Offbeat Bride

Among all the other nuttiness in California, Graham and I also had to plan wedding stuff. We actually found a very beautiful place, that we feel comfortable at, and what’s more is: WE HAVE A DATE! It feels REAL now. There’s a destination we can plan towards now. Hooray for August 5!

As everyone probably knows, deciding on and planning a wedding is a LOADED endeavor. There is a lot of SHIZZLE that comes with planning a wedding, what with the emotions and expectations and the opinions and societal ideologies. Once Graham and I actually started talking about it, I was surprised at the INTENSE FEELINGS we BOTH had about it. Also, I felt a little BLIND leading into thinking about a wedding, because a) we don’t have money and my parents aren’t paying for it, b) I just didn’t want to buy into the whole INDUSTRY of weddings that tell you that you HAVE TO have certain things, even though they don’t have any meaning to you and c) I wanted something that reflected US and not some picture.

Enter: Offbeat Bride by Ariel Meadow Stallings (thank you Marilyn!).

Have you ever looked at a wedding planning book or a bridezilla magazine? Maybe they make sense to you, but I had yet to find one that felt RELEVENT AT ALL to Graham and I. Most of them are pretty sexist, in that they assume the groom has NO PLACE in the planning or in wanting to plan. They also just assume that everyone wants the cookie-cutter wedding—which some people and do and that is totally cool, but what if you’re, well, OFFBEAT, and you have a slightly different vision or perhaps NO CLUE AT ALL, because the usual formula doesn’t fit, but you don’t know what does (that would be me).

THIS IS THE BOOK. I knew somehow this book was for me, because the author’s name was Ariel Meadow, and being a Summer Sparrow, I thought, just MAYBE we might have a similar sense of the world.

Yep.

Ariel is a very funny and gutsy writer. This book is part memoir, part wedding planning guide. Her own wedding story is great and I felt at last that I could somehow RELATE. Also, the suggestions in it are just filled with common sense and good ideas. I read her book and felt relieved and excited.

Two friends of mine are also getting married and I am buying it for them. I can’t recommend this book enough for people who are looking for a wedding of their own making.

Check out the Offbeat Bride Site!

Buy the Book!