Offbeat Wedding Planning Resources & Tools Congratulations on your engagement! Here are ALL kinds of wedding planning resources & tools to help you plan an epic offbeat wedding. This is where you'll find your wedding binder, vendor resources, your wedding website, a great wedding checklist, city wedding guides, and so much more. Organize your wedding planning Ready to wade into wedding planning together? Photo by Ashley Rae Photography Our Offbeat Wedding Planning Tools: Printable checklist: to print and bring along anywhere Wedding planning binder: Google Drive spreadsheets to organize EVERYTHING Wedding Vendors: Find your offbeat-friendly wedding vendors from photographers to planners to dress makers and more Wedding websites: start a free (and gorgeous) wedding website Organization advice: Weddings 101: wedding planning basics 7 questions to ask before picking the wedding date 6 ways to help vendors understand your offbeat wedding Set up a Dropbox for wedding vendors How to plan your wedding, Project Manager-style Archive of wedding planning tips If you're in one of our top cities, we've got local help for you! Offbeat city pages Wedding planning city guides: the nitty-gritty of how to get married in your city. These are based on the top US cities where Offbeat Bride readers live… coming soon, our top international cities like London, Syndey, and Melbourne. Atlanta Chicago Dallas Houston Los Angeles New York City Philadelphia San Francisco Seattle Washington DC Sending invitations Letterpressed lovelies or emailed videos, how will you be letting everyone know the deets? Tools: 10 design apps to use for your DIY wedding invitations (including 5 COMPLETELY FREE ones!) Wedding invitation printing techniques primer Wedding invitation advice: When to send out your invitations and save-the-dates Common mistakes when addressing your wedding invitations Wedding invitation wording basics for the newly engaged How to avoid drama when not including people on your guest list We've partnered with Joy.com to make it easy for you to make cute wedding websites Wedding websites Offbeat Bride has partnered with Joy to bring you free wedding websites catered to the unique needs of nontraditional couples. Tools: Create a free wedding website Wedding website advice: 9 wedding website tips to inform, reassure, and give warm fuzzies to your guests What should you put on your wedsite's FAQ? 6 tips for an extra-useful wedding website How can I make sure my wedding website won't show up on Google? Offbeat-friendly vendors Some wedding vendors will look at you funny when you share your nontraditional plans, but the businesses in our wedding vendor directory LOVE alternative clients. (Some even offer special discounts just for Offbeat Bride readers!) Tools: Offbeat Bride's Vendor Guide Vendor advice: How to find your wedding reception venue Important questions to ask wedding venues Important questions to ask your potential wedding photographer Insider advice that jewelry stores may not want you to know Photo by Shardayyy Photography Your wedding budget Making and sticking to a wedding budget is key to staying sane and keeping your life in balance. We've got tips… Tools: Wedding budget calculator Wedding budget advice: Sample wedding budgets for all kinds of offbeat weddings Package deals, tax write-offs, and pants: Save money on your wedding Catering advice from a wedding caterer 10 realistic wedding budget tips to stop budget ballooning Archive of wedding budget tips When Darth Vader officiates your ceremony. Photo by Lavender Bouquet Photography Craft your ceremony From vows to readings to unity ceremonies and playlists, there's more to ceremonies than meets the eye. Ceremony advice: Wedding Ceremony 101: Crafting your own wedding ceremonies from scratch So you want to have a friend officiate Lots of ceremony scripts Tons of wedding readings Movie-themed instrumental songs Download your wedding timeline from @offbeatbride #weddingplanning #weddingtimeline Wedding day timeline From the crack of dawn to falling into bed at the end of the wedding day, it'll likely be jam-packed. Here's how to get it all organized… Tools: Wedding timeline spreadsheet Wedding timeline advice: How to make a "less worry/more party" wedding day timeline An insider's view of a wedding photography timeline Example day-of schedule for an early morning wedding Photo by Wolf Photography from this glorious queer wedding. Find your outfits Whether you'll be wearing a long white gown or a floral pantsuit, your wedding day outfit should totally be YOU. Tools: Wedding dress timeline Fashion advice: Browse our fave offbeat dress designers Everything you need to know about having your wedding dress custom-made The ultimate guide to plus-size wedding dress shopping 5 things you should know about tuxedo rental and fittings 11 wedding hair tips What to wear as a gender-bender How a trash bag helps you go pee all by yourself Decor & Flowers Decor can be totally optional with the right venue, but if you're handy, crafty, or chic, this is where you can shine. Decor and floral advice: Themed decor: Harry Potter-style 6 vital things you need to know when working with a wedding florist So many FREE printables for weddings Tons of decor DIY ideas Our decor archives Photo by Kandise Brown Playlists and reception Tools: Using Spotify as your wedding DJ The ultimate DIY wedding photobooth tutorial Easily edit your wedding songs Reception advice: 13 ways to make a reception more fun 10 delicious ways to make your wedding food fun First dance songs that haven't been done to death Dancing alternatives Archive of reception ideas Themes and real weddings Having a wedding theme is not at all required, but they can certainly be fun to incorporate as little or as much as you'd like. Themes and real weddings: Lots of offbeat wedding themes Thousands of REAL weddings for inspiration Tons of wedding inspo to sate your wedding appetite Archive of dresses Photo by Lex Fleming Photography from this Labyrith wedding shoot Ready for even deeper insights? There are loads more advice posts over on our wedding basics page, our full content archives, and of course, by searching the site! You can always submit your questions and ideas here if you need more advice. We're here to help! Thanks to Minted for helping us assemble this page — check out their cute wedding invitation designs