How We’re Growing: The Next Chapter of Catalyst Wedding Co.
Our Mission Statement
Our Mission Statement
Catalyst Wedding Co. exists to transform the wedding industry by centering queer couples, championing feminist and anti-racist values, and building a more inclusive future through education, community, advocacy, and giving back. We are a community of marriers, queer vendors, and allies. We empower our vendors to serve with authenticity and accountability, create meaningful spaces for connection, and celebrate love in all its forms. We are a safe haven for the game changers and rule breakers.
Catalyst Wedding Co. has always stood for change. Catalyst was created in 2015 by Liz Susong to challenge the wedding industry. Our founding team strove to amplify voices often left out of the conversation. Through a print magazine we learned to celebrate couples and communities doing things differently. That mission remains unchanged.
Today, we are stepping into a new chapter.
Catalyst has recently entered new ownership under Carissa Campbell, who now leads the organization as Executive Director, alongside Amy Sims as Technical Director. Together, we are reviving Catalyst with a renewed sense of purpose, deeper community investment, and a long-term vision for meaningful industry change.
Our goal is to become a nonprofit organization as we move towards the future. We believe that our work is bigger than media content.
By transitioning toward nonprofit status, we are committing ourselves fully to educating vendors, advocating for queer couples, creating access, and reinvesting directly into the communities we serve.
A Stronger Focus on Queer Couples
Catalyst has always championed inclusivity, but moving forward we are intentionally placing queer couples at the center of our work.
Queer couples deserve more than representation during Pride Month or token visibility in marketing campaigns. They deserve resources built for them, vendors educated to support them, and a wedding industry that understands their celebrations are not an alternative to the norm.
Our content, events, partnerships, and advocacy will reflect that commitment, by placing Queer Joy and Queer Love stories in the center of our work. We are building Catalyst to be a trusted home for queer couples navigating the wedding world and a platform that loudly celebrates their love.
You do not have to be Queer to be a Vendor involved in Catalyst, but you do need to wave your ally flag high and proud with a passion to advocate for queer couples and learn how to best serve them in our businesses.
Maintaining Our Feminist Lens
Our values will remain rooted in feminism.
That means continuing to challenge outdated traditions, gender assumptions, and inequitable systems embedded in the wedding world. It means championing bodily autonomy, inclusive language, accessibility, and authentic self-expression.
Our feminist lens informs everything we do, from how we educate vendors to how we tell stories to how we create community. Queer-centered and feminist are not separate priorities for us, and while our approach might be shifting slightly, we will maintain our original values as we look to the future.
Expanding Into Community Events
Catalyst has always believed in the power of connection. Now, we’re bringing that belief to life in bigger ways. This will be in two forms. One form for vendors and one form for our targeted Clients.
In addition to digital resources and education, we are expanding our community event programming to create intentional spaces for queer couples, inclusive vendors, and allies to gather, learn, celebrate, and build relationships.
We will be building a core group of local vendor meetups with the goal of community led conversations and collaboration with one another.
In addition to these vendor events we will be hosting a series of lifestyle events and fundraisers to raise money for our Big Queer Wedding at the end of the year and honestly just to have a good time. Queer joy doesn’t stop or start at a wedding ceremony and we want to be able to support our local Queer community during all stages of life.
Deepening Vendor Support & Education
The wedding industry cannot become more inclusive unless vendors have the tools to evolve with it. That’s why vendor education is one of our most exciting pillars.
We are investing in expanded educational programming and continuous community support for wedding professionals who want to grow together. As a vendor in the Catalyst community you will be expected to be on the cutting edge of the best business practices and actively supporting more genuinely safer, affirming spaces.
Giving Back
Programs like The Big Queer Wedding remain central to our mission and will continue to grow.
Access to celebration should not depend on privilege. As Catalyst evolves, so will our commitment to giving back through free weddings, political advocacy, community events, convention opportunities, and partnerships that directly support queer love and queer futures.
What Makes This New Catalyst Different?
We are not just taking over ownership, but we are building a more sustainable way to keep Catalyst moving into the future. We promise to be a mission-driven organization rooted in service. We are building a nonprofit-minded model built for longevity. We will always be a queer-centered wedding platform with a feminist backbone. We are a safe place where community matters. In 2026, we are a future-focused organization committed to making the wedding industry better for everyone. Catalyst has always been about creating change and we are continuing our mission to continue to live out our mission in the future.
CARISSA CAMPBELL
Executive Director
Carissa Campbell is the owner of Campbell Events, a New York based wedding and event planner known for whimsical weddings which transform Raw Spaces into immersive experiences. With 11 years of experience she has taken on the role of Executive Director of Catalyst.