Category Archive

commitment ceremony

While we love weddings, we strongly believe that commitment isn’t always about a legal or religious contract. Commitment ceremonies can range from expressing your commitment before legal marriage, doing a vow renewal after you’re already married, having a polyamorous handfasting to celebrate your ethnically nonmonogamous commitment, or any other sort of non-legally binding ceremony… we’re here to celebrate all of them!

Vermont fall microwedding Photos by Jacquelyn Potter46 alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

Funny and honest wedding vows by two writers

Get inspired by these funny yet honest and vulnerable vows from these writers’ commitment ceremony.

Queer burlesque handfasting Heather Schofner Photography37 e1643171900948 alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

A queer burlesque hand fasting ceremony in the woods

We’d love to stumble upon this queer burlesque hand fasting ceremony in the woods. See what this burlesque performer and cannabis medical consultant describe as a “queer, witchy hoe, burlesque” hand fasting with a non-possessive ceremony script.

Vermont fall microwedding Photos by Jacquelyn Potter44 alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

Vermont fall commitment ceremony micro-wedding by a waterfall

We had a super secret commitment ceremony before our legal wedding. We leaned into the “super secret” aspect, so our theme was “super secret spies”. Instead of invitations we sent dossier packages with code names for our guests and GPS coordinates for the location of our ceremony.

We're having a family-friendly wedding AND a kink-friendly second wedding

We’re planning two weddings: family-friendly AND kink-friendly

One of things my fiancé and I most cherish about our relationship is that we lead the kind of double-life worthy of one of the superhero comic books he loves so much. Normally, we are responsible, hard-working citizens who live and parent together in a small, quiet town. But after a quick change in a phone booth (aka, when my ex has the kids and we travel), we become adventurers well-versed in kink and non-monogamy who love to find weird bars, get tattoos, and go out dancing until the wee hours of the morning.

So it stands to reason that we have to plan not one but two weddings…

Exchange shoes instead of rings alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

Exchange shoes instead of rings

“Best commitment-ceremony-that-wasn’t-really-a-ceremony ever!”: A commitment ceremony where this one couple exchanged shoes instead of rings.

Our big gay pagan rainbow woodland festival wedding

Wrestle power from the government with this blessing for your nonlegal wedding

I was browsing through Molly and Laurie’s wedding photos and came across an officiant’s blessing that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. The couple said their vows in Washington before the state had legalized gay marriage, and their celebrant closed the ceremony with this statement: