Category Archive

offbeat enough

Do you ever feel like you’re too traditional to be offbeat, but too offbeat to be traditional? Do you ever worry if you’re “offbeat enough”? Do you feel like you have whiplash, feeling ostracized because some of your choices are too weird for your family, but “too traditional” to be considered offbeat? We’re all unique, and we’re all wrestling with the friction between traditional pressures and the perceived pressures of wanting your wedding to be “unique.” You’re in great company. Read up…

we are millennials alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

Gen X vs Millennials: How Offbeat Brides of different ages are super different

In my work with Offbeat Bride, I’ve been around people planning their weddings for a decade. It’s to the point where I meet people (…adult people! People of very acceptable marrying age!) who are like “I’ve been reading you since middle school.” People have been reading this website since menarche, my friends!

As the years have marched on, I’ve started noticing this shift in weddings, that I think reflects a larger cultural and generational shift between my peers (which is sorta the tail end of Gen X) and my younger pals (aww, Millennials I love your beards and artisianal pickles). My undergrad degree is in sociology, so people-watching large groups is my favorite favorite in favorite town, and so pull up a chair and let’s muse on larger cultural trends, mmkay?

we won tshirt 1 alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

9 years of Offbeat Bride: we won (and why we’re done being special snowflakes)

January 1st, 2016 was Offbeat Bride’s ninth anniversary! That is a hell of a long time to be doing anything, and it’s especially a long time to be publishing a website. And yet here we are: nine years later! Still kicking! Still cheerleading! Still celebrating.

Things HAVE changed though, and we want to hear from you about it…

How Offbeat Bride helped me be more authentic alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

Thinking Bride: How Offbeat Bride helped me be more authentic

I actually found Offbeat Bride through a site (that shall remain nameless but not blameless) where the writer was mocking it. The tone of the mockery was, “Look at these weirdos who think they’re so special and different!” But here’s the thing: I WANTED my wedding to be special and different. Now, over a year later and as my wedding date quickly approaches, I shall literally count the ways in which Offbeat Bride has helped me. If it weren’t for Offbeat Bride, my wedding would have been a lot more…

i love you flag by snaptacular photos alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

“Not an effort to be unique, but an effort to be us”

The New York Times recently ran an article called Your Hand in Marriage, and Offbeat Bride got a nod for our DIY posts. That’s cool, but what really caught my eye was this quote from a bride named Lauren Ireland:
“I felt like there’s such a movement to homogeneous wedding styles with Pinterest and Etsy, which are wonderful tools but do seem to make things seem very similar,” she said.
Her wedding, she added, represented “not an effort to be unique, but an effort to be us.”

offbeat crimes alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

Offbeat sins: how to get pulled over by the Offbeat Police

I don’t want any of you looking back on your wedding and being like, “God, I don’t even like Game Of Thrones that much.” Offbeater-than-thou weddings just for offbeatness’ sake? That’s a misdemeanor right there, and we won’t arrest you, but we will escort you off of the property to head over to Offbeat Home & Life’s archives, where we can support you with awesome articles to build self-awareness and confidence. We believe in rehabilitative treatment here.

cookie cutter wedding alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

An ode to a cookie cutter wedding: why a “wedding factory” works for me

I can’t lie; part of me has struggled with the fact that I am not completely being a build-it-yourself “budget bride” like I had anticipated I would be. I’m letting myself splurge on a little luxury — the luxury of not having to fret about every little detail and allowing people who know what they’re doing take the reins. Even though there will be plenty of opportunities for personal creativity in the ceremony, garb, décor, and atmosphere… I still feel a little bit like a sell-out. Like I’m having a cookie cutter wedding.