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After working on offbeatwed.com for almost two years now (and Offbeat Bride the book for another year before that!) I've started to see some definite trends in offbeat bride styles.
I mean yes: we're all doing our own thang, but there are definitely elements that seem to pop up repeatedly in offbeat weddings.
To celebrate this, I decided that this Halloween I would dress up as, well, YOU! I wanted to see how many offbeat bride trends I could pack into one outfit.
No one in Seattle will get this costume at all — “goth drag queen?” “weird mary poppins?” — but I don't care. I did it for y'all because I love your style.
SO, how many offbeat trends can you see in these shots? We'll start easy: Red wedding dress? Check. Actually a prom dress? Check. Purchased off eBay? Check!
Jessica & Joseph's steampunk/neo-Victorian gamer love celebration wedding
You may remember Jes's two fabulous dresses from the Monday Montage a few weeks back. This thoughtful, geeky, steampunk wedding won't disappoint. -Becca
Oh, but there's SO much more…
Tiny top hat? (Also from eBay!) Birdcage veil?
That MAC lipstick everyone keeps raving about on the OBT? Check.
Rockabilly-style tattooed chest-piece? (Granted, fake.) But check!
Peacock feathers? Check.
Hipster mustache? Check!
Fleuvogs and skull detailing? Check!
Headless groom/groveling bride? Check.
Headless bride/groveling groom? Check.
Coordinated wedding dog? Check.
(That's my Li'l D, Sassafras!)
Christy's classic “Just a minute, hon!” book shot? Check.
And of course then there are the cupcakes. Offbeat brides looooove cupcakes, but perhaps none as much as me! (I recommend sliding the slideshow speed to 1 second/photo for maximum CUPCAKE HORROR!)
And last but not least, Kambriel jacket for the full goth feel? CHECK!
Very special thanks to my dear friend Ben Haley who so graciously took the time to play bridal portraiture with me to get all these ridiculous photos.
SO! Offbeat Brides … any trends I missed? Maybe I'll do this every year, and we'll see what offbeat trends show up for Halloween 2009…
You rock. This made my day!
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh i want that dog, that cupcake and that hat. and that lipstick. and whatever that awesome building is you’re jumping in front of…
yeah, i’ll take that too.
Ooh! Ooh! Where’d you get the hat/veil combo? Or did you make it?
I covet thee, oh tiny tiny hat of cuteness!!!
Ariel, you look so seriously, drop-dead gorgeous!!
Awww, you’re so cute! For full OBT goodness, I would say you should cut your hair short and dye it crazier colors, but I wouldn’t want to change your lovely hair just for a costume.
What a fantastic dress! Love the colour (and all the detail you’ve included – especially the fabulous book shot)
Oh man! I was all excited about my husband and I going as Maverick and Goose… I even had my fake moustache ready, but now I wanna go as an OBB! Next year… next year….
um…. you look better in your halloween costume than most people on their ACTUAL wedding day.
freakin awesome.
This shows how much you care about all OBBs *sniff*
you crack me up! this is great! i believe you have personified all of us OBB quite nicely!
Ha! Awesome, the mustache shot and the cupcakes -love it, Happy Halloween Ariel.
well-written and well-observed. clever.
don’t forget the husband in medieval/star wars/pirate costume as well…
Best Halloween Costume Ever!
This just made my very early morning. Too funny.
Oh, but you forgot polka dots. I think thats one of the new big ones (and not just because of the polka dot dress hanging in my closet 🙂
Fantastic! I don’t think you missed a thing!
O M G Ariel you f**king (edited because I’m at work!)rock!!! Not only are you gorgeous (like always), but it all goes together which is really freaking funny!! Awesome costume girl!
So I definitely covet your outfit. you rock. 🙂 way to represent the OBB’s!
VERY awesome! Totally made my morning!
HA!! What a great idea!
(and some of us in Seattle will get it if we were to see you out and about)
For the person who asked, I believe the little top hat with veil is from Torrid. They tried to sell me a red one yesterday.
radness!
oh you look like you had SO much fun doing this. you ROCK!! 🙂
Also, I’m getting married tomorrow… and have been a visitor to your site since I got engaged. Thank you so much for all of the inspiration!
too TOO awesome!!
Thanks so much for the giggle, Ariel. I’ve just been watching news clips on BBC of what’s happening in Congo, and was sitting here crying. Thanks for the comic relief. 🙂
Ariel – you bring a special light to my day, even after my wedding. Thanks for being silly and embracing all that we as OBBs have to offer!
