OffbeatBride.Com: For Those Who Love "Wedding Porn"

Don't let the subtitle mislead you. Offbeat Bride, maintained by author Ariel Meadow Stallings, is the perfect site for those who cringe at the word "traditional." The site is part-blog, part-advice column, and part-bookstore.

Being that my fiancée and I have unusual tastes in a number of things, not the least of which are music and food, Offbeat Bride seemed a "pot of gold" at the end of a long "rainbow" of traditional wedding sites and magazines. We've realized that we have a challenging journey ahead of us, and wanted to share this great site with you.

If you've never heard the term "wedding porn," fear not; it doesn't refer to videos of bridesmaids getting it on with their guests and caterers (though that's what you might find if you Google the term, even on Moderate Safesearch.) In this case, it's a page of simply awesome alternative wedding photos and stories, written by the married couples, of "What made [their] wedding offbeat."

Examples, you ask? How about "Anli & Laura's Lesbian Gamer Geek Wedding," held at The Old Stone House in New South Wales, Australia? Besides merely being a same-sex marriage, Anli (a data analyst) and Laura (a public servant) based their wedding around the themes of: 1. The anime series Revolutionary Girl Utena, and 2. The XBOX 360/Windows/Playstation 3 action/puzzle game Portal. The two women say they "incorporated lots of geeky details, from the table names (Revolution, Sierra, Katara, and GlaDOS) to the choice of music." Surely this wedding was memorable not only for the couple, but for the guests as well.

Besides the above, Offbeat Bride features a series of reader questions, sent in by random web surfers such as yourself. For example, "Kerith," back in January of 2008, asked, "Any suggestions for how to dress up a bride with eyeglasses? I wear wire rimmed glasses that are a subtle cat-eye shape (can't be too crazy since I work in a hospital) and I wear contacts because of a medical condition." Stallings responds with some hilarious (not to mention helpful) hints such as, "My frames are a part of my face!" or "My frames are part of my wedding outfit!" In others words, she asks you to consider whether you think of your regular glasses as part of your overall image, of if you would be willing to upgrade to coordinated frames tailored specifically to the wedding itself.

One of Stallings' more recent blog entries is entitled "Foot Fetish: Vegan wedding heels for daring-but-cruelty-free brides." "Foot Fetish," for the uninitiated, is a regularly scheduled edition of Offbeat Bride wherein Stallings "inflict[s] [her] unquestionably loud taste in special occasion footwear upon my willing offbeat victims!"

While the title may again imply sexuality, it's more of a play-on-words in this case. In her most recent entry, she discusses the abovementioned "vegan wedding heels," which are essentially made with non-animal products such as rubber or satin.

On today, November 2, artist Donelle Rippon, owner of the fantastic site 8 Bit Onion, contributed a blog entry entitled "How to make your own 8-bit wedding accessories." One of the main materials she recommends, surprisingly, are Shrinky Dinks®, the shrinkable plastics first manufactured in 1973 by K & B Innovations, Inc. Rippon then gives step-by-step instructions on how to make 8-bit boutonnieres and hair clips, corsages, "diamond" necklaces, and cake toppers. Honestly, the results are something straight out of the original Super Mario Bros!

So if you visit the site, and you happen to love the blog, or the "wedding porn," or anything else, be sure to stop by "The Offbeat Bride store," in which you can purchase books, t-shirts, and other accessories. Lest you think that this is merely a shameless plug, visit Amazon.com and peruse the pages of Offbeat Bride: Taffeta-Free Alternatives for Independent Brides, Stallings' personal advice on piecing together your innovative knot-tying ceremony. Judging by many of the customers' rave reviews, it's a worthwhile read.

Besides her own book, Stallings recommends a number of favorites by other authors, including Eco-Chic Weddings: Simple Tips to Plan an Earth-Friendly, Socially Responsible, Affordable Green Wedding by Emily Elizabeth Anderson (that's a mouthful); Financially Ever After: The Couples' Guide to Managing Money by Jeff D. Opdyke; and The Conscious Bride: Women Unveil Their True Feelings About Getting Hitched by professional bridal counselor Sheryl Paul. Beside the book links, several Offbeat Bride readers give a short blurb as to why they recommend each piece of literature.

And, as mentioned above, there are several fun t-shirts for sale on the site as well, which feature the slogan "Altar your thinking" in a wedding-invitation font above the site name. If Offbeat Bride has, in fact, helped with your wedding planning in any way, you may want to return the favor and advertise using your wardrobe.

So, think you're an Offbeat Bride (or Offbeat Groom, for that matter)? Visit this page, and see what it has to offer. You just might concoct a wedding that your guests will talk about for years to come.