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!

Carly Romeo, co-founder of Catalyst Wed Co. recently planned Feminist Photo Vaycay, which is a blend of relaxation and creative exploration. Over the course of three days, fifteen photographers descended on the desert (well, a house in Palm Springs) and talked shop, took photos of each other, and had access to four professionally-styled shoots with themes that spanned the genres of boudoir, editorial, weddings, and couples' portraiture. But more than giving photographers a chance to shoot genres that they don't usually work within, the shoots were intentionally diverse -- featuring multicultural models and same-sex couples — and representative of the diversity of clients they all seek to serve. The results were spectacular: they pushed themselves creatively, they shot in pools and on top of mountains, and they practiced and shared technical skills. Oh, and the photos turned out awesome.

Below, find a 70s-inspired glam honeymoon shoot by two photographers, Jessica Schilling and Shawnee Custalow of A Lovely Photo. The stylist, Holiday Celebrate, explains her inspiration below.

COLORS: Metallic, red, blue, aqua

FOCUS: Glam/Jagger-inspired Couple on Honeymoon

LOCATION: Downtown Palm Springs

The Story: We start off in the Moorten Botanical garden where they have an elegant elopement. They are wearing chic/glam-style formal wear (aka 70s inspired colorful suits/patterns with ascots/scarves, etc). They walk around Palm Springs together and visit more colorful Palm Springs sites with their suitcases. They check into a hotel room for their honeymoon, and we watch them unpack, change into glam swimwear, put records on, drink champagne, maybe put on some glitter and celebrate! We were inspired by 70s glam fashion icons like Mick Jagger and David Bowie and one of our favorite films that depicts queer male love, Velvet Goldmine.

PHOTOGRAPHER: JESSICA SCHILLING

PHOTOGRAPHER: SHAWNEE CUSTALOW OF A LOVELY PHOTO

THE CREATIVE TEAM

Styling: Holiday Celebrate & Bridal Marché

Hair and Makeup: #slinginpretty

Florals: Amanda Burnette

Models: @oliver_dg and @archerismyname

Photo by Jasmine Fitzwilliam of Let's Frolic Together

JESSICA SCHILLING

is a film photographer who specializes in outdoor elopements, intimate weddings, and family portrait sessions that highlight personal connections in California's beautiful natural scenery. She is also a documentary editor and internationally-published toy camera enthusiast. Jessica loves traveling all over the world, and lives in Los Angeles with her husband, cat, and box turtle.

SHAWNEE CUSTALOW

Shawnee is a queer feminist photographer and the creative eyes behind the lens of A Lovely Photo. She likes to genuinely get to know her couples and has been known to bust a move on the dance floor with them on more than one occasion. She strives to capture those in-between fleeting moments of the day that tend to reveal more about a celebration and couple than a stiffly posed portrait ever could.