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!

My inspiration behind this shoot started with a gorgeous lake about three hours away from my hometown. I had seen pictures online, and it looked surreal for someplace in the southeast.

I immediately thought of my two gorgeous friends, whose real-life love story started at a similar lake they visited a couple years ago. I worked closely with both models to find out more about their own style, to be sure to capture their beautiful personalities without pushing them into any standard of femme or masculine. I let them guide me in choosing their outfits.

The dressmaker I chose, Erin Foley, is an amazing artist who creates the most gorgeous pieces. Courtney loved the idea of something slightly feminine but not a dress. I gave my ideas of a jumpsuit with a skirt to Erin, and she ran with it.

The florist I partnered with is Kirsten Darnell of Cut at an Angle. Not only is she an awesome person, but her ideas and vision are always slightly outside of the norm. I freaking love everything that she does, and I knew she could take my vision and run with it. I gave her just a few parameters in which to work, and she killed it. The boutonniere she made is a design of her own that literally made me gasp.

The jewelry maker, Lindsey Parker, creates beautiful pieces that are eye catching and unique. With models who did not feel comfortable with anything "over the top", Lindsay gave us pieces that were simple and stunning.

Words and photos by Charity Parrish of The Elopement Co., as told to Amber Marlow.