Photo courtesy of Facebook and the AP

• Backyard wedding (they totally just got married at their own house)
• Surprise wedding (guests thought they were showing up to celebrate Priscilla's graduation from medical school)
• Short engagement (they'd only been planning for four months or so)
• Custom non-diamond ring (a ruby, with a setting designed by Zuck himself)
• No cake (they served chocolate mice, a nod to their first date)

It's always an unexpected treat to see folks who could afford to get married on the moon opt for simple, down-home ceremonies. (But don't get me wrong: I love moon marriages!) For more details, head on over to Google News.

This business has paid a fee to be listed on Offbeat Bride because they feel their products and services are in-line with our philosophies and needs … and we agree. Here's more info about how advertising works on Offbeat Bride.

Mike Olbinski is also featured in our Offbeat Vendors guide!

Keep reading to see how Mike turns every shoot into an adventure, somehow managing to make even a sewer look glamorous.

Would you believe that the same photographer that takes dreamy images like this sun-drenched, butt-loving wedding photo, spends his free time STORM CHASING!? My favorite part about his website is the shockingly beautiful mixture of wedding and weather photography — fabric bolts and lighting!

This sense of adventure permeates Mike's work. Say you're the kind of couple that thinks, "Hey, let's jump in that ski lift in our wedding clothes and take photos!" Mike's the photographer that's going to go, "Hell yeah, I'm not even going to worry about the fact that I could fall while taking photos and balancing on a dangerous moving chair high up in the sky — let's do it." And then rock the adorableness you see pictured above.

Aside from his fearless attitude, my favorite thing about Mike is the unique film-like processing that he does. Somehow he can make wedding portraits taken in some kind of sewer look glamorous, and the grainy film look just adds to the "badass bride and her ladies" feel. And Mike sure loves him some badass brides:

I love Offbeat Brides because theirs is the kind of wedding I want to photograph. I like something different and unique that forces my photography juices to go on hyperdrive.

Got any crazy ideas to get Mike's creative photography juices going? An engagement shoot in an old airplane museum? Sky diving wedding announcements? A romantic wedding portrait session in the middle of a rain storm? Mike's based in Phoenix, Arizona, but he's available to travel anywhere. Get in touch with Mike Olbinksi and unleash your wedding adventure's photographic potential!

This post features offbeat affiliates, meaning that if you buy something featured, you'll be financially supporting this site's mission of bringing awesomeness to readers everywhere.

Some of you who've been around for a while might remember my "Your favorite shoe" posts. Here's how they work: when you buy shoes from one of my shoe posts, I can see what you buy. No, not you SPECIFICALLY, but y'all in general. I don't know who buys what, but by looking through my records, I can see which shoes y'all love the most.

And the shoes in this post? You all LOVE THEM. Without contest, the most popular style again (AGAIN!) for Offbeat Brides is TUK's Peacock Feather Heel, which many of you buy from ModCloth. But there are lots of others in here — some Vivienne Westwoods, Irregular Choices, and even a pair of ankle boots.

Random bonus shoe!

(You have to see the back to believe it.)

Photos by Little Fang Photography

The offbeat bride: Jen, professor of English

Her offbeat partner: Henry, restaurant owner

Date and location of wedding: Gershon Fox Room, Hartford, Connecticut — November 25, 2011

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: I wanted to go away and elope without a wedding because I don't like being the center of attention. His family is very traditional and he's basically only been to big over-the-top Assyrian weddings. When I agreed to have a wedding, I said I wanted a themed wedding. The compromise worked!

We loved and booked the one venue we went to see. We made pretty much all our decisions like that because we planned the wedding in under five months. The venue has a classic Old Hollywood feel, so the theme was an easy choice. We encouraged theme dress for the evening, had photographs taken in a vintage movie theater, and had feathers everywhere. The tables had movies instead of numbers, and the escort cards looked like vintage tickets. We did a popcorn table for favors. I wanted consistency with the theme without being too over-the-top.

We also had dance instructors to teach the fox trot and swing. The instructors did a demo at the end of dinner.

Henry's background is Assyrian so we brought in some of their traditions for the reception. His side danced and sang around us as we entered, and we had a money dance. A few times throughout the reception we played Persian music. Everyone, my side included, joined in for the dancing.

