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!

Some people in life find their person when they are young, while others find theirs when they’ve already grown for a while. This couple is one that met and fell in love young. Taylor and Lexa started dating in their early teens, and they have stayed together and grown together. They’ve also grown more in love every single day, and after years of dating, Taylor contacted me to help plan a surprise proposal for Lexa. We planned to meet at a location where they could be close to the river here in Columbia, South Carolina, and it just happens that the Gervais Street Bridge made the perfect back drop for their couple's session.

Taylor and I planned to surprise Lexa about halfway through their session so we could have time to photograph them together after Taylor popped the question. Our plan was this: Taylor would put the ring in my camera bag when Lexa was not looking at the beginning of our session, and we would shoot their first outfit as if nothing was out of the ordinary — just a casual couples session, or so Lexa thought! I told Taylor I would get Lexa alone in front of my camera down by the river, give Taylor the signal, and let her walk up behind Lexa and pop the question! Thankfully, everything went off without a hitch!

Words and photos by Jessica Hunt Photography

Columbia South Carolina Same Sex Surprise Wedding Proposal by Jessica Hunt Photography

JESSICA HUNT PHOTOGRAPHY

I’m a big dreamer and a lover of all things coffee, purple, and photography-related. Oh, and I’m a Columbia SC wedding photographer serving wedding photography collections in South Carolina and world wide. I’ve been shooting weddings professionally for 7 years, and this job is my DREAM job.

Ever since I got my first little point and shoot camera at the age of 16, I've been in love with capturing moments we can never get back.

Now, I shoot 20-25 South Carolina and destination weddings annually, and let me just tell you, I feel like I’m living the DREAM. And, really, I AM living my dream. Working as a professional artist and wedding photographer has been my dream since I was 17, and I’m still humbled to this day that THIS, incredible job, is what I do.

My little family consists of one pup and two cats; I get along better with my furry friends than humans some days! I love to read novels and am always game for good movie. Oh, and also ALWAYS down for a craft beer from the tap!