It's Mike & Nickie from MadLove! Photo by Deborah Huber

They're all sorts of awesome and they really remind me of why working with offbeat vendors is one of my favorite parts of this website. Check out our fun Q&A!

First of all, tell us a little about yo' fine selves!

We are Mike and Nickie, a newly married duo of wedding photographers with an affinity for offbeat couples! We recently moved from Southern California to Seattle, Washington, and while most of our weddings take place all along the West Coast (we offer discounted travel rates for So Cal), we are willing to travel anywhere!

How has being an offbeat couple shaped your wedding photo business?

We went into this wedding photography business as an engaged offbeat couple ourselves — frustrated with wedding traditions and expectations, and outrageous quotes from vendors. Because of that, we knew that we wanted to offer unique, nontraditional, budget-friendly photography to the masses. That is why we are offering our wedding package for only $1400 (plus the OBB discount!). [Editor's note: keep reading for more info about the discount.]

It's also why we like to share all of our prices on our website and be as up front about everything as we can. We also take pride in our correspondence, and aim to respond to all e-mails within one or two days.

I am BEYOND sure that Offbeat Brides everywhere have just issues audible "thank yous" to their monitors.

So, what kind of weddings are your favorites to shoot?

In 2011 we advertised EXCLUSIVELY through Offbeat Bride and we LOVE the clients we've been able to work with because of that! We are up for shooting all kinds of weddings, and we LOVE LOVE LOVE weddings that are unique/weird/offbeat in any way! We especially adore couples who identify with the punk, vintage, indie, nerdy, goth and DIY communities, and of course we are super tolerant of all different beliefs, ideals, lifestyles, etc. We have a nontraditional style that tends to be very photojournalistic, but when it comes down to it, our main goal is that each couples' pictures turn out to be a beautiful reflection of the two of them and their unique love for each other.

Okay, back to you guys. Besides moving from LA to Seattle (to be closer to Ariel, I'm sure), what else is new in MadLove land?

We recently changed our packages by combining them into just ONE simple, easy package that includes EVERYTHING:

• two photographers (we do all jobs together and never hire outside photographers who you've never met before)
• up to 8 hours of coverage
• complete editing
• and a disc of your high-resolution images with printing rights.

We also offer a la carte services that include discounted prices for engagement shoots for couples who book a wedding with us, and a discounted hourly rate for hours after the first eight. Custom packages are also available for elopements and shorter weddings.

OFFBEAT DISCOUNT: In addition to all of that, we are still offering $100 off to all couples who mention that they found us through Offbeat Bride!

You guys are awesome. We love your attitude and your work ethic. Anything else you wanna add?

We are happy to set up meetings with potential clients either in person or over the phone, because we love to get to know our couples before we work with them. We encourage any interested couples in Los Angeles, Portland, or Seattle areas to contact us.

Y'all know the routine by now. I like loud shoes — even the ones I could never afford or ever walk in. If you're looking for understated this week, you're not really going to find much here — this link might be better for you if you're looking for classy.

Today's collection of VERY LOUD SHOES includes probably a few too many Betsey Johnson and Iron Fist options, including this pair of leopard print shoes with a built-in heart, and some platforms that I really should have included in my skull shoes post a few weeks ago…

We've met Erin's cowboy-shaped rain boots and crinoline (and Tadd's ankles!) a while back. Here's the rest of the story!

Photos by Jessica Watson Photography

The offbeat bride: Erin, Program Supervisor

Her offbeat partner: Tadd, Freelance Narrative Artist and Illustrator

Date and location of wedding: Beachfront vacation rental in Yachats, OR — August 22, 2011

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: Tadd and I were married on our eighth anniversary, and we had spent several years discussing what we wanted for our wedding. Outdoors? Check. Water involved somehow? Check. Small? Check. BBQ? Check. But most importantly, we wanted a wedding that encompassed us. And for those who know us, we're weird. We may seem outwardly normal, but we're just trying to fool you.

I wanted a traditional wedding dress, but I wanted to spruce it up with some color. First it just started with some funky custom-made jewelry and some rainboots shaped like cowboy boots. Then it expanded into some colored crinoline.

Tadd's an illustrator, so he created our monster movie-themed wedding invitations. He also created our cake toppers.