You smite me with your unrelenting adorability. xoxo
oh! this is beyond delightful! it looks like you had a lot of fun and you are rocking the offbreat bride costume!
if only i knew about the tiny top hat, wee pup and mustaches… then i would have had an upbeat offbeat wedding!
This soo rocks! Great Job, I think you hit them all!!
dyed crinoline perhaps? but otherwise, that was awesome, now I want to go destroy a cupcake, darn this no carb diet!
Hilarious!
That’s awesome!
oh my god, this is hilariously awesome.
and your dress is hawt!
awesome hot and soooo fun! whee!
Damn, Ariel! You look FANTASTIC! This is SO much better than the usual IT’S HALLOWEEN I WANT TO DRESS LIKE A NAUGHTY NURSE/SECRETARY/COP/MAID/BLAH BLAH BLAH!
Ariel, this is fantastic, and utterly perfect! You look great, and the coordinated wedding dog looks very proud!
Happy Hallowe’en!
lol that’s too cool! Happy Halloween!
@~>~~
First, you look awesome! Second Happy Halloween! And third, I’ll second Rahel with the fantasy/medieval/star wars LARP outfit!
Your dog is adorable!
Hahaha! You are so cute/awesome!
that’s so fabulous! you are gorgeous and i have dog/hat/lipstick/hair/cupcake envy!
I keep giggling at “Hipster Moustache.” You rock! I love this site so so so much.
I also can’t stop laughing at the cupcake shots. Ha!
Hilarious cupcake slide show!!
i am honored to be sister to such a perfectly perfect offbeat bride! and aunt to offbeat dog, of course!
the ‘just a minute, hon’ shot is my favorite. props to dre for representing hellgate!
HA, GILLIAN!
To explain my sister-in-law’s comment: “Hellgate High” is the name of my husband’s high school Alma Mata. NO JOKE!
*GASP* You’re stealing my wedding!!!! and my pictures!!!! LMAO that’s an awesome Halloween costume.
great dress! love the eyemakeup and sas looks hot.
Wow, you totally nailed it! You might consider making that chest piece permanent. GREAT photos too!
With our wedding only two weeks behind us, I was considering going as a dead version of us as bride and groom, but figured it’d be bad luck or something. This is much more fun.
Thanks for all the inspiration!
Hey, you forgot unmatching bridesmaids!! Otherwise, dead on! Heehee.
yay yay yay!!! Inspired I say!
Oh lord, I’m feeling a bit admonished! Offbeat is not seeming so offbeat… Now to nix the peacock feathers, fluevogs and cupcakes from my plans!
Just kiddin’. This is flipping hilarious.
HA!! Girl – you crack me up!! I love it! You look uber hot too!! DAMN!!! HOT HOT HOT!
The new offbeat: a white dress with red roses and traditional poses. HA!
Amazing, and, I concur, Hot.
I think the dress being tea-length would have helped. 😉 Maybe next year.
I want to play offbeat bride bingo– I get birdcage, MAC lipstick, fluevogs, cupcakes, and freespace. Bingo!
OMG, you look great what a kewl outfit you actually have quite a bit of my elements in there. You forgot the cupcake stand full of jello shooters. Drop by some night, I would gladly make some for you 😛
Love your site, you rock
holy wow, you’re the awesome! seriously, this is a brilliant idea–go, you!
Oh, Ariel!! We love you!
You F*#king rule AMS! Gros bises~
Oh what I would do to have graduated from a place called “Hellgate”.
I wish I had an excuse to get all decked out in OBB trends…. putting thinking cap on…
Rodrigus, thanks for nailing it: this was really just an excuse to get to wear all the fun offbeat bride stuff that I didn’t get to rock for my OWN wedding. 🙂
yr so awesome dude. I think you got all of our elements perfect. Where are the handfasting chords though????
f*cking awesome! I love every bit of it. (I would have added a non floral bouquet of…….lollipops or some shit)
[…] delightful friend Ariel Meadow Stallings had me photograph her for the purpose of an Offbeat Bridge posting and general tomfoolery (some of you may remember my photographs of her book tour last year). The […]
[…] have two Halloween costumes, one where I match my book readers, and one where I match my dog: …they’re both pretty dang […]
HA! I’m dying! That is too great! But come on Seattle Girl, where’s your Wai-Ching?? 😉
That is very cool… I wish we had more Halloween over here. Oh well. The only thing I can think of is having a tea length dress… Like mine will be one year from today!!!
hey ariel you should do this EVERY year.
