Our 15 Favorite Weddings and Elopements of 2018
/It’s that time of the year! Here are our favorite real wedding moments from 2018!
Read MoreCatalyst 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!
It’s that time of the year! Here are our favorite real wedding moments from 2018!
Read MoreDana and TJ’s ceremony was simply perfect. We laughed and cried during the perfectly decorated ceremony on the lawn of the Brakefield at Riverwalk. After the ceremony, Dana surprised TJ with a custom leather moto jacket that said Alpha Wife For Life as a tribute to TJ’s fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha. How chic did she look with the jacket and gown on?!
Read MoreFor this styled shoot, I wanted to emulate one of my favorite directors and a source of inspiration. Wes Anderson is known for his use of color, symmetry, iconic locations, and quirky characters. This styled shoot was loosely inspired by his film, The Darjeeling Limited, and was done to showcase local vendors in a simplicity that felt unique and would help others in their inspiration for their weddings or elopements.
Read MoreJessica Hunt is based in Columbia, South Carolina and loves to travel to nearby cities like Asheville, Charlotte, Atlanta, and beyond for passionate couples who share her ideals and want to invest in their wedding photography.
Read MoreEnglish and Sam decided to bring along their two dogs during their session for photos of all of them together as a family. If you know me, you know that I am always happy when my clients bring along their fur babies. English and Samantha's pups, Kerwin and Zoe, wore a matching bandanna and bowtie set, and rocked out their photos with the couple
Read MoreI’ll say it until I’m blue in the face — if you make one investment in yourself in your lifetime, make it boudoir. Don’t wait until you lose that last 20lbs, or until you get rid of the cellulite on your ass. Don’t do it for your partner. Don’t do it for valentines. Do it for you.
Read MoreI loved being able to document the little looks between these two and learn about their engagement story. When Cass first told me about the way Brent proposed I was ecstatic to hear something as romantic as the story she shared! She told me about how Brent invited her to travel to Paris with him, how they spent a few days in the city as girlfriend and boyfriend, and how he surprised her one morning with the question of a lifetime. Doesn’t that sound dreamy and oh-so-romantic?! Brent and Cass left the country as a couple dating and returned ready to promise each other their forever.
Read MoreWe at Catalyst want to celebrate bodies of all types, and for folks that are queer, trans, and genderfluid or non-binary, these bride-centric ideas of femininity that have come with bridal boudoir simply don’t apply. That doesn’t mean we want to banish boudoir. Quite the contrary, in fact. We want to see it reclaimed.
Read MoreWe have loved Latoya Dixon for a long, long time. She has been a huge supporter of Catalyst, our keynote speaker at the last {un}convention, and is the leader of The Queen Photographers, who sponsor our Photo of the Week series. But Latoya is more than just a major part of our community, she is also a vendor who knows how to connect with her clients on a very personal level, resulting in some truly amazing photos. That's why we are so thrilled to have her join our vendor directory!
Read MoreSouth Carolina wedding photographer Jessica Hunt sees it as her responsibility to advocate for diverse representation by photographing awesome couples and publishing their images on popular wedding blogs. In 2017 she published 75 times.
Read MoreWe met in college. We were actually both dating other people when we became friends. We talked all the time and could not wait to be around each other. The relationship eventually became something more and we broke it off with our other partners. We both knew from the very beginning that there was something special between us and despite some drama in the beginning (ending our other relationships and Michele's family not being supportive), we made it and have never been happier.
Read MoreThe mission of Jessica Hunt Photography is to provide high-end wedding photography services to every JHP couple and to create imagery that represents each client's unique love story in a personal and artistic way. Beyond the mission of ensuring every JHP couple walks away from their wedding photography 100% satisfied, the mission of JHP is to create positive imagery of those less represented in the current wedding industry and cause societal change by normalizing the love stories of those underrepresented.
Read MoreI was sort of a loner, so for someone to really peak my interest AND make laugh was a win-win. We ended up dating and going to prom together, and the rest is history. Sort of your typical high school sweetheart love story, with a bad girl twist!
Read MoreWe 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.
Read MoreIt was a brisk November day in Columbia, South Carolina, perfected by a little chill in the air and the burst of fall colors throughout the gardens. Donte and Ti Auni invited only their closest family and friends to their wedding, and I just LOVED how small and intimate it was. This wedding day was not about anything but the celebration of the couple’s love. Ti Auni’s son served as Donte’s best man, and after the ceremony the entire family came together for hugs, kisses, and portraits.
Read More"I proposed to Cameron at Magic Kingdom via caricature. Plans were for me to propose to him on our cruise we took via karaoke, but they only had karaoke the first night of the cruise, and we were at dinner during that time, so I missed my opportunity. When we arrived at Magic Kingdom after our cruise, I had his ring in my backpack and no clue how I was getting it on his finger!! After lunch we noticed a caricature artist, and Cameron was excited, as we had been wanting to do one! There were no appointments for a while so we walked away, but then I came back and booked the appointment and told them what I was planning: she was to draw me on one knee proposing. When the time arrived I was beyond nervous and fidgety; a crowd was gathering and Cameron asked the artist if crowds were common. She played along and said, 'Oh yes, it happens all the time!' When she was finished and turned the picture around, I was on one knee and asking the big question, while Cameron was confused as to his positioning in the picture...a few (what seemed like minutes) seconds later, he realized what was going on, and with tears in his eyes he said YES!!!"
Read MoreTaylor and I planned to surprise Lexa about half way 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!
Read More"Brandon proposed on March 15, 2016. It was a Tuesday at 5:30 pm to be exact! (laughs) He got my best friend to lure me to the Sheraton rooftop in downtown Columbia. Right before I walked to the bar, he popped out of the stairwell, got everyone's attention, got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him!!!"
Read MoreWe sat down with South Carolina Photographer Latoya Dixon Smith to talk about how she balances working full-time as an engineer, running a growing photography business, leading a group for Black women in photography, and being a parent.
Read MoreThese ladies are a beautiful couple madly in love. They were just friends for years, both dating other people. When they both found themselves single, a love blossomed. Both are simply divine people...and both are hilarious. The shoot was a blast. Cammie is a coach and is back in school. Marie is an area food safety and nutrition agent. They live together in a cute lil' house in Greenville, South Carolina.
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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!
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