When I was 14, I stayed up late watching chick flicks, crying, and desperately hoping I could have a love that would set me free. Yes, I know, this is an unfortunately stereotypical story of a pubescent teenage girl pining for a relationship. I believed the best way to achieve happiness was through a happy monogamous relationship. Unfortunately, I had no idea (and still don’t know) what that looked like. After much trial and error, I later discovered being in a relationship and feeling free, without a healthy foundation, isn’t that simple.

Yep. It is true. I am a single straight guy, and I do in fact dream about my wedding. It is something that I honestly cannot deny, and to that end, I do not feel the need to.In my estimation, weddings are a celebration of experiences, the excitement of future moments shared, and the opportunity to express these recognitions with loved ones that will hopefully continue to have an impression in my partner's and my life. What more could I ask for?

In order for bridal boutiques to provide an inclusive and authentic experience, body neutrality needs to be the standard both online and in their daily interactions with customers. Unlike body-love, a state of complete body confidence, “body neutrality” instead emphasizes acceptance over loving one’s body. In other words, it’s the chill pill of the self-image revolution.

Searching for wedding rings can be exhausting. There are seemingly millions of options — and you don’t want to choose something flippantly because it is something you plan to wear for the rest of your life. It should be special. It should mean something. You should love your ring, right? After all, the wedding ring symbolizes your never-ending, unbroken devotion to your chosen life partner. It’s a big deal.

My grandparents were part of the buffer class unintentionally established by the Dutch over their three hundred and fifty years of colonialism in Indonesia. My very Asian-looking grandmother has the beautiful European name of Gladys, and her dark husband is named Renee. Throughout the years, a few stories and asides have been mentioned in passing by both of my grandparents, and a documentation of their experiences as teenagers in Indonesia was in process. Piecing together these stories results in a remarkable history of my family and culture.

Once upon a time, a gentleman caller asked my grandpa for my aunt's hand in marriage. Grandpa asked him what he thought about my aunt working after marriage, and the dude said he hadn't thought of it. My grandpa kindly redirected the frat boy to suggest that he might want to talk to my aunt more before he proposed to her.

Then they enacted wedding ceremonies from three different eras — the 1700s, the 1950s, and the present — with costume changes for each. At the end of each ceremony, a certificate was handed to Levana that said: “You are now a full woman,” with an asterisk — the asterisk was “pending children.”

Prior to marriage, I’d lived alone for twenty years with no housemates other than felines; Steve had been bach’ing it with two boys for nine. Marrying at midlife comes with a lot of challenges: negotiating shifting family roles, re-learning how to share a bathroom, ensuring the bride’s cats don’t blind the groom’s dog in a territorial rage. But I’m not sure anything could have prepared us for the sheer amount of stuff.

If she had chosen someone black, someone wealthier than her, someone, or anyone, else, there would still be commentary about it. There would still be outrage. The longer I've worked in this world, the more I realize that the wedding industry has little to do with weddings and everything to do with a public pronouncement of a woman's worth. Most wedding media enforces it; the whitest, slimmest, blondest, most feminine women deserve the gigantic rings, the most lavish productions, and most deserving partners (usually your run-of-the-mill dude-bro). That's who graces the covers and the ads that drive what I consider unnecessary hype.

Björn VW is the owner of Björn & Company, a New York event planning and design company, who also organizes Forks, Corks, & Cocktails, an annual LGBTQ Food, Wine, and Cocktail show.

As a feminist wedding professional, I have a responsibility to challenge and critique the wedding industry. I work with brides each week, and in the intimate space of a fitting room I'm told about their greatest joys and anxieties. I owe it to them to make sure they're equally represented in an industry that continually discriminates against them. 

It was when she didn’t show up for hair and makeup that morning that I realized something. And the clarity of this realization quickly defused the anger that was starting to build inside. Laura and I weren’t growing apart. We’d actually never really been friends. 

Valdora and Isabel put their love and their desires for the day first. Which meant an early morning intimate wedding ceremony under the Bethesda Terrace in Central Park with only their closest friends in attendance. Later in the afternoon they invited a larger group of friends and family to celebrate a small ceremony, dinner and dancing a few hours north of New York City. It reflected their goals to create a day that invited their loved ones to be a part of their love, all while sticking to their guns in regards to having a small and beautiful wedding where they felt comfortable sharing vows and tears and promises.

Chelo Keys is a woke wedding photographer in New Jersey. In this interview with editor Liz Susong, she talks about growing up in New York, bringing her whole self to her creative work, and growing in her social justice values.

Emma Bedor and Catalyst Editor Liz Susong Debate the Concept of the Feminist Wedding

When I got engaged I expected to learn a lot of things, but learning to say no wasn’t one of them. But now I have a lot of people and businesses offering to do things for me. And I have a lot of people telling Fiancé and I what our wedding should and should not be like and how things are done and why we shouldn’t do them differently.

The mainstream wedding industry and media are fixated on a very particular fairy tale: one bride and one groom live happily-ever-after, the end. But my fiancé, Casey, and I believe that our story is just as beautiful without a Prince Charming, maybe even more so because of the obstacles we’ve had on our way to the aisle. From bigoted bakers to monogramming mishaps, ours is a modern-day story of love conquering all. 

On 22 May 2015, more than 60 percent of Irish voters turned out to have their say on legalising same-sex marriage. An overwhelming 62 percent of them said “Yes” — and now gay couples in Ireland are saying “I do.” 

So something pretty interesting happened last week. A well-known conference for wedding industry creatives, Creative at Heart, posted its speaker line-up on Instagram, encouraging folks to sign up for early bird registration. The photo shows a grid of 26 smiling faces, all of them white. The post inspired 95 comments and counting. After a handful of yay!s, woo!s, and heart-emojis, Stacy Reeves wrote, "Extremely disappointing to see a sea of caucasian faces with no diversity. You are not creating an inclusive and welcoming place for women of color here." Mic drop.

The pink-haired genius behind Pop! Wed Co. wrote a book, and it is a gift to introverts and style-lovers everywhere. I don't care if you're never getting married, the photos in this book alone will get your heart pitter-pattering for that elusive concept of love once more.  If you are getting hitched and haven't considered the idea of a "tiny wedding" before, you absolutely will after picking up this handy guide to planning a stress-free, personalized ceremony and photo sesh with your lovah and loved ones.