We also eliminated many wedding traditions that didn't speak to us, such as cake cutting, garter removal, bouquet toss, and line dancing. We just wanted to have fun without those distractions.

Tell us about the ceremony: I was nervous and uncomfortable during the ceremony, and as we planned it I knew I would be. We wanted it to be simple and short. The ceremony was at the beginning of the cocktail hour in the mezzanine. One of my high school friends married us so he suggested we do a few things to take the attention off of us and involve more our guests. We had a rose ceremony with our mothers. Part of what our officant said during the rose ceremony was "Jen and Henry wish to honor this blending of the families by presenting a rose to their mothers to thank their parents for the many selfless sacrifices they have made and for their unconditional love so freely given to their children."

Before our vows, we asked everyone to say some vows to us:

Jen and Henry, you do not enter into this marriage alone or without support. I have a special request of all those gathered here today. I call on everyone here to make a promise to support Jen and Henry as they enter into marriage, to supply them wise counsel and words of encouragement if called upon by this beautiful couple.

As I ask the following questions, if you can make the promise to the couple, please respond with the words "We will."

Will you, who are gathered together here tonight, support and aid in any way asked, to the best of your ability?

Will you guide them, the best way that you can, using your accumulated wisdom?

If called upon, will you supply them with words of encouragement and affirm your belief to them that they can overcome any and all obstacles that might come in their path?

Thank you all for your vows of commitment to this couple.

Our biggest challenge: The guest list caused the most fights. We wanted to keep it to 100, but then over 200 people got invited. We had a difficult time explaining to his parents that we wanted a small wedding and that we had a budget. Luckily, we didn't have too many guests, due to some out-of-state travel problems and because it was a holiday week.

My favorite moment: After all the "center of attention" requirements were over and I could relax, I looked around and realized that the people we loved the most and who loved us were all in one room to celebrate. I remember that feeling — there just aren't many moments in life like that.

My funniest moment: My husband got choked up saying his vows. It was sweet. His brother yelled out, "Just say it!" That made him laugh and he was able to continue.

My advice for Offbeat Brides: Make sure to spend time with your partner during the wedding. I lost Henry shortly after dinner and don't remember seeing him much for the rest of the evening until the photographers grabbed us for some night shots. Find each other and have fun together.

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? Sometimes it's worth doing something that isn't quite you to make those you love happy. My parents glowed the entire night. I always thought my mom was just being a stereotypical Italian mom who wanted a big wedding, and I didn't think my dad cared either way. But they were so happy all night. It was worth all the frustration that happened during the planning to see them like that.

A Month of Mixbooks:
As part of our partnership with Mixbook, this couple has been given a free wedding photo book to show off their wedding photos. We'll be featuring some of these Offbeat Bride Mixbooks in a few weeks!

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

• Dress: Nicole Miller
• Headpiece: Etsy seller MillieICARO
• Photographers: Little Fang Photography. They are a wife and husband who are an amazing team. They have a talent for reflecting each couple's wedding and personalities.
• Invitations, programs, stickers, escort cards: Etsy seller Theoriginalpear
• Popcorn: Mother Butters Popcorn. They were great about sending samples and were honest about portions. We ordered just a bit too much which was perfect because I wanted leftovers.
• DJ: Total Events
• Guest book: Etsy seller RedOtter

Enough talk — show me the wedding porn!

When we showcased some spiffy painted heels recently, we didn't know what else the wedding had in store for us. Then we saw it. And it blew our minds! We asked Emmi-Sabina Forsberg of 2 Brides to allow us to bring this wedding to you guys because, seriously, it is frothy pink awesomeness with cherry blossoms on top.

Tribe member Fichterleen shared these on the Tribe plus a little of why they will have two ceremonies. This one was a Stockholm city hall ceremony to make it legal, but the second will be a blessing ceremony with her bride's father presiding and an enchanted faery theme! We will want to see those photos too… don't forget!

I'm squee-ing at their squee-ing!

The previously featured shoes!

An early proposal mentioned getting married under cherry trees and they made it happen!

They DIYed their headbands too.

Tribesmaid erinmcq wanted to have an Awesome Wedding Piñata.

Sadly, the options at the party store did nothing for either of us, and the usual "Coat a balloon in papier-mache!" method didn't seem likely to render a suitably Awesome result.

