Category Archive

family

Screen Shot 2015 01 02 at 2.26.21 PM alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

How to accept help from the not-so-helpful without pulling your hair out

There are a million reasons why someone offering to help out at your wedding will actually cause more hindrance than help. Distance, time, ability… whatever. These people are offering their help because they care about you and want your day to be as awesome as possible. So what’s the best way to accommodate these helpers without pulling your hair out?

not inviting family to wedding crop alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

The drama-minimizing guide to not inviting family members to your wedding

Ug. This is a post no one wants to write, but that definitely needs to be written. Unfortunately, for a whole bunch of legitimate reasons ranging from addiction to abuse, crime to communication problems, some of you are going to face the challenge of not inviting certain family members (or ANY family members) to your wedding.

4221383106 bec035c8a2 o alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

Did you buy your parents a gift if they didn’t help contribute to the wedding?

For those who financed their weddings themselves (AKA no parental financial help, or help from anyone other than you and your beloved), how did you go about gift-getting for your parents? Did you even give gifts to your parents? If so, was it something sentimental, bought, or otherwise?

7578033208 e8dfc55b68 alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

Join two families with flowers

Both of our mothers carried a different wild flower to combine in one vase to symbolize the joining of two families. Later in the ceremony, instead of a unity candle, we each added a white daisy to the bouquet.

discarding wedding traditions on offbeat bride alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

Discarding wedding traditions and getting married on our own terms

With every questionable-twist of the lip, my matrimony-related-decision-making process, comes slightly un-done and I’m left asking myself; if the decisions I’m making about our wedding, which will ultimately be the bunting-draped rocket that launches us into married life, are the right ones for us? I’m talking about the decisions that dictate how much, and what kind of tradition we’ll be incorporating into our marriage. This I know, is the female fiasco that plagues every slightly-inclined-to-call-herself-feminist-thinking bride to ever question the merits of “something blue.”

famphoto alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

Put your bossy auntie in charge and other tips for making family photos the easiest part of the wedding day

As a wedding photographer, one of the biggest questions/concerns my couples have is about family photos. How do you do them and keep everyone happy? When is the best time of day? How long do they take? And so on. Given all of the potentially complex and likely murky make-up of families, couples, photographers, and planners could spend HOURS strategizing family photo time… or they could follow these three simple guidelines…