The offbeat bride: Ginevra, Six Apart-er

My offbeat groom: Alex, dj/student/tutor

Location & date of wedding: May 28, 2007 in a backyard … in Paia, Maui

What made our wedding offbeat: We wanted to have a small wedding that reflected not just who we were as people and as a couple, but how much our family and friends meant to us by dragging them halfway across the world.

We decided on Hawaii because we both grew up in DC, lived in San Francisco for a long time, and have settled in Boston — there was no way everyone wasn’t going to have to travel someplace, so why not to paradise?

Plus, being a destination wedding kept what I call Drunk Aunt Edna incidents to a minimum. Everyone who attended was someone we wanted to be there.

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The offbeat bride: Jessica Wilson, student, crafter, dreamer and baker of cupcakes

My offbeat groom: Jeffrey Stephens, museum lackey, artist, tinkerer and propeller maker

Location & date of wedding: March 2, 20005 at the William Mulholland Memorial Fountain in Los Angeles

What made our wedding offbeat: We bucked tradition, saved a fortune, peeved our friends and had a BLAST!

Mr. A-go-go & I thought and thought and thought about what to do for the shindig — we waffled between hitting the county registrars office and doing a Pee-Wee’s Playhouse tribute (we even found someone to get ordained and marry us as Jambi!). We ended up holding a guerrilla wedding at the famous fountain in our hood where wedding parties take their group photos every weekend.

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The offbeat bride: Elaina B., Marketing Coordinator

My offbeat groom: Matt S, Computer Programmer

Location & date of wedding: Victoria, British Columbia - March 10, 2007

What made our wedding offbeat: We eloped to British Columbia. He didn’t propose, but we decided together to get married. This was a huge part of our philosophy: marriage not as a theatrical event, but as a discussion where we are both equal partners.

We wanted to elope, because we didn’t want all the commercial/plastic stuff that comes with weddings now-a-days. Plus, we are both pretty shy people and hate having spectacles made of us.

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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.

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The offbeat bride: Janelle, writer

My offbeat groom: Matt, professor

Location & date of wedding: Forest and backyard behind my parents’ house in Battle Ground, WA; July 21, 2001

What made our wedding offbeat: We had a Quaker ceremony. Everyone sat facing one another in a circle, holding silence until moved to speak. In the Quaker tradition, there are no ministers as they believe all are equal before god. This means that everyone at your wedding is considered an officiant — anyone can talk during the ceremony, everyone signs the wedding certificate. [If you're interested in some background, you can read about Quaker weddings over here. -Ed.]

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The offbeat bride: Rei Chee, naturalist

My offbeat groom: Bryan Perez, musician

Location & date of wedding: Backwoods on my friend/reverend’s property in Boston Hills, NY. May 2006.

What made our wedding offbeat: Our wedding was not the ball of the year, but being in the presence of nature & our close friends made it very magical.

My husband & I eloped in my woodman friend’s backyard, which was a huge tract of natural land. He was also our Reverend. We were married between a shagbark hickory (signifying solidity & strength) and a beautiful white pine, the Tree of Peace among the Iroquois Indians. Our invited guests were my parrot, a few special humans, and the Reverend’s pack of border collies in a very whimsical ceremony.

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The offbeat bride: Stacy Streuli, Interior Designer (and Offbeat Bride lab rat!)

My offbeat groom: Oliver, video and commercial editor

Location & date of wedding: Small B&B, White Mountains, NH: 10/17/04

What made our wedding offbeat: The things which made our wedding offbeat were mostly due to my staunch refusal to succumb to my mother’s “only daughter” fantasy of a big traditional synagogue wedding with 250 guests. She was actually prepared to take out a loan to finance it. I never wanted the white wedding fantasy, and I wasn’t prepared to bankrupt my mother over it.

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The offbeat bride: Dana Bos, imaginary girl

My offbeat groom: David Bos, rockstar

Location & date of wedding: Real wedding at The Ruins, Seattle {2.20.05} || Imaginary wedding at the Crocodile Cafe {2.20.05}, Seattle, WA

What made our wedding offbeat: David and I knew we wanted an elegant and intimate wedding, one that was an extravagant enough affair that we couldn’t invite the world. But being actively involved in the music scene (he as a guitar player, me as a music writer), we also wanted to have a big bad rock and roll bash to celebrate our marriage.

So we did both.

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