So she hacked a few different online tutorials, and now she's sharing how she made the crayfish-tastic custom piñata over on Offbeat Home!

Source: youtube.com via Crystal on Pinterest

So if you do want this look, you have a couple of options: attempt to emulate it (with a pro or by yourself), modify it to your taste, or ask for the tutorial from the Queen herself on Youtube. In the meantime, you know we love us some costume weddings, so I've pulled a few other tutorials that would also lend themselves to a modified masquerade, fairy wedding, or just a kick-ass bold bride.

Klaire de Lis offers up a shiny, colorful, magical look using plain old plastic kitchen mesh as a stencil:

In the vein of other male makeup gurus, we have Beat That Face showing us what he calls a "club look." But I could see it working perfectly in a goth or rock look, and even better as a fairly subtle mask. (Note: the tutorial starts around 1:40)

If you or your makeup artist are up for a real challenge, you could attempt this drawn-on black lace mask look from FablesinFashion:

I can't get enough of these mask tutorials and want someone to steal these looks for their wedding. Make it so.

Photos by Shaun McCoy

The offbeat bride: Teena, Teacher (and Tribe member)

Her offbeat partner: Eddie, Master Carpenter

Date and location of wedding: Camberley's Garden at Bicentennial Gardens and The Loft at Natty Greene's, Greensboro, NC — March 31, 2012

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: When we began planning, we knew four things: the bride would wear red, it would be an outside ceremony, we didn't have a lot of money to spend on it, and we didn't want our friends and family to have to do a lot.

I found the dress I wanted from a great Etsy seller. It was very simple, and something I can wear to the Renaissance Festival.

I wanted to get married in the round garden at Bicentennial Gardens as soon as I saw it! The reception venue was a little harder to find, but as soon as we saw The Loft at Natty Green's, we knew we'd found the perfect location. It was so beautiful inside that there wasn't really a need for much decoration. They also do their own catering. The price was right for both venues, so we had already accomplished all of our goals. The size of both venues limited how many people we could invite, so that helped with the cost.

We didn't have bridesmaids or groomsmen, just our "friends of honor," who each had a special role in the ceremony. Our stuffed dragon, Dragon O'Shamus (because it's a "dragon" shame you're not here!), was our ring bearer, carried by one of our friends of honor. There was no color scheme or required dress for our friends of honor. Several of our friends started talking about wearing Renaissance Faire garb, and it kind of spiraled from there to a Renaissance theme. Eddie had wanted to wear a suit, but when all the guys decided to wear their kilts, he gave in and purchased a fancy jacket to go with his kilt. Although the ladies did not try to coordinate with each other in any way, all the bright colors together looked stunning.

There was no dancing, no garter or bouquet toss, and no speeches at the reception. There was a photo booth, complete with a huge moon backdrop and props. We also had Love Libs, Mad Libs in the form of a letter to the bride and groom, for the guest book.

We made a lot ourselves, with the help of friends: the save-the-dates, the invitations (scrolls in bags), the handfasting cords, the moon programs, my headpiece, my earrings, the Love Libs guest book, and a little bitty kilt for Dragon. Friends also made little roses for holding bird seed and the wedding favors, which were little top hats in red and black. The cake and groom's pie were made by a friend, as were the toppers on each.

Tell us about the ceremony: We have a very close-knit group of friends, and we wanted to include as many of them as possible in the ceremony. Eddie's sister officiated the ceremony. My son was my escort. We also had the "Dragon Keeper" and "Guardian of the Circle." We had four friends invoke the elements.

Here is an excerpt:

OFFICIANT: Since ancient times, people have communed with nature to learn more about themselves by example. Since it is within nature that we all do abide, we ask for Teena and Edward the blessings of nature's elements: air, fire, water, and earth. We do this so they may fully come to understand the lessons each element has to offer. The attributes of which are examples of those aspects they mirror not only within divinity but within ourselves as well.

EAST/AIR: Blessed be this union with the gifts of the east and the element of air — for openness and breath, communication of the heart, and purity of the mind and body. From the east you receive the gift of a new beginning with the rising of each sun, and the understanding that each day is a new opportunity for growth.

