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!
As soon as we saw the wrapping papers included in our mystery box, we were transported to the end of the 80s and early 90s. All the textures, patterns, and shapes brought us back to a time of bright makeup, Saved by the Bell, flashy clothes, and fun music. We wanted to make sure those textures and patterns were felt and seen throughout the shoot as our inspiration, but with a contemporary modern twist.
Read MoreEach of our team members is passionate about representing every type of body and every type of love in our visual media. Our models are both tattooed chicks with alternative vibes. One of our lady models is a curvy model with a bangin’ booty, and the other rocks a pixie cut and an incredible chest piece. There are not nearly enough incredible lesbian wedding shoots in the blogosphere—or even on each of our websites. We loved creating relevant visual content that is exciting and fresh for our LGBTQ clients.
Read MoreIt didn’t take our team long to get to a point where we felt like we were bending and molding to a pre-existing set of norms surrounding what a wedding is “supposed” to look like. Here we were, a group of incredibly intelligent and progressive women trying to change The Conversation, hitting up against a wall because, as one of the brilliant minds on the team commented, “trying to create something and perform according to the rules of the ‘typical wedding fantasy’ really doesn’t feel very queer at all.”
Read MoreFor me this photo challenge prompted a natural response to the current sociopolitical backlash to diversity, people with disabilities, and the LGBTQ community. I put out a casting call in my local model group looking for alternative and underrepresented women. I knew from the start I wanted to show a same sex wedding, so when Gigi and Nicole were among my applicants the choice was easy.
Read MoreSabrina and Moira are a real-life queer Chilean-American couple living in Los Angeles, CA. They met through mutual friends in Portland, OR in 2005. Moira attempted to get Sabrina’s attention several times, but it wasn’t until 5 years later, when the 2010 earthquake hit central Chile that they made a real connection, bonding over their concern for family in the region during the natural disaster. In Moira’s words, “It took an 8.8 earthquake in Chile to get her to notice me!” They fell in love and have been together ever since. This past New Year's Eve, they spontaneously eloped in Hawaii.
Read MoreOut of the Box is a choose-your-own-adventure styled shoot challenge that we conducted last spring, and there is one last photo shoot that we have yet to uncover. Justine Bursoni and Team Tabula Rasa, or "Blank Slate," created a gorgeous shoot with a little magic and a whole lot of beauty, and it reminds us that a wedding a way of wiping the slate clean as two people start their life together.
Read MoreThe original idea behind team Jax Kicks Ass' shoot was a Peter Pan theme: a combination of whimsy, magical and urban. After a couple of last minute set backs and the unpredictable rainy weather on the shoot day, the team was forced to revamp and improvise with the tools each vendor was left with at their disposal. Fortunately, the clouds seemed to lend themselves to the candlelit, romantic warmth created inside this urban warehouse, which wound up creating the magical vibe the team intended for in the first place.
Read MoreOur aim was to create a styled shoot that focused more on emotion and the narrative experience of planning a marriage than simply the glitz and staged still life that is the norm for styled shoots. We partnered with a real life couple to tell the story of what happens when a couple becomes engaged, endures the stress of early planning, and then decides to be true to themselves and elope. We wanted to create inspirational images unlike those we'd seen before, such as a woman proposing to her male partner, and the honesty of the "fuck it, let's elope" scene. In sum, we hope that our imagery pleases in not only an aesthetic way that shows off awesome details such as the Ash & Light sequined dress, but that it also hits an emotional chord and rings true about the underlying experience and significance of the wedding planning process.
Read MoreOur story follows a RVA couple that have been together for several years, have a great house, have a sweet pup and have finally decided to get married. She bought a wedding dress, they started the planning, picked out stationary and did all the things that a normal engaged couple would do. Until one Sunday morning they woke up and thought, “Fuck it. Let’s just go and get married.” They ate breakfast, got dressed, took their dog on a walk, got married and went back home to eat cake and Netflix & chill. Maybe not the most glamorous of wedding days with dreamy sunsets and gold rimmed place settings but the two most important parties showed up for one another and isn’t that all we really hope for on a wedding day.
Read MoreMy experience with OOTB actually turned into a personal affirmation of what moves me to make photographs of couples. Real love. It's so simple sometimes that I do occasionally question myself! But seriously — two people in love are an overlooked marvel. There is so much pressure in this industry to present weddings as this elaborate tableau vivant — immaculate people having immaculate parties. Gorgeous? Yes. My cup of tea? Nope. Give me flower confetti and a side ache from laughing too hard any day.
Read MoreThe contents of the box were perfect for our Peacock Inspired Vow Renewal. The concept of “Moving Forward” fit perfectly with our couple for the shoot. Since our couples have been married for a year we wanted to incorporate the idea of a vow renewal ceremony for them. People often say the first year of marriage can be touch so why not celebrate a year of love and growth with a vow renewal, but also looking forward to what ahead.
Read MoreLast month, we hosted our first-ever Out of the Box Challenge, a styled shoot challenge similar to the cooking show Chopped. We had nine teams from across the country compete, and we sent them boxes of mystery items including dresses from Ash and Light, Celia Grace, and Urban Set Bride along with accessories from Kerry Ann Stokes and Wood Thumb. Our first and second place winners will be featured in Volume Three of Catalyst Wedding Magazine and all the other teams will be featured here over the next three weeks! We are extremely proud of all the teams and their hard work (and beautiful photos)!
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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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