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 this engagement inspiration shoot at Feminist Photo Vaycay in Palm Springs the models were Janet and Gabe. When they sent us images of themselves, their smiles were absolutely infectious and the team knew they’d capture that “in love and on vacation“ attitude.
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 MoreOur shoot, entitled “Love Wins,” is an awesomely eclectic, reimagined concept derived after the 2017 presidential inauguration. Our original shoot concept and date was derailed by the protests and marches that overshadowed the inaugural festivities. But instead of sulking and complaining, we used the current political climate to inspire our finished story.
Read MoreOur goal for this shoot was to have fun and highlight color and love! Our theme was Girls! Girls! Girls!, and we were able to put together an amazing team of women, The Richmond Association of Boss Babes. We thought, what would a real life couple do when they woke up together on the day of their wedding? Morning sex, obviously! Boudoir images are usually just of one woman, and even less often do you see images of lesbian boudoir featuring an actual couple. We wanted to capture our girls in their element, being themselves together, whether that was dressed or undressed.
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 MoreWe met in person for drinks and were unanimously feeling we had picked the perfect couple. Our first evening together was spent listening to stories of their meeting: an almost-missed connection, driving hours to meet halfway for a first date, facing a fear of heights, falling in love, moving to the same city, revisiting the first date and Carolina’s fear of heights during the proposal (“I still don’t know what the view looks like.”). We felt that Sarah's entire body seemed to smile while talking about Carolina, and Carolina's deep, soulful smile and tenderness toward her future bride were qualities we couldn't wait to convey.
Read MorePlay. The idea of play is a form of connection, to each other and to their surroundings. We kept saying that in their world it would rain confetti. The wedding bouquet was edible. Hot pink and bold shapes. Swings, bubbles, ribbons, a hot pink bamboo altar, laughs, confetti frozen into ice, play. Anywhere you go in the world the happiest people you see are often the ones that know how to play, whatever that looks like to each person. It was fun. It was also fun to gather a group of dynamic, female, artists in the area to create together for the first time.
Read MoreBorn in Oregon and raised in the Northwest and in the Midwest, I never saw much diversity. As a result, I always saw my skin color and hair as something to be ashamed of—something I should try to hide, cover up, straighten, or make to align more with the American standard of beauty. As I’ve grown up, I’ve slowly started to embrace who I am, kinky hair and all. In a classically modern wedding setting, I wanted to showcase that journey of self discovery with a sleek, elegant, and beautifully natural bride of color.
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.
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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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