Michael and I met at college at NYU. After a few months of dating, it was clear that we had found something special in each other and spent our remaining college years attached at the hip. I began performing on Broadway and found myself traveling on a national tour for nearly a year. Leaving Michael behind in New York was the hardest experience and once I returned, we decided that there was no need to wait to tie the knot!

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.

When the officiant was delayed, pushing the planned sunset ceremony well into the moonlight, these two brides, and their talented photographers, rolled with the mishaps and had a beautiful, intimate ceremony on the beach by the light of the full moon.

The only thing that was truly important was that I married the woman of my dreams and love of my life.  Everything else was just delicious frosting on the cake.

Something in both of us just 'clicked': that desperate, heart-yanking feeling of “you aren't even gone yet and I miss you” type gushy love. We didn't even know we were waiting for each other.

One tradition we made up was how our bridal party, family, and each of us walked down the aisle. We had a bridesman with a bridesmaid on each arm. Our mothers escorted each other down, and our fathers walked each one of us down.

Meera Graham Photography, a Missoula, Montana wedding photographer, has a unique approach to weddings and photographing couples. Meera knows that the time before your wedding day can be another opportunity to make lasting memories.

Last week, the self-delusion fell squarely on the shoulders of a Denver-based videography company, Media Mansion. This coupled with the United Methodist Church’s recent vote for restrictions against queer clergy (many whom have sustained my last remaining ounce of faith in Christianity) and queer couples to marry in their churches has many of us worn out, scared, and feeling helpless.

Kendall has always loved photography and from a young age knew they wanted to be a photographer when they grew up. Recognizing and validating each person's identity is critical to their core beliefs of feminism and equality. And the super gendered, binary nature of weddings? It really pisses Kendall off.

Weddings often heighten the traditional performance of gender, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Let the idea of performance empower you to rewrite, reclaim, or reinvent gender roles to express your unique identity. 

By making what felt like my first adult decision, I had hopped on an escalator and couldn’t get off. We grew to love each other, and I wasn’t miserable. Yet I increasingly wondered, is this it?

English and Sam decided to bring along their two dogs during their session for photos of all of them together as a family. If you know me, you know that I am always happy when my clients bring along their fur babies. English and Samantha's pups, Kerwin and Zoe, wore a matching bandanna and bowtie set, and rocked out their photos with the couple

If you and your partner are two cisgender hetero people planning your wedding day, you may think that supporting LGBTQIA+ rights and promoting LGBTQIA+ visibility doesn’t have a place in your wedding, but the truth is there are lots of ways to still support your LGBTQIA+ friends and family on your wedding day!

Donal and Jon aren’t religious so they opted for a Humanist ceremony. Following a meeting with their chosen celebrant Sally O’Kelly they knew straight away that Sally was the perfect fit for them. She talked them through the process and how best to decide upon the script for the ceremony. 

Keeping it short, including special readings, music, and the inclusion of mothers of the grooms to light the unity candle and as witnesses made the ceremony that extra bit special. 

Donal and Jon decided not to include their own written vows but instead used a slightly more traditional script, not only because otherwise they would have been too emotional to speak, but because they felt the traditional script suited their feelings towards marriage and each other. 

Emily's engagement ring is gold with a small diamond and was made for my great-grandmother in the 1940s by my great-uncle in Melbourne. My great-grandmother was a rabble-rousing Anglican woman who loved me dearly and was always kind. It seemed appropriate to give it to a rabble-rousing Episcopalian woman who loves me dearly and is always kind.

This glamping styled shoot in Asheville was our way of shooting for us and our portfolios. It was a way for us to have a little fun behind the camera without the pressure of paying attention to clients’ expectations. I was so happy when I found Amber and Jaleesa via a model call I put out in The Queen Photographers on Facebook. They are such a lovely couple who are truly SO in love. It was a pleasure to photograph them for this shoot.

If you have spent even a limited amount of time in the wedding industry, you have likely picked up on the heteronormative language that is deeply ingrained in the day-to-day. This language is outdated, and hurtful to those in non-hetero relationships. It's time for the wedding industry to be inclusive of all couples in love. It's time for a wedding language re-dux.

Cassandra Zetta is a photographer whose work we have admired for a long time, and once we had her speak at {un}convention in Richmond last November, we knew her dedication to LGBTQ+ couples meant she was the absolute right fit for our vendor community.Get to know Cassandra Zetta and how she's making the world of wedding photography a better and more inclusive place. 

South Carolina wedding photographer Jessica Hunt sees it as her responsibility to advocate for diverse representation by photographing awesome couples and publishing their images on popular wedding blogs. In 2017 she published 75 times.

We met in college. We were actually both dating other people when we became friends. We talked all the time and could not wait to be around each other. The relationship eventually became something more and we broke it off with our other partners. We both knew from the very beginning that there was something special between us and despite some drama in the beginning (ending our other relationships and Michele's family not being supportive), we made it and have never been happier.