January 16, 2017

A Family African Engagement: Val + Lawrencia

January 16, 2017/ Catalyst Wedding Co

Val proposed to Lawrencia on Valentine’s Day 2013. They were not considered officially engaged until July of 2015, when their families came together to pay and accept the dowries, and their ceremony traditions were performed. Val and Lawrencia met in April 2009 shortly after Val came to the U.S. Val’s sister had just given birth to her first child, and Lawrencia went with a friend to visit her. Val recalls exactly what Lawrencia wore that day and was immediately attracted to her, although he made no attempt to ask her out. Within moments of being introduced to each other, they had an in-depth conversation about their passions, goals, values and future endeavors, and they quickly discovered they had a lot in common.

January 13, 2017

Real Couples // An Unbreakable Love: Aileen + Tyrone + Maya

January 13, 2017/ Catalyst Wedding Co

Aileen and Tyrone are a beautiful couple with amazing chemistry! They met at a party for a mutual friend just before Christmas 2007, and they ended up talking until 2 a.m. After dating for a few months, they just knew. They enjoy wine adventures, summer movies, soccer, and getting into all kinds of shenanigans with their friends. They've been together though many job changes, getting a graduate degree, and the purchase of their first home. Their daughter, Maya Hope, is full of energy, hilarious, and delightfully assertive. Along with her joyous giggles and sweet cuddles, Maya has given Aileen and Tyrone new things to appreciate about one another.

January 11, 2017

Real Couples // A Black Renaissance-Inspired Wedding: Adrienne + Joshua

January 11, 2017/ Catalyst Wedding Co

I am a co-owner of The ARTisan Cafe, an artisan cooperative in Richmond, Virginia so with my involvement in the arts and culture scene I really wanted to find a fresh and new muse for our special day. The wedding was inspired by classic charm, rustic elegance, and Black Renaissance.

January 09, 2017

Brittani + Christine's Music Festival-Inspired Wedding in Maryland

January 09, 2017/ Catalyst Wedding Co

Brittani and Christine are the definition of opposites attract. Brittani is more on the carefree side while Christine was previously in the military, and the two met while she was at West Point. While this wedding was a long time coming as the couple had to work past many barriers to get to this point, the union is one of the most natural things I've ever seen. They have pushed on through judgement and stereotypes and also worked through separation when Christine was deployed.

January 06, 2017

Maternity Shoot Turned Wedding Proposal and Engagement: Kelly + Tom

January 06, 2017/ Catalyst Wedding Co

Kelly and Tom met during Lollapalooza weekend at exactly this spot in 2013, so this location was very important to him. On a perfectly crisp November afternoon, we met at Buckingham Fountain under the guise of maternity photos. I began their session just as I would any other. Focusing on that sweet bump, a few on her own, a few of them together. Until we made it around to "the spot".

January 04, 2017

Real Couples // Intimate Poe Museum Wedding: Ben + Christina

January 04, 2017/ Catalyst Wedding Co

Ben and Christina had moved from their hometown Richmond to San Francisco three years ago, but they wanted to celebrate the most intimate part of their wedding in their native city surrounded only by their closest family, and Teddy, of course. I am so happy they did; I just adore this couple and everything about this wedding day. It’s not the typical all-day wedding affair. It was simple, stress free, exactly how they wanted it, and oh so beautiful. A new favorite for sure!

January 02, 2017

Real Couples // Autumn Love Story: Elinor + Sommer

January 02, 2017/ Catalyst Wedding Co

I don't really think that either of us believed that we would find love. We were and are hopeless romantics who had just not found the right person yet. We met in the most whimsical of ways, on a dating app for lesbians. But the first time we actually met, there was no denying the love that we felt for each other.

December 30, 2016

Real Couples // Jewish Southern Gay Wedding in Brooklyn: Tohm + Darryl

December 30, 2016/ Catalyst Wedding Co

We had a cocktail style dance party first and foremost: guests will come have a snack and a drink and mingle, we'll then have an "impromptu" Jewish-Southern-Gay Wedding (figuring out whatever that is!) before they drink too much, and that'll just lead to a full on cocktail style affair with...lots and lots of dancing.

