Leslie Galloway made the dress which was a design we worked out together.

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How adorable is this groom in his retro ruffle-shirted baby-blue tuxedo and handlebar mustache!?

More photos (including the bride in a stunning red dress!) can be seen over here.

Since the photobooth “save the date” cards I featured a while back were so popular, I figured it was worth sharing this video showing you how to make your own.

Lots of grooms look great in kilts, but there’s just something about Miroslava’s groom Kevin that’s extra hot.

Is it the jacket? Is it the boots? Is it the hair? Or wait, is that kilt leather?! Regardless, Kevin’s taking “sexy kilt” to a whole new level.

Don’t get me wrong: Miroslava herself is positively dripping teh secksay in that bright red dress. But I’m used to seeing sexy brides. Grooms, for better or for worse, usually have to settle for “dignified” or “handsome.” Not this one!

You can see lots more about this Cannon Beach, OR, wedding on over on Flickr.

PS: I find that these photos are best enjoyed while listening to Kevin’s music.

One more Kevin-in-a-kilt shot below.

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Everafter Images recently shot Patrick and Kelly’s wonderful eclectic downtown Austin wedding at the Austin Symphony amphitheater. As this shot shows, they definitely tapped into the bride’s sass. Everafter Images’s Raymond Malkiewicz explains, “It was a casual and comfortable wedding – with humor provided by the officiant who started the ceremony with the marriage voice inflection from the movie A Princess Bride. His ‘maiwidge’ generated laughter from guests and wedding party alike.” You can see more wedding porn from this Austin wedding over here.

Everafter Images definitely caters to all sorts of nontraditional brides, with their wedding photography blog currently featuring Renaissance themed Renewal of Vows and a heavily pierced/inked semi-traditional-but-not Jewish wedding.

And these Austin wedding photographers are looking for offbeat brides to photograph — and to prove it, they’re offering a 10% discount to all offbeatbride.com readers! You can get in touch with Raymond and Debra via the Everafter Images website, or call them directly at 512-989-6952. Just mention you found them on offbeatbride.com to get the discount.

This was originally posted as a comment to the “Your wedding is tacky” post, but I think it’s important and wanted to take the time to answer it publicly.

…While I at first did enjoy this blog’s celebration of all things unique and offbeat, Ariel’s recent increasing blowups on any negative comments is, frankly, off putting. Any post on any subject is going to evoke negative AND positive reactions from people. Freaking out whenever people comment negatively, whether using “tacky” or not, is ITSELF unwelcoming of discussion.

I enjoyed this blog because it gave me inspiration for various ideas I could ponder and decide whether to include or exclude them with my wedding. And even though it is MY wedding, I still care what other people think, because this wedding is a celebration for my whole family. They’re giving time and money and traveling a long distance to be with me, I want them to have as much fun as possible. So yes, I find value even when people react negatively to different wedding ideas, and I even find value when people use the word “Tacky”

Demanding that every comment flower praise on the couple’s wedding choices isn’t offbeat, it is typical selfish bridal behavior. -Elizabeth

Elizabeth, I totally hear you and it’s definitely a balance I struggle with when thinking about offbeat editorial and moderation strategy. Honestly: it’s not like I love every single nontraditional wedding I see. It’s not like I’ve never looked at a wedding photo and thought “Woah! Bleah!” But ultimately my goal has always been acting as a cheerleader and supporter of nontraditional couples.

From the introduction of my book:

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