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!

Mikhail and Whitney had been together for precisely seven and a half years when they married on August 29, 2015. Having already done the moving in together seven years earlier and the getting a dog five years earlier, they wanted their wedding to be a celebration of the friends and family who loved them. With no enthusiasm for wedding planning between them, Mikhail and Whitney turned to a wedding planner to make their vision of a homey, camp-like retreat in the woods a reality.

After a two-and-a-half year engagement, Mikhail and Whitney were happy to walk down the aisle together outdoors in spite of a cloudy and cold summer day. The ceremony was a moving celebration of the couple's commitment to each other, but the game-filled reception really kept the night light and fun. Mikhail and Whitney capped off the night by dressing down and losing gracefully in a three-legged race for the bouquet.

Photos by Ashley Forrette, Words by Whitney

ASHLEY FORRETTE

Ashley Forrette is a photographer based in Portland, Oregon. Sure, she loves long walks on the beach, cupcakes, rainbows, and unicorns just like every photographer, but she's also proud of the images she creates and is honored to chase the light and magic of your story.