Category Archive

marriage equality

ariel stallings book tour alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

Obvious and outdated: is my work here done?

Offbeat Bride’s first edition was released in 2006, with a second edition in January of 2010. A negative review came in a couple months ago that blew my mind in the best possible way…

talking to religious guests unsure if they want to attend our lesbian wedding alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

How we’re talking to religious guests unsure if they want to attend our lesbian wedding

Now, you and I both know that it’s the same as any other wedding (or as different as every other wedding, as the case may be). But within our community, it’s kind of a rare thing. I mean, this will be MY first two-bride wedding! We have specific people who have issues with our relationship for religious reasons and I wanted to offer a non-confrontational way to talk about that subject and maybe squeeze out a few “yeses” from those who are on the fence.

gay unicorn wedding cake topper on offbeat bride alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

Why we had a very, very gay wedding (not “just a wedding”)

One of the arguments we hear a lot is that weddings aren’t “gay” or “straight,” they’re just weddings. Of course, that’s true… but our wedding was also very, very gay, and that was one of our favorite things about it!

In the fight for marriage equality, there’s a risk that the thing that makes queer lives different will get lost in the shuffle. We wanted to celebrate the gayness of gay weddings and the importance of our broad family-of-choice to our lives. We ended up writing the following passage and printing it in our wedding program:

getting legalled on offbeat bride alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

Let’s talk about “getting legalled”

Ok, so we’ve long been fans of the concept of “getting weddinged,” the act of having a wedding after you’re already legally married. But one of our twitter followers @ayahthetiger recently asked us, what do you call it when (thanks to the shifting marriage equality laws), couples do the reverse? If you’ve already had the non-legal wedding ceremony, what do you call it when you head down to the courthouse to make it official?

The best thing we could come up with was GETTING LEGALLED.

austin wedding portraits alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

Cecil & Paul’s animals, vuvuzelas, and NERF war wedding

You’re probably looking at the title of this wedding and tilting your head a bit. But don’t worry, it all makes sense when you know the theme of this wedding is pure, unadulterated FUN! Animal-themed tables, food truck tacos, and rock-paper-scissors start off the good times, but the giant NERF gun war at the reception kept it all going strong into the night!

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Major milestones in marriage equality happened and we’re PSYCHED!

A few news-worthy things happened this morning, and two of them concern marriage, and are major milestones in the LGBT rights movement and marriage equality. Now, we don’t have aaaaall the details yet, but we do know that the Defense of Marriage Act was overturned which, among other things, allows same-sex partners to receive some federal benefits and opens the door to making more and more related changes in making marriage equality universal.