Real Weddings, Advice, & Inspiration

Catalyst Wedding Company highlights weddings by and for game-changers. We seek to amplify and empower voices and viewpoints that are usually missing from the Wedding Industrial Complex. We're a community of badass wedding professionals who love all things funky, fresh, diverse, unique, and personality-driven; we convene twice yearly for (un)convention, a collaborative workshop, styled shoot, and dinner party. We're also the publishers of Catalyst Wedding Mag, a resource for couples looking for inspiration and affirmation that doing things differently in wedding-world is not only ok, it's wonderful!

When Dan and Cecilia sat down to plan their wedding, they had a very clear vision of what they did NOT want it to be. When they thought about what they wanted it to be like, they kept coming back to the epic Halloween parties they throw every year. They thought, Why not make our wedding celebration just like one of our amazing Halloween parties? So they did. They moved their ceremony to the day before the party, at the courthouse, with their close family and friends, and then focused the rest of their energy and resources into their epic party- which included lots of awesome halloween decorations like a Dia De Los Muertos paper mache thing to put greetings into, and a skeleton welcoming everyone out front. Some guests even brought them carved pumpkins!

Images courtesy of photographer Victoria Ruan

VICTORIA RUAN

Victoria Ruan has been photographing people and weddings since 2011 in Washington DC and beyond. Her documentary style approach is focused on people sharing connections and experiencing moments. Her favorite part of photographing weddings is getting to tell the story of two individuals coming together to celebrate love and commitment with their communities. Notable publications include: The New York Times, Elevation DC Media, Looking at Appalachia, and United with Love. You can follow her on Instagram @victoriaruan