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!

For LGBTQ+ people, planning a wedding can feel like something that’s not designed for them. Even though we have so many more resources for planning that are inclusive, there is still a certain amount of risk in reaching out to vendors for your wedding if you fall somewhere on the LGBTQ+ spectrum.

This shoot was created entirely by queer vendors (with one exception being the venue, which is a local brewery with a clear commitment to hiring queer folks in both of their locations), inclusive of PoC folks, and featuring a real-life queer couple. The entire operation, put together and photographed during Pride Month in June, was focused on lifting up and working together with LGBTQ+ community.

It was my mission to put together a styled shoot that was about more than just showing off our individual talents; I wanted to create something that was about LGBTQ+ folks and what they bring to the wedding industry. I set out to find vendors who belong to the LGBTQ+ community, with an emphasis on finding PoC vendors in the Boston area. We ended up with a crew of queer folks from all over the region who are doing incredible work both in their fields and in their communities.

The florals were done by Sweet Pea Farm in Rhode Island, and I could not have been happier about the natural, local flowers Kathan chose. She grows such incredible beauty on her farm, and is completely dedicated to her work and community. She brought extra greens and loose flowers for me to use to decorate the rainbow hoop project I made, and the top of the cake.

The cake was a special surprise for the couple. We didn’t tell them about the rainbow cake interior, so the looks of joy on their faces were from genuine surprise.

The venue was a special choice for me since it’s one of my local hangouts. They feature local food and are always willing to host community groups and “Quingo,” a queer-focused bingo event once a month.

Words by Michelle Schapiro, styled shoot photographer and organizer, as told to Amber Marlow. All photos by Michelle Schapiro and Deanna Nagle.