Speaking of cakes, we have both worked in bakeries/patisseries before and we knew exactly how much wedding cakes could run. So I made a tiered pavlova to save the money. The pavlova ended up being the start of a whole dessert table.

We also wanted personal wedding favors for everyone, and it turned into creating succulent terrariums for all of the families. And since our wedding had a monster theme going on, we had to include monster movie magnets, hand-picked by Tadd and me. We had a blast looking for the perfect movie posters! We arranged the flowers ourselves, and even my garter belt was handmade by one of the fabulous gals in my bridal party.

Tell us about the ceremony: We had decided almost as soon as we were engaged that we were NOT going to go with traditional wedding vows and we didn't want to write them ourselves. Instead we had our wedding party create our vows. The boys wrote mine and the girls wrote his. We ended up with vows that were perfect for the two of us. And somehow the vow writing turned into "Bedroom Rules of Engagement" writing, which we found in our bedroom that night.

Here were my vows to Tadd:

I promise to keep you honest and loyal, even if it means resorting to physical violence.

I promise to love and cherish you, even when your lips are chapped and disgusting, and you haven't cut your hair in six months.

I promise to forsake all others (except Squatch) and to keep you as my loyal companion forever, no matter what our lives may bring.

His vows to me:

My dearest forever love, on this day of our wedded bliss, I promise to always love, honor, and cherish your baking abilities. Oh… and you too.

I promise to walk myself every day along with the dogs and I will always clean up all of our foo-foos.

Ever since I was a little girl I have always dreamed of my perfect wedding. Thank you for making me the happiest man in the world.

Might I also add that he THREW AWAY the vows sometime during the reception without being aware of it. I don't recommend that being a tradition that anyone else upholds for their wedding. Thankfully my maid of honor and his best man have good memories and were able to recall the vows and send them to us.

Our biggest challenge: Our wedding was almost cancelled two days before it was supposed to go on. We had cleared having a wedding with the rental company more than a year before our actual wedding. But the owner of the house showed up the weekend of the wedding and was at the house when our chairs and tables were shipped. He informed the rental company that we were not allowed to have a wedding at the house and returned our tables and chairs. We got the message as we were headed there. The owner happened to still be at the house when my husband made it there ahead of me, and my husband politely, but sternly, gave the owner what-for and saved the day.

I cannot say enough good things about Oregon Coast Event Rentals. They are not open on weekends, but worked with us over the phone and offered to deliver our chairs and tables the next day, Saturday, due to the mix up. They rescued our special day with their generosity and time.

My grandfather had flown out for the wedding, but was unfortunately unable to make the actual ceremony due to ill health. Our absolutely wonderful photographer agreed to come with us to the rental house he was staying at so we could bring the wedding to him. His face, when we walked through the door, was priceless and I am so glad we were able to do it.

My funniest moment: That would be a toss up between the garter toss and the bouquet toss! The boys informed my husband that he wasn't allowed to use hands to get my garter off. Lets just say that boots make that situation MUCH more difficult. And the bouquet toss was amazing. Mainly because there was only one single adult female at the wedding, so it was my sister-in-law versus three girls ages five and under.

My advice for offbeat brides: DIY helps your budget (usually). Plus, they really personalize your wedding so much more. We weren't intending to have so much of our wedding be DIY, but we're so glad that we did, because it made our wedding reflect our personalities that much more.

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? I can't say I learned anything too new from my wedding after eight years of being with my husband, but I can definitely say it was a beautiful reminder of how much we love one another and how well our personalities mesh.

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

• Photographer: Jessica Watson Photography,
• Tables and chairs: Oregon Coast Event Rentals (Highly recommended!)
• Fascinator: Etsy seller 10eisha
• Crinoline: Etsy seller swankunderpinnings
• Jewelry: Etsy seller DazziDeb
• Bridesmaid Dresses: Etsy seller CoralieBeatrix
• Flowers: Swan Island Dahlias
• Catering: Busters BBQ

Enough talk — show me the wedding porn!

If you're unfamiliar with Advanced Style, it's a blog that celebrates, well, the style of ladies of a certain age. They recently featured Bravo's Chef Roble & Co catering the 60th wedding anniversary of one such fashionista, Lynn Dell, and her dashing groom, Sandy.