So earlier I looked at the page and just saw a bride in a red dress with a top hat and dog, not even realizing it was you! KUDOS, my friend.
I loved this. A lot. I like all the details that you put in from the skulls to the peacock feathers that reflect common, shared elements of the community.
Hee! I love it. 😀 Also, that’s where I’m having my wedding photos taken! I *love* the Deco-style doors of the museum.
Best fake wedding photo shoot ever.
I, too, am in love with Sassafras. What kind of dog is he?
I call her a “bosthuahua” — a boston terrier/chihuahua mix. 🙂 For the most part she got the best of each breed — including a chihuahua upper jaw and boston lower jaw which means a HILARIOUS underbite.
OMG!!! This is so freakin’ awesome!! And you look just gorgeous in those photos!
Ariel, you look gorgeous!
That might be the best post you’ve ever had! LOVE IT!!
Fun! If I had infinite fundage I would find excuses to purchase so many OBB wedding outfits and just wear them.
I especially love the icing on nose, as I am physically incapable of eating dessert without getting it on my face. It just tastes better that way. One of my bridesmaids says that she loves this about me because it reassures her that I have not been replaced by aliens.
Wow. For a bunch of offbeat brides we do seem to follow the herd, it seems. I have completely re-thought my “kambriel jacket/mini top hat with veil” idea. Thank you. BTW: Awesome cupcake slideshow. My parents did something very similar for their ’89 wedding, but with dairy-free cake and a bit messier.
I totally want to marry you.
Gulp, off to hide my red wedding Fluevogs! Shh… now I’m embarassed.
All you needed was the red or fuschia 40’s rockabilly updo and voila… the perfect composite OBB. Though, frankly, you’ve pretty much nailed it!
Ariel- you look so fabulous. Love that dress and the cupcake sequence was priceless. Keep on being your awesome self. I love this community.
-madilyne
Love the crazy-eye cupcake eating!
This was hilarious; awesome pictures!
This is hilarious! You are rockin’ Ariel!
I’m not doing any of these things at my wedding….I feel even more offbeat now!
You forgot everyone’s favorite craft store- Etsy! lolz this made my day.
You forgot the vintage swallow tattoo! Love it, Ariel. Especially the flicker cupcake feast!
Soooo pretty. I just love it.
this is triply hilarious… LOVE seeing the whole set sunshine!
😀
You Fucking Kill Me!
I heart you Ariel!
I especially heart the cupcake slideshow… MWAH!
Awesome:)
lookin’ good 🙂
Ariel, YOU ROCK!
This is too funny!! The fake chest tattoo kills me!
Youre a goober Ariel, and I love you.
You’re awesome – thanks – this is fabulous 🙂
I had to add the link to our Topgun costumes. Turns out the moustache was wicked after all!
😛 Yep, Ariel, you’re great.
Fantastic effort Ariel!!!
While reading this, I was thinking if my daughter took a good picture of me in my costume this year. I was a Dead Bride, simply because I was upset that day due to fighting with my so called groom to be, I actually cut up a wedding gown/costume for our halloween wedding and we were going to marry on November 1st 2008 but cancelled due to “can’t work out problems with the wedding” If yall intrested in seeing the “costume” I will upload it for you all. Happy Day to you All!!!
P.S…. you rock Ariel!!! beautiful pics!!
AMAZING!!! You look fantastic… how much fun!!
sooo much of that resembles my wedding 😛
very cute!
[…] be a little concerned by) the distinct Offbeat Bride trends. I mean, that’s why I was able to recognizably dress up as an Offbeat Bride for Halloween, […]
*snort* OMG, love it. Too fun!
Righteous. ;D
omg what makeup are you using??? it’s gorgeous!!!
f'ing fantastic cupcake photo slideshow. i nearly peed my pants.
f'ing fantastic cupcake photo slideshow. i nearly peed my pants.
did you do a halloween 2009 shoot?
I didn’t. I was massively pregnant and too exhausted.
LOL this is super funny but actually you look amazing! Just another reminder never to listen to the you’llll seeeeeee’s (aka after you have a baby you’ll never have a hot body again).
Check the date on the post — this was 2008. I’m not quiiiiite back to the pre-baby shape yet, but getting close!
I don’t care if this was two years ago, it’s still totally relevant! Love it <3 You rock this look 🙂
ariel can you please do this again???
but you need to add robots and paper flowers. and take your pictures by graffiti 🙂
I’m being a care bear for Halloween this year … but maybe I should think about doing this, too. 🙂
The slideshow of you devouring that cupcake feindishly cracked me up! Bwahaha!