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!

Get to know Maggie Gaudaen, founder of Pop! Wed Co.

1. What is the mission of your company?

We exist to plan awesome tiny weddings that don't break the bank. Our weddings have all the fun parts of a traditional wedding day minus the 12498 traditions that you "have to" (read: don't have to!) follow, saving everyone money and mental sanity.

2. What is your company's origin story?

Pop! Wed Co. was created because as a designer, I know how to plan weddings that will look awesome, and my partner Steven was just perfect for a wedding officiant — we realized that we could plan a whole tiny wedding for our couples, relieving all of their stress, and letting them simply show up and have an amazing wedding.

3. What is one of your favorite projects you've ever worked on?

We've had some insanely cool weddings during our ~18 months of existence. One of our couples was married on Pi Day (March 14th, 2015) at an awesome local pizza place, & pizza — and we celebrated with lots of pizza! Another of our couples was married at a local brewery, DC Brau. Every time we partner with a beloved local landmark it's so much fun, because DC's small businesses are pretty much the best ever.

We're also working on a super fun secret project... which we will be able to reveal pretty soon!

4. How are you a "wedding space disrupter"?

The wedding industry is bloated, overcharges, and gets away with it because weddings are a once-in-a-lifetime event. The pressure is enormous! We're relieving that pressure. We're taking away the stress. Our couples are relaxed, ecstatic, and full of pure happiness on their wedding days. Plus, they can keep most of their savings, since tiny weddings fit into almost every budget.

5. What three ingredients are necessary for a great day at your company?

Weddings, cake, and grins!

6. What kind of couple makes an ideal client for your company?

Couples who are a good fit for Pop! Wed Co. are excited about having an adventurous wedding — our weddings don't have booked venues, and they're very small, plus we do a lot of things spontaneously on wedding days, which makes for an authentic and really exciting experience!