December 28, 2016

Real Couples // Intercultural Bali Bash: Shirelle + Brian

December 28, 2016/ Catalyst Wedding Co

Shirelle and Brian met at the University of Texas in Austin and they were friends for a few years before Brian asked Shirelle out for their first date. “I had had a crush on him since my freshman year when he used to wear goofy hipster glasses. My friends thought it was funny that I went on a date with Brian — he was pretty eccentric in college, but I knew that we had a connection.”

December 27, 2016

Real Couples // Masquerade Wedding: Barry + Tim

December 27, 2016/ Catalyst Wedding Co

Well, this is quite a story (and it’s mostly true), so if you are easily offended, you might just take a look at our photos and be done with it. One Saturday evening in November, many, many years ago, two boys met in a bar on the dance floor of Roscoe’s in Chicago. This is all pre JDate, Match, eHarmony, OkCupid, and all of that nonsense, as the internet had barely even been invented.

December 23, 2016

Real Couples // Community Fueled Brunch Wedding in NYC: Neisha + Troy

December 23, 2016/ Catalyst Wedding Co

I wore a yellow dress because that's my fav color and it makes me happy. My mom wanted me to wear a more traditional dress. But I'm not a traditional girl. We also didn't have a traditional bridal party; instead we asked our closest friends to be in our "entourage" and kinda had them make a commitment to help us throughout our marriage (not just the wedding) and be our support system, advisors and stewards through this journey (not just the day of).

December 21, 2016

Real Couples // Rainbow Wedding: Dana + Colleen

December 21, 2016/ Catalyst Wedding Co

In their words, "We met in fourth grade and became best friends while hunting grasshoppers together; our old elementary school is where we exchanged our rings. Though it was forecast to mega-rain on our special day, it ended up only being a sprinkle...just enough to make a gorgeous rainbow! It was absolutely perfect."

December 19, 2016

Real Couples // Serbian Jazz Wedding: Sofija + Elliot

December 19, 2016/ Catalyst Wedding Co

Both my husband and I are jazz musicians; he was born in England and I in Serbia, but the path of jazz led us both to New York where we met for the first time at a jazz club. From the moment we started talking to each other we started falling in love. He is the most courageous and kind person I know. After the second time we actually saw each other, I was flying him out to Europe while I was on tour to have our first date. Everything after that moved quickly like a fairy tale.

December 16, 2016

Real Couples // Married on a Helicopter Pad: Thea + Maylin

December 16, 2016/ Catalyst Wedding Co

Thea and Maylin were cosmically thrown together one fateful night in the Lower West Side of Manhattan in 2011. Maylin was the romantic and sensitive Pisces while Thea the pragmatic, brutally honest Aquarius. They fell deeper in love during their five years of being together and decided to show their friends and family that they were intent on this being forever.

Their ceremony was held at the haven & heaven that is Malibu Rocky Oaks Vineyard in Malibu California. The ceremony took place on a helipad suspended in the clouds with Thea & Maylin literally surrounded by their family and friends circling them. During the last moments of their ceremony as guest left the site, the couple danced their first dance alone to Adele’s “A Lovesong”. Perhaps the most romantic thing was their looks. You know the look. The entire night they gazed lovingly at each other, never leaving the other's side for the rest of the evening.

They opted for tons of arguably some of the best appetizers one can have at a wedding instead of a sit-down dinner with the logic that “finger food is better when you want people to be dancing the whole night.” Even the cake was in the form of cake pops. A-Freaking-Dorable.

Both ladies wore black suits, each accentuating their particular style and even further diminishing the gender roles they had discarded in their relationship, poignantly pointing out the equality between them.

Congrats to this couple and their unwavering love, the kind of love that inspires.