SOUTH/FIRE: Blessed be this union with the gifts of the south and the element of fire — for energy, passion, creativity, and the warmth of a loving home. From the fire within you generate light, which you will share with one another in even the darkest of times.

WEST/WATER: Blessed be this union with the gifts of the west, the element of water — for your capacity to feel emotion. In marriage you offer absolute trust to one another, and vow to keep your hearts open in sorrow as well as joy.

NORTH/EARTH: Blessed be this union with the gifts of the north, the element of earth — which provides sustenance, fertility, and security. The earth will feed and enrich you, and help you to build a stable home to which you may always return.

SUN: Blessed be this union with the gifts of the sun, which shine upon you with prosperity, success, and protection. From the sun comes satisfaction and happiness in friendship, love, and marriage.

MOON: Blessed be this union with the gifts of the moon, who watches over us all, even when unseen. Ever changing, ever constant she gives the gift of mystery and compassion that you may never tire of one another, though your love last an eternity.

Everyone was in a circle surrounding us. We also had a rosemary bush, a symbol of remembrance for those not present, which has now been planted in our yard. We shared cake (lemon bars) and ale (Eddie's own cider brew) during the ceremony, to symbolize feeding the soul of marriage.

The final product!

My favorite part by far was collecting my bouquet. We asked each guest to bring a flower of their choosing to the ceremony. The first addition to the bouquet was a small bird that my brother (who couldn't attend the wedding) had made me and sent with my dad. When I entered with my son as my escort, we walked around the circle collecting the flowers. I was able to speak to each guest as I added their flower to my bouquet. I loved that personal interaction, knowing that each person was contributing to my bouquet. Tip: get some stretchy bouquet wrap to hold them all together if you're going to try this.

My funniest moment: The funniest part of the whole day was watching people in the photo booth area. I wasn't sure if everyone would participate, especially my family. When I walked in and saw my grandmother with a big top hat with bunny ears on, I knew it was a hit! My dad and stepmother, and mom and stepdad also got in on it. Of course, our friends got a little crazy with it, and even Dragon had a turn!

My advice for offbeat brides: Join the Offbeat Bride Tribe. Their support, encouragement, and endless ideas were essential in planning this wedding. Most of my ideas and the wording for the ceremony came from either the Offbeat Bride Blog or from the Tribe. Those ladies (and men) have the best ideas!

Have you been married before and if so, what did you do differently? I was much more intentional in my planning. I didn't have the resources to make my first wedding what I really wanted, so it was just kind of thrown together. Being much older and wiser now, I was able to make this wedding exactly what was most important to us, without spending a lot of money.

A Month of Mixbooks:
As part of our partnership with Mixbook, this couple has been given a free wedding photo book to show off their wedding photos. We'll be featuring some of these Offbeat Bride Mixbooks in a few weeks!

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? Accept help when it's offered. I don't plan parties well, I always forget something, and I procrastinate. I'm not good at asking for help, unless I get in a real pinch. Friends would ask if there was anything they could do to help, and I'd tell them that I didn't know of anything. I finally accepted that I didn't have to do it all on my own. The truth is that if they hadn't asked, I would have just done it all myself, though, not because I didn't want or appreciate their help, but because I was afraid to ask.

Surprise birdseed bomb!

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

• Wedding dress: Etsy seller Desree10
• Groom's kilt jacket: Buy a Kilt
• Ceremony venue: Bicentennial Gardens
• Reception venue/caterer: The Loft at Natty Green's
• Photographer: Shaun McCoy
• Bride's Gloves: Etsy seller ZenandCoffee
• Escort's Kilt: SportKilt

Enough talk — show me the wedding porn!

Photobooth photo by Tom Couture

I am confused.

I am confused by the attitude that surrounds weddings and costs and ideas and things. Maybe that's what makes me offbeat — I have this habit of loving everyone and being insanely optimisic even when it's probably not warranted. I give second chances. I love and trust until given reason not to. Every new person I meet, and can carry at least a five minute conversation, I say is my new best friend. I write a daily blog about something happy that happened to me that day.

My problem lies in all the intense bitchiness that lives in the wedding world. "My wedding is better than yours because of such-and-such" and all of the things that go into such a feeling.

I was reading a blog where a woman commented that she had a courtroom wedding and blames opulent weddings for the high divorce rate.

