Rebecca Bolte is a Seattle area photographer looking to shoot more offbeat weddings. Being a bit of an offbeat bride herself ("I'm having a vegan wedding in Alaska on August 3rd!" she told me) she's looking to cater her photography to couples with offbeat style.

And to prove her commitment to nontraditional couples, she's offering FREE engagement photo sessions to Offbeat Bride readers!

When I talked to Rebecca about her interest in offbeat weddings, she explained, "I'm a vegan feminist DIY rocker girl who's pulled herself up by her bootstraps, so I have a deep love and respect for people trying to make their own life while maintaining their uniqueness."

For the details of the engagement photo giveaway, keep reading!

Continue reading "FREE engagement photoshoot from Rebecca Bolte" →

First, you should feast your eyes on Aerin & Jeremy's wedding profile. Then you should feast your eyes on the new Alice in Wonderland-tinged template Aerin just did for my wedding websites.

If you've already got a wedding website with me 'n' Nearlyweds, and you're looking at this new design and love it as much as I do, remember that you can change your template at any time and as many times as you want. And of course, if you like the new template, you can order the matching invitations.

(And yes: this is one of those things that I desperately wish had been around when I was getting married in 2004. Back in my day, we had to design our non-froofy wedding websites from scratch! And manually coordinate with our designers to make the invitations match! And walk uphill to the altar barefoot in the snow! You 2009 brides don't know how easy you've got it…)

I'm madly in love the invitation aesthetics of Aerin's Royal Steamline designs … which are a little dark, very vintage, and full of intoxicating little details like anatomical hearts, tentacles, and the most non-cutesie butterflies evar. With Royal Steamline, the issue for me isn't "Which of these designs might make a good wedsite template?" but rather "Which design should I beg her to convert into a template first!?" Because really, they're all winners.

So, you tell me: which of Royal Steamline invitation design would YOU next like to see available as a wedsite template? I'm leaning towards Tell Tale.

Oh, and if you don't have a wedding website yet: RUN DO NOT WALK and start designing yours. It's free to dive in and start tinkering and your slightly dark Alice In Wonderland-themed wedding website could be up 'n' running in about 10 minutes. Go get started!

PS: If you're an indie invitation designer, I'd love to feature YOUR work too.

Meet Stinkerpants Designs, where everything is insanely cute — even the name!

Stinkerpants founder, Sara, is an an illustrator from San Francisco who does custom drawings for wedding invitations, save the dates and thank you notes.

Sara does all kinds of personalized stationary and custom illustrations — you must go browse the cuteness of her work for prior wedding clients.

Although Stinkerpants is mostly focused on custom illustrations, Sara also has wedding greeting cards that are adorbs. I mean really: weren't we just talking about thank you cards?

To learn more about Sara's custom illustrations, head on over to stinkerpants.com, friend her on facebook, or follow @stinkerpants on twitter.

…And tell that cutie Sara that Ariel sentcha!

I just discovered a fellow wedding blogger Sabrina and OBT member Blablover5's amazing talent for re-creating wedding dresses on canvas!

It all started when she realized "the most expensive piece of clothing I have ever owned was sitting in the closet, I decided to create a painting of it." And she did a phenomenal job.

She then started doing paintings of other people's wedding dresses and groom's suits, much to the delight of the brides. And that's when she realized that she had a good thing going here and opened an etsy store.

Now Sabrina's hobby can turn into wonderful and unique way to commemorate your wedding day!

Continue reading "Sabrina's Amazing Wedding Dress Paintings" →

My friend and neighbor, Seattle cartoonist Ellen Forney, recently designed these sci-fi fabulous wedding invitations for a local couple, Michaela and Ryan.

See, when Ellen's not busy cranking out comics for award-winning books, she does these badass custom wedding invitations. I've liked lots of Ellen's invites in the past (and featured her before) but I'm COMPLETELY in love with Michaela and Ryan's zombie-themed invitation illustration, which reads "Earthquake? Hangover? Zombies? Nothing will stop … THE WEDDING."

You really must view it larger to see all the black-inked details.

And if you're curious about Ellen's non-zombie custom wedding invitations, watch this little video where she walks you through some of her work, including a great twist on using photobooth pictures in your invitation …

Continue reading "Nothing will stop … THE WEDDING" →

Known for his rock 'n' roll work, Jeremy Harris is New York-based wedding photographer who's been featured in magazines such as Rolling Stone, SPIN, and the UK mag Kerrang.

So wait, why does a guy who photographs rock stars for Rolling Stone want to shoot your wedding? "Unlike the editorial and ad shoots which only satisfy the art director for a moment," Jeremy told me, "The weddings I shoot make people happy for a lifetime … I enjoy creating something that will be truly cherished!"

The advantage of working with a photographer accustomed to shooting musicians for magazines is that you get an editorial and photojournalistic style … and BONUS: you get treated like a rock star.

Oh and don't let the fact that Jeremy's based in New York fool you! He works frequently in the Bay Area and Los Angeles and, he says with a wicked little smile, "…I have a valid passport."

To feast your eyes on more of Jeremy's work, head to his website, or his blog.