Category Archive

Philosophizing

How do you feel about your wedding? What does it all mean? How does wedding planning a metaphor for the rest of your life?

playing bridal pretend alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

High-femme-queen or a little bit rustic? Sometimes I feel like a kid “playing Bride”

My fiancée and I were talking the other day about our wedding, and it kind of feels like we are playing pretend. Ok, y’all, we actually are grown-ass people. We are both 34 years old. I will be 35 in not-that-long. We have both been married before. We know what we’re getting ourselves into. But I still feel like a kid playing Bride.

alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

In honor of “plain and boring weddings”

On our Facebook page, I recently asked readers what they wanted to see more of from Offbeat Bride. One reader chimed in immediately with this feedback: “I’d like to see more ‘plain and boring’ wedding pictures. I see lots of amazing decor and themes, but what about folks who consider getting married as the most important part of the wedding?”

not like things.png alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

Tacky weddings: How to not like things, and not be a dick about it

Way back in 2011, I wrote about the shock some folks can experience when their wedding goes viral. The sad truth is that this a perennial topic, because, well, the internet loves to snark about weddings. Even if your wedding doesn’t go the full Buzzfeed viral, there’s always the chance that members of, say, a board focused on wedding etiquette might be mortified, and link to it, and the comments might get flooded with negativity.

This happened a few weeks ago…

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Obvious and outdated: is my work here done?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…

photo by wild about you photography seen on offbeat bride alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

How escaping Scientology weirdly relates to wedding planning

Whenever people are like BOO MAINSTREAM WEDDINGS BOO WIC I HATE THE WEDDING INDUSTRY RAH RAH RAH, I’m always like “I get your frustration there, guys — but stop fighting so much against what you don’t want, and start proactively working to determine what you DO want. Construction is always more difficult than demolition!” Here’s why creation is more interesting to me that reacting.

thick thighs cross stitch on offbeat bride alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

Body-positive bridal: What if I look stunning and I accept myself for who I really am?

You know how sometimes there’s nothing in the fridge, or in the closet, or on the radio? That’s how I felt like my own clothes weren’t fitting. The zipper zipped and the button buttoned, but the person in the mirror looked ill-fit, wrongly-dressed, confused, and fraudulent.