The offbeat bride: Melissa, Community Health

Her offbeat partner: James, Full-time Homeschoolin’ Dad

Location & date of wedding: Medieval Wall Lined City Carcassonne, France - August 23rd, 2008

What made our wedding offbeat: I had my 50’s-inspired prom dress custom made and allowed my 10 year old the freedom to design her own. I wore greens shoes, green ribbon with a white dress and a green lace parasol to spice it up a bit.

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Members of the OBT already know Kat — she’s one of my beloved moderators! Here’s the full story on her awesome Solistice wedding

The offbeat bride: Kat, bookseller and OBT moderator

Her offbeat partner: James, writer

Location & date of wedding: My dad & step-mum’s house, Lantzville, BC. June 21, 2008, Summer Solstice

What made our wedding offbeat: We managed to pull off a spectacular wedding with a very limited budget and a lot of help from our families and friends. Our visibly offbeat elements included my red dress and glittery Betsey Johnson shoes, the men’s Converse shoes and skull ties, my bridesmen, our Buffy & Angel cake topper and our Handfasting.

The real offbeat aspect was that the wedding was 100% a reflection of the two of us. Having a handfasting was really important to me, and my non-Wiccan husband was totally into it. Our ceremony was officiated by two women and I was walked down the aisle by both my parents, elements that reflected our feminist values.

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Some of you may remember this groom, in his amazing vintage tux — well, here’s the full story!

The offbeat bride: Maria, Success Coach

Her offbeat partner: Luke, Fraud Specialist

Location & date of wedding: Rotture: Portland, OR- August 31st, 2008

What made our wedding offbeat: Geeze, what wasn’t offbeat would have been an easier question. The wedding was concert themed, meaning we got married on stage, to music, in a show venue, distributed tickets, handbills, etc. So many things made this wedding *us*. From our garb (giant red dress & powder blue vintage tux) to the venue (an old warehouse converted into a show venue), to the homemade cupcakes and home-arranged flowers, we managed to get everything we wanted, for dirt cheap, and still made it all look really good.

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The offbeat bride: Belinda, Makeup Artist & Singer

Her offbeat partner: Stu, Manager & Singer

Location & date of wedding: Fitzroy Gardens Melbourne, Australia - April 19th, 2008

What made our wedding offbeat: Hot pink was a central color palette… my bridesmaids wore black with hot pink heels and my flowers were hot pink and blood red, fixed together with a thick black and white striped ribbon. The contrasting colours looked awesome! We also had bright orange and gold Chevy Impalas, complete with hydraulics!

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The offbeat bride: Danica

Her offbeat partner: Mike

Location & date of wedding: Newcastle Island, Canada - August 8th, 2008

What made our wedding offbeat: We kept it simple. I made all the cupcakes for the guests (all ninety! WHEW! Transporting them was a BITCH). We had our talented photographer friend Aki walk on stilts.

I’m double Offbeat! Pregnant, tattooed and I wore white!

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The offbeat bride: Stacey, High School English Teacher and Bartender

Her offbeat partner: Scott, Electrician and Musician

Location & date of wedding: Hotel Laguna, July 5th 2008 - Laguna Beach, California

What made our wedding offbeat: Our ceremony was incredibly personal. Our reception was more of a dinner party and the whole experience felt intimate and truly sacred. My inspiration was to throw the wedding that Daisy and Gatsby never got to have (that’s the English teacher speaking).

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The offbeat bride: Michelle, Woodshop Maven

Her offbeat partner: Jason, Clockmaker

Location & date of wedding: Friend’s backyard in Audubon PA, near Philly. July 19, 2008

What made our wedding offbeat: We wanted a wedding that was simple, low budget, and entirely ours. Our budget was very modest but we had complete editorial control. Also, we wanted COSTUMES!!! Not just for the bride and groom or for a genre, but a costume party for everyone with free food and booze for all.

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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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