But the best part is the peek into their wedding photos from 60 years ago.

For the rest of the photos and the full story, check out the post on Advanced Style. OH! And check out this little vid featuring Lynn and her awesome wisdom such as "Fashion says 'me too,' style says 'only me.'"

Having a geeky wedding and looking for something to deck the bare walls of your venue? Try making your own simple, affordable Tetris lightboxes out of those candy boxes so easily found around Valentine's Day.

What you'll need:

• candy boxes with lids, any size/shape (post-holiday clearance sales are an excellent time to grab these)
• pencil
• ruler
• straight edge
• X-acto knife
• spray paint
• drop cloth
• crepe paper
• tape
• small battery-operated lights
• push-in mounts (like OOK prong hangers)

How you'll make it:

Try and arrange 'em to get the most points!

Okay, well, maybe not exactly, but these owl Save the Dates are the next best thing, wouldn't ya say?

For extra nods to Harry Potter you could always use the the Lumos font or Harry P font for your the Save the Date!

Keep reading to see how you can use this owl template to make your own Harry Potter-themed Save the Dates, or for your table numbers, or shrink it down and use them as seating cards, etc.

Casey explains how she pulled off this owl-tastic invite:

I got this owl from The Graphics Fairy. I love her stuff! She posts all sorts of Vintage Clip Art and Advertisements and such for craft purposes.

Simply download the fonts you want to use and save the owl or copy it into a photo editor. Then add whatever text you like in whatever font you like. I did all mine from scratch with Corel Paint Shop Pro X2.

Here's the blank owl template. Save it and get creating!

Photos by Geoff L Johnson

The offbeat bride: Amanda, Director House of Awesome (and Art Gallery Director)

Her offbeat partner: Mike, Superintendent of Facilities and Procurement, House of Awesome (and Traffic Signal Technician and musician)

Date and location of wedding: Dairy Farm, Savannah, Georgia — November 5, 2011

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: We held both our ceremony and reception at the old dairy farm our home is adjacent to. Though it is in Savannah, it feels like you are somewhere out in the country and it's our favorite place. The dairy is private property and we were happy to gain the property owner's permission to hold our celebration there.

Our priorities were to have a personal place and ceremony, delicious REAL food that suited the eating styles of all of our guests, a relaxed atmosphere, good music, and lots of color. And of course we wanted to be eternally wedded. We tried keeping our spending as low as possible and where possible, traded, repurposed, and worked with what we had. We tried to keep the money that we spent within our community.

Early on, we nixed the idea of a wedding party. I called on a group of my crafty lady-friends to be in my "Wedding Club." We met every couple of weeks to work on projects (like painting animal skulls, cutting table cloths, plucking mosses, etc.) As the wedding neared, the Club broke into smaller groups like "Team Awesome Tree Decor" and "Sign Mavens." Much fun was had.

Mike's mom and grandma made all of the chair back covers and table runners at their home in Las Vegas, then shipped them here to Savannah where a girlfriend and I screen-printed the octopus and oak tree motifs in her garage. Other friends stitched and stamped all of the napkins. I designed, assembled, and hand-addressed our invitations. Mike and I delivered local invitations on a fun motorcycle ride. My friend Renata made my fabulous fabric flower bouquet.

Mike is an electrician, so he, with the help of friends, made the the magical lighting under the reception tree happen.

As soon as I started thinking about wedding dresses, my mind lit on the trunk of vintage dresses that I had in storage. I'd been keeping them for some purpose, and the wedding day seemed right. I knew immediately that my friend Julie Anne, designer and seamstress extraordinaire, was the person to make me one special dress from all of those bits and pieces. My dress was made of the fabric of more than five dresses, an apron, a few other fabric scraps, and adorned with beads, French knots, and antique findings from the bottom of my mom's sewing box. I wish that I had been able to show it off a little more, but the evening turned a little chilly, requiring outerwear.

We served homemade food at our reception, and generally wanted the feel to be as if our guests were having dinner at our home. All of the meat we served was wild and from within a 50-mile radius. We hired a family acquaintance to barbecue a wild hog, and chef friends prepared venison lasagna, roasted fall vegetables and greens. With friends and family, I made appetizers and a salad. Instead of a cake, we asked a handful of talented guests to make and bring batches of cookies. Neither Mike nor I are really into cake, and I follow a gluten-free diet, so cookies provided a delicious variety.

