My review of Offbeat Bride (the book!) PLUS win a free copy of Offbeat Bride!

You are probably already familiar with the awesomeness that is offbeatbride.com, but before there was the ever growing web collective of unique ideas, there was Ariel’s* book Offbeat Bride. Offbeat Bride has recently been re-released and I was more than happy to curl up on the couch with a cat or three and read it and share my thoughts on it. Plus, I get the awesome pleasure of giving away two copies of the book (more info on that at the bottom of the post!).

*Ariel Meadow Stallings, but we keep things casual around here!

If I were to try and sum up the overall feeling I got from Offbeat Bride, it would be that it reads like a candid, yet helpful, conversation with one of your best friends. It’s honest about both the good and bad parts of planning a wedding, and it’s filled with humor and reality. Let’s face it; the best moments at weddings are often the ones that are humorously realistic.

The book is divided up into small chapters handling a large range of wedding topics from getting engaged, princess pampering, registries and the name change debate. Ariel shares her experience in each subject, and also shares experiences from independent couples from all walks of life. The book doesn’t force a certain type of ‘offbeat’ on the reader, and encourages everybody to really do what they love.

Although the book is called Offbeat Bride, I think that most offbeat grooms would enjoy it as well. The book focuses a lot on equality; both between the bride and groom, and same sex unions. There are quite a few comments on breaking gender stereotypes, and even a few on how it’s okay if you happen to fall into some of those stereotypes. Even when espousing a very strong point of view, Ariel remains non-judgmental and doesn’t make you feel bad if you don’t think the way she thinks.

Offbeat Bride is not a how-to book, or a selection of checklists. Those sorts of things are easily found in other more traditional wedding books, or wedding websites strewn across the internet. Most of all, Offbeat Bride is encouragement for those who want their weddings to be a visualization of who they actually are, and not what the industry says they should be. You don’t have to belong to some subculture to be an Offbeat Bride (or groom!); you just have to have the desire to be yourself and march to the beat of your own drum.

Offbeat Bride is a fun (and fairly quick!) read, and definitely worth the recession friendly price. Plus, hey, you need to get away from the computer once and a while anyway, right?

I know you’re now dying to get your hands on a copy of Offbeat Bride (if you don’t own it already, of course!) and I can help you out with that. Two lucky blog readers (USA or Canada only, please) will win a copy of the new edition of Offbeat Bride. How awesome is that? Very awesome, indeed.

To win, all you have to do is enter your information in the form below. Next Wednesday I will pick two winners and contact you for your address to receive your very own copy of Offbeat Bride.

Bonus! You can get an extra entry for the contest by becoming a fan over at my facebook fanpage. Be sure to leave me a comment on this post to let me know you became a fan.

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