The offbeat bride: Kirsten, RN and baby catcher (See Kirsten’s page on the OBT!)

Her offbeat partner: Ebony, woodworker

Location & date of wedding: USO building, Fort Worden, Port Townsend, WA. 1/12/2008

What made our wedding offbeat: I had a white dress…that’s where the tradition ended! We agreed at the outset that we would not pay ANYONE to do ANYTHING. We invited our friends and family to “bring what makes them who they are” to share. We had no idea what our wedding would look like — we were not disappointed.

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The offbeat bride: Brit, Admin

Her offbeat partner: Cecilia, Accountant

Location & date of wedding: Historic building outside Boston, MA, October 13, 2007

What made our wedding offbeat: We made the decision early on that we would keep whatever traditional wedding elements we liked, and ditch those we didn’t! This meant the white dress was out, along with “tossing” of anything, but the ceremony and reception with all our friends and family were in. We had a modest budget, and incorporated lots of DIY. I made all of our paper products, centerpieces and my bouquet. We also used rented audio equipment and mix cd’s for the music and did all the decor ourselves. Other things that puzzled our families included walking down the aisle together, not having a bridal party and planning the entire thing ourselves.

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The offbeat bride: Stacey, Figure Skating Coach & Graphic Designer

Her offbeat groom: Joel, Motion Capture Specialist

Location & date of wedding: Strathcona Park Lodge between Campbell River and Gold River, BC. August 25, 2007

What made our wedding offbeat: My job as a Graphic Designer was at a wedding invitation design studio. My whole life had been filled with other people’s wedding plans for years. I’d always been the one dishing out advice and helping people with their taffeta filled or very alternative plans. So when it was my turn I had lots of ideas but I also knew that everything had to be different from anything I had worked on for a client. Having helped with a few hundred weddings, that was very difficult but it also pushed me to try things I wouldn’t have otherwise.

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The offbeat bride: Dawn Hajnos (Doula/Artist/Student Midwife)

Her offbeat partner: Jason Keil (Woodworker/Artist/Painter)

Location & date of wedding: Honeymoon Island State Park, Dunedin Fl & The Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park Live Oak, FL. Oct 9th and 13th 2007.

What made our wedding offbeat: Our wedding belonged to Us. We invited only our best friends who, thankfully are married to each other and our close family friend officiant. We got married in a tide pool at Honeymoon Island State Park in Dunedin Fl. After we said our vows the four of us island hopped along the gulf of mexico. Our plans were not popular with some of our friends and family but it was what we wanted and we refused to settle….It was the most relaxing loving, perfect day with NO stress.

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You’ve seen Fancy Pony Land on offbeatbride.com before — now here’s the story on Lorna’s own wedding!

The offbeat bride: Lorna Leedy, fashion designer and creator of Fancy Pony Land

Her offbeat partner: Peter Maggio, Park Ranger

Location & date of wedding: 7/8/6, The Gould Community Center in Gould, CO (North-Central Colorado)

What made our wedding offbeat: We had a Frontier Pioneer themed wedding in the North Park area of North-Central Colorado, where my family has a fly-fishing ranch. It’s one of the most gorgeous places on earth.
The wedding was supposed to be at my family’s cabin on the Ginger Quill Ranch, overlooking the North Platte River, but torrential rain forced us to have the wedding in the reception hall, the Gould Community Center. It’s an old wooden building with exposed beams and a giant fireplace. We had 175 people packed in there and the crowdedness made it really intimate and wonderful. We couldn’t have planned it better.

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The offbeat bride: Annalise, Makeup Artist

Her offbeat partner: Adam, Carpenter

Location & date of wedding: Minneapolis, MN, November 3, 2007

What made our wedding offbeat: People loved to remark that our wedding was “our big, fat, vintage, native-american, Dia de los Muertos wedding.”

We got married in a Native American church, using the traditions such as smudging, a water ceremony, and a quilt ceremony with our elders, and my husband spent some time in the teepee with our elders before the ceremony.

We also managed to fit it in with our favorite holiday, Dia de los Muertos, and my love of all things vintage into it.

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The offbeat bride: Bree, Hairdresser

Her offbeat groom: Damien

Location & date of wedding: Army Navy Country Club, Fairfax VA, October 6, 2007

What made our wedding offbeat: We wanted to be different and rock a roll — but still very elegant. I walked down the aisle to a Johnny Cash tune!

Our biggest challenge: We really had very little difficulty — we planned well in advance and stayed in our budget. Being understanding, compromising and remembering that it’s supposed to be a fun and special time kept any disagreement and difficulty at bay.

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Wai-Ching’s wedding dresses are the stuff of legend here on offbeatbride.com — but what about Chrissy’s OWN wedding, exactly a year ago today?

The offbeat bride: Chrissy Wai-Ching Fashion Designer/Fiber Artist

Her offbeat groom: Vasili Zolotov, Software Engineer

Location & date of wedding: The Gallery Inn, Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, 12/31/06.

What made our wedding offbeat: Our wedding was offbeat because I made and designed my own gown, the groom’s outfit, my mother’s dress, and my mother in law’s dress! We had the wedding in the courtyard of an art hotel.

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