Then there are the haters on both sides of the world. My wedding (and marriage) are better than yours because I chose to have a BBQ instead of a five course sit down meal. [At Offbeat Bride, we call this "one-lowsmanship" -Eds] My wedding (and marriage) are better than yours because I paid for three party rooms and the ghost of Louis Armstrong to sing our first song.

Can we all just chill the fuck out and be nice to each other for like… five and a half seconds?

If I was rich, I can't say that I wouldn't spend $50,000 on a wedding. I'd like to say I wouldn't, but ideas change when disposable income does. My beautiful made of honor will be in our less-than-$10,000 celebration and was recently the maid of honor at a $50,000 celebration. They did the whole spiel: Catholic mass ceremony in a church with friends, family, family friends, parent's business friends, people they've never known, country club, five course sit-down meal, uplighting, etc., etc. And you know what?

That wedding? … Absolutely beautiful.

The couple has been together for nearly ten years, and they earned every second of that celebration. Just because they did things differently than me doesn't make them any better or worse. It's just different.

We're all awesome, beautiful, wonderful brides planning celebrations. We're not all that different — we're just throwing different parties.

The wedding industrial complex that tells us we need to lose weight, invite people we hate, and buybuybuybuybuy is slightly evil, yes. But it's not all evil, and the women who don't read Offbeat Bride are brides too. We all are. We're all awesome, beautiful, wonderful brides planning celebrations. There are bad apples in every bunch but mostly, we're not all that different — we're just throwing different parties.

So I guess my issue is that everyone on every spectrum needs to realize that we can all get along. I promise. We really can. I love your wedding. Whoever you are. I love it. Whether it had all the bells and whistles or was private vows at the top of a mountain. Whether it had a DJ or an iPod. Whether it cost $200 or $200,000. It's one of most beautiful days in the history of ever. We don't need to be subtracting from other people's celebrations to help make ourselves feel better. We can appreciate everything even if it's nothing we would ever do in a million years.

The girl with the big poofy dress, the fancy dinner, the expensive wine, the 14 bridesmaids? That's not me. But you know what? Her wedding is going to kick just as much ass as mine will because that's her celebration. If you can stand in that ceremony and say that the person across from you is the person that you're supposed to be across from on your wedding day — then nothing else matters.

Related posts:

• Your wedding is not a contest
• Win the Judgey Olympics: transform your petty wedding snarks into personal growth
• What polyamorists can teach brides about getting over petty wedding jealousies

Since we're getting married on a patio on a cliff over the ocean, we thought it might be a bad idea to have our guests chuck grains at us and thereby feed dried rice to all kinds of birds, fish, and otherwise. I considered flower petals, seeds, confetti, etc., but either it's gonna induce a sneeze fest or be a bitch to clean up. Then I saw ribbon wands! Wow! What a wonderful idea!

It took about 3.5 hours to make 50 ribbon wands, which wasn't so bad. Here's how you can make them yourself…

What you will need:

• Ribbon! I used two 4 ft sections per wand that I cut ahead of time and separated by color.
• Wood dowels. I got 12" long, 3/8" diameter ones.
• Eye screws
• A thumb tack or push pin
• A hammer
• A glue gun
• A candle

Get started by turning a wood dowel on end and push the thumb tack into the center as far as you can. If you can get it almost all the way in, then you're good. Pull the tack out. If not, tap the tack into the dowel almost all the way in.

Then, pull the tack out. You should end up with a hole like this.

You make that starter hole to avoid splitting like in this picture.

Once you have the hole, take an eye screw and screw it into the hole. It gets kinda rough after a while so you may want to wear work gloves.

After that is in place get two 4 ft sections of ribbon in the colors of your choosing. The ends are probably frayed and that is where the candle comes in.

Hold the ribbon over the flame just long enough to melt the frays and seal the end of the ribbon.

Pull both ribbons up until the eye is in the middle of the ribbons.

At this point you're going to tie them into a loose knot.

Make sure your glue gun is hot and add a spot where the ribbon and the eye meet.

Then pull the ribbons tight (Carefully though! Hot glue is hot) and you're done!!

You can add so many things to make these even more fabulous like bells and flowers, but we are just fine with these as they are.