I love multi-purpose wedding stuff. One of our orange coral centerpieces sits on my bookshelf as decor, and every time I look at it I get the warm and fuzzies thinking about our wonderful day. I also wear my wedding flip flops all the time with the same results. So when I saw OBT member Kim's (aka. "uloveit") wedding cake topper choice, thought it was a great idea! Kim found a pair of adorable salt and pepper shakers to adorn the top of her cake…

Kim's cake topper:
 According to her wedding planning update, she's going to accent this cake topper with the Mary-Chapin Carpenter lyrics, "Grow old along with me" on the cake. Romantic overload.

Kim inspired me to look into some other salt and pepper cake toppers (because how nice would it be to have a functional cake topper that you could use all the time?), and found an incredible array of choices. So I'm gonna share with you my favsies…

Continue reading "Kitschy-fabulous salt & pepper shakers as cake toppers" →

OBT member Kasia, aka. "Lil Pistol" found these rad tattooed toasting flutes from Laserbird's Etsy shop. They're perfect for a tattooed bride and groom, or a couple that wants to get non-cheesy toasting flutes.

The glasses "features two birds nestled among beautifully detailed roses, with a flowing ribbon banner that reads LOVE." And the best part about these babies is that they can be custom engraved with your name and date. The ones pictured show the names engraved along the wing of each bird, and the date in the upper left.

Continue reading "Sailor Jerry Tattooed Toasting Flutes" →

As part of my ongoing mission to ensure no engaged couple ever feels forced into a box of roses and doves and champagne flutes, it gives me great pleasure to unveil the two newest Offbeat wedding website templates! Both these designs come from Royal Steamline, and both of them are completely free from the wedding froof that plagues 90% of wedding website designs:

Tell Tell gives you a darkly anatomical take on romance, with its neo-Victorian wallpaper and a heart that looks like it could still be beating. Love it? Of course you can get the matching paper invitations direct from Royal Steamline.

Coney Island 1896, meanwhile, proves my point that when it comes to forward-thinking design elements, tentacles are the new birds. A little steampunk, a little circus, and a lot of sepia tone, this is yet another wedding website template that's also available as a print invitation.

Do you design wedding invitations?
Let's get your badass designs translated into templates!

Of course these are just the two newest templates I've got for Offbeat wedding websites, and while there are no champagne flutes, there are of course a full range of milder to wilder designs available. Go check 'em all out now, and sign up get your designer wedding website up 'n' running today!

Remember back in April when I co-sponsored the VAIN Hot Hair giveaway for Seattle-area brides? Well, I wanted to share this awesome photo of the winner, Shayla, rocking her wedding day hair and custom Hair Poison fascinator alongside VAIN stylist, Kelly. LOOK AT THE HOTNESS!

For more info about hot wedding hair in Seattle and those badass fascinators, get in touch with my ladies at VAIN. They've taken care of my offbeat hair since 2001, so obviously I love them.

I've gotten a few questions lately from brides seeking the perfect offbeat groomsmen's gifts. I've resisted weighing in because no two dudes are the same — and I really don't dig the gender-normative trends in groomsmen gifts. It seems like it's assumed that groomsmen are interested in booze (flasks!), titties (pin-up cufflinks!), tools, and sports. I mean sure: you know your dudes best. Maybe they love these things. But are we really so sure our guy friends are so narrow in their interests?

So, in putting together my list of awesome groomsmen gifts, I'll recognize that some dudes might be into a flask or cufflinks, but others would be much happier with a Star Wars flash drive, pedicure, or leather wrist-cuff. My ultimate test for groomsmen gifts: would a badass Best Woman like it too?

That in mind, here are a few of my favorite nontrad groomsmen gifts, some more mainstream, some tongue-in-cheek, and some totally out there:

Continue reading "Unexpected groomsmen gift ideas" →