Words and photos by Christy Kendall

LGBTQ Helicopter pad wedding in Malibu California photographed by Christy Kendall

Christy Kendall is a Los Angeles wedding photographer specializing in the magic of outdoor weddings. After shooting for 10 years Kendall is just as in love with her niche as she was the day she started on her first "stumbled upon" wedding. "The world has plenty of sex, drugs and rock n roll in it. I'm just here to even the playing field and put more of an emphasis on connection. That magical, un-encompassing, beautiful thing that makes us try the sex, drugs and rock n roll in the first place."

December 14, 2016

Real Couples // High School Sweethearts: Sarah + Zack

December 14, 2016/ Catalyst Wedding Co

Zack and I don't remember when we met for the first time, but it was probably sometime in the third grade. As freshmen, we were on a youth football/cheer team, and we won king and queen at the homecoming game. But it wasn't until our junior year of high school when we actually started dating. We grew up together, graduated together, had a two-year long distance relationship, and have been experiencing life's highs and lows together. One day before the two-year anniversary of my mom's passing, Zack proposed to me at AT&T park after a Giants game. The date and the place were both extremely close to my heart. We also chose to get married on my mom's birthday, May 7. We are best friends and are so happy we get to live life loving each other.

December 12, 2016

Real Couples // Peoria Riverside Engagement: DiAnn & Lauren

December 12, 2016/ Catalyst Wedding Co

This session was so incredibly special to me. DiAnn & Lauren just radiate love! We met at Grandview Park in Peoria, Illinois to start their session, then moved on to downtown near the river walk and finished at sunset across the river at a small beach in East Peoria. I usually prefer to have one or two locations for a session, but this one was calling out for more. I can't explain it, and I'm really glad I listened to my artistic instinct — because the evening progressed from adorable to sweet to magical. At one point, I directed them to forget I was there and have an intimate conversation. Lauren tells me they need to use their hands for this. That was exactly my point. DiAnn is deaf. The intimacy of their conversation just blew me away — the depth of their love for one another was the most poignant during this part of the session.

December 09, 2016

Real Couples // Dallas Engagement: Crystal + Kendrick

December 09, 2016/ Catalyst Wedding Co

Crystal and Kendrick met at church, and this past spring became a blended family when they married on May 1, 2016. They're both full of personality, and I love the way they lovingly teased each other during the shoot. We had their shoot in the Arts District in Downtown Dallas, just walking around the area.

December 07, 2016

Real Couples // Olive Park Proposal: Ivan + Fara

December 07, 2016/ Catalyst Wedding Co

Ivan got in touch with me a week before his trip to Chicago, with his girlfriend, Fara. They had a fun agenda planned for their weekend getaway, and the Midwest welcomed them with some amaaaazing weather AND a memorable, busy/buzzing city...celebrating the Cubs' achievement of making it to the World Series! Though, I'm sure that will be the last thing they remember about their time in Chicago, ha!

December 05, 2016

Real Couples // Sacred Redwoods Ceremony: Carri + Roz

December 05, 2016/ Catalyst Wedding Co

Given that our wedding was inherently not traditional in the bride and groom department, we wanted to think outside the box in general and incorporate aspects that really represented each of us, our ancestors, and values. Carri has Jewish heritage on one side of her family, and so we chose to incorporate the breaking the glass tradition at the end of our ceremony. Roz’s family is African American, so we also incorporated the jumping the broom tradition. We wanted to acknowledge our family who had passed and couldn’t be there, as well as those throughout history who fought to make interracial and gay marriage possible.

November 30, 2016

Real Couples // A Long Time in the Making: Crystal + Wendi

November 30, 2016/ Catalyst Wedding Co

Wendi and Crystal both had a strong connection with God early on in their lives. Slowly, they began to suspect that their attractions were different. They met in college living in the same hall through roommates and slowly over a year and a half, fell in love. They knew this was not the sort of love taught to them in Sunday School and worried what their families and church would think. In their words, "...we also knew what we had together was incredibly raw and gentle and bursting with color and life, and that truly made us want to strive to be better people for each other and the world around us." So through the fires of inner conflict, they forged their own beautiful diamond of a relationship together, a fusion of love and a new kind of faith, one that is radiant and open and accepting, shining through them and filling them with joy.