Tell us about the ceremony: We held our ceremony out in the marsh adjacent to the Dairy. A little "tree tunnel" opens out to a sweeping coastal landscape anchored by a lovely dead and twisted oak. The space required little preparation. We raked the soil to create an aisle and positioned borrowed park benches and a simple podium to direct our guests. We had seating just for the limited number of guests who needed it and kept the ceremony short.

"Team Awesome Tree Decor" adorned the tree tunnel with flitty squares of fabric and dyed lace. My dad walked me down the path while my brother played and sang Bob Dylan's "When I Paint My Masterpiece."

Not finding an existing ceremony that suited us and what we wanted to say to each other, we combined several ceremonies and rewrote them to better fit us and our commitment. This included zombies and an Albert Einstein quote. Our officiant, Geoffrey, did a fabulous job on the delivery.

Our biggest challenge: Our biggest challenge was accomplishing all that we set out to do in the time that we gave ourselves to do it. We planned and produced the wedding, built a garage, re-landscaped our yard, and a few thousand other things in four months. We overcame this with the gracious help of our AWESOME friends and family. Without their talent, creativity, and hard work it would have been impossible.

My favorite moment: Mike holding my hands to keep me calm at the ceremony and feeling the presence of everyone there. The toasts that our parents and friends gave at the reception. It also meant a lot that no one let me know that I was running late or did anything to hurry my relaxed preparation. I turned off my phone/clock early in the afternoon and just went at my own pace. Mike told them whatever anyone did, not to rush me. When I found out, it felt like a gift.

My funniest moment: The reaction of our guests when our officiant, Geoffrey, presented us at the end of the ceremony as "Mr. and Mrs. Awesome… er… RealLastName." Everyone hooted and cheered and Mike waved to everyone as though he had just been elected to office.

Mike's dad's toast which included fun facts about Mike's early years and advice to me to "let (Mike) continue to play music because it keeps him busy, and never play the memory game with him for money or let him read the car owner's manual."

My advice for offbeat brides: Be realistic about what you can expect from yourself and from your friends and family. Everyone wants to do everything that they can, but you want everyone to still be ALIVE when the big day arrives. Leave a little room for the unexpected.

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? I learned that inviting imperfection as theme opens up incredible possibilities and takes a load off of everyone's shoulders. "Just right" was the way that everything turned out, not really a pre-conceived notion.

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

• Photography: Geoff L Johnson
• Dress: Julie Anne Daniels, Savannah
• Hat and veil: Tiffany Poucher
• Officiant: Geoffrey Albert
• Bride's custom rings: Jake Trout at Hell Bent Metal
• Groom's shirt: Esty seller TumbleandPopple
• Music: Acoustica

Enough talk — show me the wedding porn!

BLACK VELVET JACKET OMG. Source: jetterlife.tumblr.com

Those of you who read Offbeat Home have heard about my husband's scandalous love affair with Pinterest. He's been pinning like a fiend for the last six months, and he's got some stuff pinned that I thought might be of interest to Offbeat Grooms who are just starting down their process of "I think I don't want a tux, but then what DO I want?" Here, courtesy of my husband's Pinterest board, are a few ideas.

Offbeat Grooms, I KNOW YOU'RE READING. Come out of the shadows and share some style inspiration with us!

Elle and Spor live in San Francisco, and decided to get married far north in rural Mendocino county. A gorgeous winery called Pacific Star created an amazing space with a bluff overlooking the Pacific and a 1000-foot drop to the water. Jessamyn Harris photographed the day and shared these details with us.

Check out the gothic style rooted in punk rock and a backdrop made in seaside heaven.

The guests could see whales in the ocean during the ceremony.

Dark Garden in San Francisco created this amazing corseted dress.

The pair wrote their own vows in poetry form.

Personalized match boxes and chocolate bars.

For more of this seaside gothic wedding with whales and wine, check out the blog post over at Jessamyn Harris Photography.

