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!

We met at church; his mom was my Girl Scout troop leader. He was always trolling and dropping in on our Girl Scout meetings. We were like kindergarteners. I'm pretty sure he picked on me because he was so in love, lol. We became really close friends and remained that way through college.

He popped the question while we were on a surprise anniversary trip to Lake Tahoe. I had no clue! When we started dating Mike always loved to write poems for me. There was a poem that he wrote for me when we first started dating that he hadn't finished, and he named it "untitled." So after dinner we went back to the hotel, and he asked if I could record him reading a new poem. Come to find out it was the unfinished poem he had written, except this time it had an ending... he asked if I'd be his wife! He retitled it "Lucky Number 7" in honor of it being our 7th and final dating anniversary. Not only that, he proposed at the same time he'd asked me to be his girlfriend 7 years ago. I still have no clue how he pulled all that off.

Words by Ashlee. Photos by Lavish Moments Photography.

Wedding at 701 Whaley in Columbia South Carolina by Lavish Moments Photography

Vendors

Photographer: Lavish Moments Photography
Floral Designer: American Floral
Makeup Artist: Beats By Tae
Dress Store: New York Bride & Groom
Hair Stylist: Pure Glam Virgin Hair
Event Planner: Rich Occasions
Equipment Rentals: Something Borrowed Event Rentals
Reception Venue: 701 Whaley

LAVISH MOMENTS PHOTOGRAPHY

Meet Kristen Gordon of Lavish Moments Photography: I am a natural light photographer specializing in weddings and lifestyle photography based in Columbia, SC. I enjoy lots of coffee, red wine, and binge-watching my favorite shows on Netflix. I love all things pretty & romantic, and my passion is to capture the genuine moments of you and your loved ones that will last for a lifetime! I want to tell your love story through my lens.