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 know our Catalyst readers are some of the most progressive couples out there, and the struggle to “stay woke” while navigating this super traditional wedding industry is REAL. Thankfully, one of the easiest ways to have a woke wedding is to book inclusive vendors. But how do you get started? We’ve outlined some steps that can help.
Read MoreThe Wedding Nest is an Australia-based wedding registry site that knows that for some couples decorating their home with the same IKEA or Crate and Barrel couch just isn’t an option. This service is unlike any registry you’ve ever seen. How, you ask? They offer original artwork, let you customize your gifts, and they style your wishlist like a lookbook so you can easily imagine your future designer home.
Read MoreStephanie Selle, owner of With These Rings, firmly believes that “you can’t buy love, but you can make it.” In fact, it’s her tagline! Her studio in Port Townsend, Washington gives couples the unique experience of making their own handcrafted rings!
Read MoreIt’s not a relationship death sentence, and yet so many react as if I’ve given them one when I suggest it. Premarital counseling. Somehow we’ve associated that with being sent to the principal’s office or having our parents say they’re “disappointed" in us. We treat it like it means there's a problem, but premarital counseling isn’t a sign of problems, it’s the solution to them.
Read MoreWhether the ring is 20 carats or $25, if you’re not the one rocking it, keep your two cents to yourself.
Read MoreFrom Facebook groups for creatives, to one-on-ones and networking events, I’ve heard again and again, “I really want to break into ‘that‘ market.” Or my personal favorite, “Well how do I find ‘them’?”
Y’ALL. Honey. Baby. Sweet Lord.
I promise I will try not to be condescending, but it’s a little obtuse, don’t you think? If you’re a photographer that wants to do more black weddings, do a shoot with black people in it. I promise y’all it’s that easy. Do you know why? People just want to see themselves represented. People want to see themselves.
Read MoreI’m not going to lie, I love conferences. The networking, the speakers, the development, and an awesome trip? Count me in! But the more I started to research conferences for the next year, the more frustrated I grew. Why the hell did everyone look alike?! ’m fascinated by influencer conferences that can’t seem to find black, brown, queer, differently-abled, or female voices for panels. I’m even more fascinated how if you’re any combination of these identities, it’s even harder to find representation at major events.
Read MoreI often felt like I wasn’t fighting hard enough. I wasn’t doing enough to combat the trauma and distress of racism and institutionalized hate. I felt like I was hiding. But then I sat down and looked at the work that I do. It’s beyond the details. The core of the work is facilitating joy. As I heard David Tutera describe it, the burden of wedding professionals is to create a “bubble” moment that envelopes everyone and allows them to escape.
Read MoreTo make it even worse, the large majority of men who’ve hit on me at weddings are married. Physical safety aside, there is an emotional cost to working so hard to plan a celebration of marriage and then witness someone else shit all over theirs. What is it about weddings that emboldens guests to act like they aren’t married? Is it the desire to feel in control? Or to assert power over a woman? Especially a woman of color? Is it simply because they’re A-holes?
Read MoreWhy does a wedding planner want to talk about politics and identity? As a Texas-based business owner, you can imagine how often I get asked that question. But the answer is always the same: because politics and identity affect everything I do: my choice of hairstyle, who I work with, the very fact that I’m a black-owned business that loves working with same-sex couples in a state that makes its position on that very well-known. I could go on. But ultimately, do you know why? Because people are politics.
Read MoreI was definitely sipping the Kool-Aid growing up, thinking somehow I was an exception to the rule. That changed a few years ago after a horrible experience with some police officers. It was the October before the Mike Brown shooting. I thought a middle class upbringing, pearls, and dresses were going to save me. But I learned that to some people, all I ever will be is black and a problem. I hated it. I hated the microaggressions I denied were problems. It was really an unlearning of a bunch of different things. It was being honest about how I felt as a black woman in a world that hates black women. It grew into advocating for everyone else who gets sidelined into the margins. I learned to listen and I learned to speak up and out.
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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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