It took a camping trip to gain the perspective that saved our wedding
I hear it said that “everyone has pre-wedding jitters” — what ifs and cold feet. But I had a full-on panic. Like, “I woke up crying and told my fiancé that I wanted to cancel the wedding” kind of panic. I came home that same day to a living room full of camping supplies. My fiance said that he had to get me out of here. Too tired to fight it, I allowed myself to be scooped into a car packed with blankets and hot dogs, and driven two hours out into the wilderness. It saved our wedding.
Monogrammed wedding napkins as couple re-branding
Largely because I grew up in the south, I feel almost as much like it’s as expected of me to have monogrammed, or personalized napkins as it is for me to change my names. I’m doing neither. Besides, what’s the deal with monogrammed stuff and newlywed folks, anyway? Then I realized… it’s all re-branding!
Doctor Who bridal showers are cool
Bridal showers can be awful and awkward. We’ve talked about all the ways to avoid the awfulness. Bridal showers can also be wibbly wobbly and timey wimey if you steal this Doctor Who bridal shower idea from reader Charlieheart.
A sticky WIC-ket: Offbeat Bride is part of the Wedding Industrial Complex
There’s a lot of talk in the alt-wedding world about the “wedding industrial complex,” that runaway freight train of wedding industry grossness that’s always pressuring you to do things a certain way because supposedly that’s how things are done.
Lots of us hate the Wedding Industrial Complex, which some people abbreviate as “The WIC.” I feel y’all on the loathing of an industry that can be insidious and damaging. I think it’s also important, however, to reiterate something I’ve written about several times before: Offbeat Bride is absolutely part of the wedding industry.
Alternative and gender-neutral wedding party names: adventure party, bridesmates, henchmen, and TONS more!
With the rising popularity of gender-blind wedding parties, and weddings without bridal parties, we need terms beyond “bridesmaids” and “groomsmen” to refer to the people who are helping you with all your wedding duties. Here are a few of the creative alternative names for bridal parties that our readers and Tribesmaids have come up with
Ditch the wedding propaganda: tv shows, magazines, and (gasp!) even Pinterest
I have sworn off all wedding-related things. Or, at least, things not related directly to my wedding. This includes TV shows, magazines, The Knot, and any other website that makes me have unrealistic expectations of my nuptials. This “wedding propaganda,” as I have so lovingly been calling it, has only overwhelmed me, smothered my own voice inside my head, and made me feel inadequate in the planning and execution of my own wedding. This is unacceptable.