Latest Posts

2000 dollar summer camp wedding

Our $2000 Summer Camp Wedding

We started the wedding planning process by declaring a strict and modest budget: $2,000 to be exact. We wanted our wedding to be about sincerity, authenticity, connection, and a celebration and proclamation of love and commitment. We didn’t want it to be about monogrammed napkins and excessive amounts of fondant. In all honesty, we didn’t want to let our wedding overshadow our relationship (and we needed to save money for the house we planned to buy four days after our wedding).

thank you card ideas on offbeat bride

Why you should start thinking about thank you cards BEFORE your wedding

You ladies know me: I’m really not one to talk that much about “shoulds” or “gottas” around weddings. But there’s one “should” that I feel the need to emphasize: You really should send thank you cards for all gifts received during the course of planning your wedding with-in two months of the wedding itself. First, a word about why…

Announcing the winner of the Gothic Charm School giveaway

Congratulations to Melissa (check your email!), who was randomly selected to win a signed copy of Gothic Charm School. For those of you who didn’t win, the book is available from Amazon and in bookstores today. Oh, and watch this.

mandringardenphoto lorez 1

Nothing will stop … THE WEDDING

My friend and neighbor, Seattle cartoonist Ellen Forney, recently designed these sci-fi fabulous wedding invitations for a local couple, Michaela and Ryan. See, when Ellen’s not busy cranking out comics for award-winning books, she does these badass custom wedding invitations. I’ve liked lots of Ellen’s invites in the past (and featured her before) but I’m […]