We met this bride and her cutie pooch in a Monday Montage. Here's the rest of this outdoor UK wedding.

Photos by Anne-Marie Arpin

The offbeat bride: Lucy, photographer

Her offbeat partner: Dan, musician

Date and location of wedding: In the woods at The Sustainability Centre, East Meon, UK and then a little village hall for the reception — July 23, 2011

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: We had a woodland Buddhist ceremony at a sustainability centre in the countryside, and then went on to a pretty country village hall for the reception. 120 guests for a £2000 budget was our goal, but we enjoyed making everything so much that it didn't feel like we were losing out on anything. It felt like it was really personalised as a result.

Tell us about the ceremony: Dan and I wouldn't call ourselves Buddhists as we're still learning the faith, but as it plays such an important role in our lives, it felt right that one of our teachers, Yanai, from Gaia House delivered our ceremony. We wrote our vows to encompass the three refuges in Buddhism: the Buddha and his teachings, the Dharma (way of life), and the Sangha (your community of loved ones that support you in your Buddhist practise).

We had two very close friends, Ben and Toby, play acoustic guitar both before the ceremony while guests were being seated, and as I walked down the aisle. They played Romeo and Juliet by Dire Straits, my favourite song. It felt so beautiful to have them playing that song at that moment and for it to be played by them.

My dad walked me down the aisle and the ceremony was fairly short, with Yanai giving a spontaneous talk on love/metta, which felt really appropriate and unrehearsed (which it was!).

Our biggest challenge: Dan and I have been vegan for quite a few years, and although we have no problems with what other people choose to eat, we really didn't want to be buying and serving non-vegan food. This in itself wasn't much of a challenge as there are loads of great vegan caterers, but we had 120 people to feed and we were doing all the food ourselves.

We went through various ideas that would fit into out tiny budget (£350 for food and drinks), and decided on a buffet of falafel, dips, cheese-less pizza, and some very creative salads. Family and friends helped provide an amazing array of desserts including traditional Welsh Bara Brith and Welsh Cakes and what vintage wedding would be complete without strawberries and soya cream?! The stars of the day however, were Team Bridesmaid, who spent hours preparing the salads and being generally amazing.

My favorite moment: Almost every guest at the wedding helped out with a little something and this really made Dan and I feel so incredibly grateful to everyone. The bridesmaids obviously were superstars, but also the team of seven best men(!) orchestrated the whole day so everything went smoothly, from organising the group photos to announcing the first dance (outside).

Not only did my mum and sister help me sew 120 meters of bunting to decorate the hall, but they also surprised us with some extra special handmade bunting that they decorated the top table with which was really beautiful and must have taken forever. Dan's mum spent hours doing calligraphy on luggage labels for the ceremony seat names, and made some awesome Welsh food for the buffet.

We tried to repay the assistance by providing things to make the day as enjoyable as possible for them. For example, the hanging frame outside for them to take photos in, hay bales so they could escape for some fresh air, and a "Who's Who" board which had a baby photo of every guest.

My funniest moment: Aaliyah, our gorgeous little flower girl was very well rehearsed at walking down the aisle and sprinkling rose petals. But when her dad (Richie, best man no.5) decided it would be a good idea for her to hand Yanai the rings during the ceremony, she tripped, and they both rolled dangerously near a gap in the wooden floor. Thankfully not down it!

The doggy table numbers also made a lot of people laugh. I was determined to have my little puppy, Stevie Nicks, there somehow!

Was there anything you were sure was going to be a total disaster that unexpectedly turned out great? The whole day was meticulously planned, but honestly, it was so DIYed that we knew anything could happen. We were expecting something to go wrong, but amazingly it didn't. Or maybe the best men just kept it well hidden.

I also expected the top tier of the wedding cake (made by me) to be delicious, but it was practically inedible! Thank goodness we got someone else to bake the other two tiers!

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

• Wooden reception place names: Etsy seller PhoenixLaser. I absolutely adored these and the seller was so helpful!
• Vintage plates, vases, and tablecoths: Charity/thrift shops and car boot sales
• Dress: Biba from eBay
• Bride's cotton jacket and groom's suit: H&M
• Venue: Sustainability Centre
• Officiant: Yanai from Gaia House

Enough talk — show me the wedding porn!