1.5k
  March 21, 2018

I didn't bother to hire offbeat vendors and now I regret it

As time as gone by, my priorities have changed (I loved the post on how it's totally fine to have a cookie cutter wedding) and I am having a fairly traditional wedding in about two months. For this reason (and also budget limitations), I ignored the wise advise on this site to seek out vendors whose wedding style fits my vision. But what I am finding as I get deeper into planning the wedding, is that I weirdly am worried about living up to my photographers (and others) expectations and I worry about not being a "hot" enough bride with a "pretty" enough wedding. How do I keep the wedding day focused on what my fiance and I want, even though some of the people around us have different expectations?

1.5k
  October 4, 2017

How to keep wedding planning anxiety from stonewalling your excitement

I have been a daughter, an employee, a friend, but the wife role terrified me. My preconceptions of what the wife role entailed crowded my thoughts. I am a huge romantic, and people dream of meeting the love of their life and living happily ever after. But what if it's not the way you envisioned it? Here are the things that helped me most through my engagement to soothe my wedding planning anxiety and realize this WAS meant to be and where I was supposed to be in my life…

2.6k
  16 Comments July 19, 2017

Are we "desperate" or just ready? The guilt of wanting to get married

Lately I've been feeling guilty. Then I've been feeling guilty about feeling guilty because I should know that I don't need to feel guilty. I've been feeling this way because I happen to be a woman who wants to get married someday. This in itself isn't a new development, but now I actively WANT it. Now "quirky engagement rings" keeps finding itself in my Pinterest search history and Offbeat Bride is gradually making its way up my most visited sites. It's literally proposal guilt.

3.4k
  June 21, 2017

No dieting, no makeup, no shame: My anti-diet, equal opportunity, feminist wedding

I'm getting married this July, and like a lot of women, I'm getting increasingly excited and somewhat nervous about this. As someone who is all about equality, feminism, self-acceptance, and patriarchy smashing, there are a couple of things that my impending feminist, anti-diet wedding will not be about. For the sake of any other bride or groom or person who needs a reminder that you're going to do just fine, here it is…