As a wedding calligrapher, I think a lot about names. As a feminist, I also think a lot about names and the meaning that they convey. Particularly, I find the "traditional" way of addressing envelopes a bit, shall we say, dated. I've been gratified that many of my clients feel the same way and have instead been moving toward a new, 21st-century model of addressing wedding guests.

My experience with OOTB actually turned into a personal affirmation of what moves me to make photographs of couples. Real love. It's so simple sometimes that I do occasionally question myself! But seriously — two people in love are an overlooked marvel. There is so much pressure in this industry to present weddings as this elaborate tableau vivant — immaculate people having immaculate parties. Gorgeous? Yes. My cup of tea? Nope. Give me flower confetti and a side ache from laughing too hard any day.

Alex and Ben Anthony were married on September 12, 2015, the date of her parents' anniversary. The couple held a small ceremony in her parents' backyard on Lake Erie (to fit Alex's more introverted personality) and hosted a celebration in Columbus (to pay homage to their wonderful city and Ben's love of a good party).  

The contents of the box were perfect for our Peacock Inspired Vow Renewal. The concept of “Moving Forward” fit perfectly with our couple for the shoot. Since our couples have been married for a year we wanted to incorporate the idea of a vow renewal ceremony for them. People often say the first year of marriage can be touch so why not celebrate a year of love and growth with a vow renewal, but also looking forward to what ahead.

Donnie and Jamie's wedding took place July 27, 2014 before gay marriage had been legalized nationwide, so they decided on a destination wedding in Massachusetts, a state going on 10+ years of legalized same sex marriage.  They chose a place they both loved, Provincetown, most commonly known as P-Town! If you haven't been there yet, this place is AMAZING — one of the most idiosyncratic and extraordinary towns in the United States. It is a huge summer attraction with its beautiful beaches, quirky shops, and a popular destination for same sex couples. 

Last month, we hosted our first-ever Out of the Box Challenge, a styled shoot challenge similar to the cooking show Chopped. We had nine teams from across the country compete, and we sent them boxes of mystery items including dresses from Ash and Light, Celia Grace, and Urban Set Bride along with accessories from Kerry Ann Stokes and Wood Thumb. Our first and second place winners will be featured in Volume Three of Catalyst Wedding Magazine and all the other teams will be featured here over the next three weeks! We are extremely proud of all the teams and their hard work (and beautiful photos)!

Sarah and Miriam’s wedding combined a number of things, which break with wedding traditions in Austria. For one, domestic partnerships have only been legal since 2010 here. As feminist wedding photographers concerned with equal rights, we were thrilled but have only seen emerging numbers of same-sex ceremonies in the past two years. Same-sex weddings are still a bit of a novelty in Austria.

Kalinda and Robbie are both Hollywood writers and producers based in LA.Their shared love for film, especially classic old Hollywood, was a huge influence in the design of their wedding. They are a producing powerhouse who weren't afraid of challenging the status quo when planning their unconventional event. The decor of their wedding was cheeky and thematic - an old typewriter as a guest book, table runners made of script pages from their favorite movies, place cards written on vintage movie film, and 1920s film clips playing on a screen overlooking the dance floor.

This beautiful Saturday, a chill was in the air, but even more... love was in the air! I was delighted this past spring when Brigid contacted me from Orange County to say that she and Cara (who's from the DC area) were getting married in DC next spring, and would I be their wedding photographer? Heck yes!

Yujie and Wade previously lived in China before moving to the United States. Wade is from the US and Yujie is Chinese, and while they were already engaged and planning a more traditional wedding in Tahoe, they found themselves needing to move up their official wedding date due to an expiring visa.

When you’re young and learning about love, people give you a lot of advice. One of these most commonly-repeated tidbits from the wise is that you must love yourself before you can truly love another.

I agree. There is a sacred, intimate relationship that exists within yourself, for which you must care for and carefully prune.

However, I simply cannot love myself before my fiancé.

Lauren and I met through an online dating service ;). Lauren sent me an email to initiate communication, and I was immediately interested after reading her email and profile. Our back-and-forth emails on the first day quickly turned into back-and-forth text messages, and about an hour or so into our conversation Lauren invited me over for dinner the following night. She cooked a complete meal from scratch, including homemade buns for our veggie burgers. Dinner, a friendly board game, and instant chemistry made for the start of our love story.

My husband has been friends with the groom's family for well over 30 years, so I was honored when the bride came to me and asked to photograph their surprise wedding. It was very small and intimate, at a gorgeous inn. The groom knew that there was to be a wedding, but he had no idea that the bride was going to walk down the aisle in such a beautiful wedding gown; she told him she was going to wear a sundress!

Tricia and Molly met and fell in love in an unconventional and completely 21st century way: on an online dating website. They shouldn’t have met, but their combined fates could not be stopped by the 10 mile radius set by Tricia. They decided on a small wedding at the Norfolk Courthouse to keep the most important people involved in their wedding day, opting for immediate family only. Tricia recalls the day of the ceremony being stressful yet glorious. One of Molly’s favorite moments was on the way to their honeymoon in the Outer Banks, rocking out to Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, their unofficial wedding song. Tricia’s favorite moment was having dinner with their families, while enjoying the aura of love. Currently, Molly is an Auto Damage Adjuster and Tricia is a banquet server by day and rockstar bassist by night for the band Blue Ribbon. They live in the Ghent neighborhood in Norfolk, Virginia with their cat ShiShi.

I didn’t think it was a good idea. Telling guests—moms especially—surprise news at a wedding rarely is. My good friend Claire and her fiancé Mike had secretly gotten married in New Orleans with their darling baby Liora Rose in tow. Almost a year later, Claire hadn’t told anyone until now, not even moi. And the only reason Claire spilled the beans was that she wanted me to “officiate” at their wedding. Sort of.

YOU'RE ENGAGED! And after you planned that coordinated flash mob, you want your engagement announcement to be just as special. Changing your Facebook relationship status isn't exactly magical, but consider these ideas for declaring your love from the (digital) rooftop!

Congratulations! You, my darling reader, are getting married, and that is a truly wonderful thing. You have cultivated a relationship based upon mutual respect, and you trust your fiancé with your heart and your future. You love your fiancé and can’t wait to build a life together. You know life will bring you both joy and hardship, but you are choosing to share all the best and the worst of it with your other. And finally, you are eager to memorialize this commitment before family and friends on your wedding day.

Back in 2010 when I planned my wedding, most of the things I wanted (bridesmaids in any black dress, no assigned seating at the reception, groomsmen in chucks, and a short wedding dress with *gasp* no veil) seemed pretty nontraditional. Wedding blogs were just getting started and Pinterest wasn’t even a glimmer in the internet’s eye. So I clung to my Microsoft Word collage of images and ideas every time I had to brave the storm of trying to explain to my mostly traditional parents why I wanted these things in our wedding. 

Hannah and Benji planned a beautiful and relaxed wedding at the Rose Bank Winery in Newtown, Pennsylvania. They carefully selected their professional vendors and kept a few projects for themselves to get their DIY on. They really couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day and it was such a joy to work with them and their families. 

Joann & Dawn met in Chicago and got engaged at the very cool Ironhorse Hotel in Milwaukee, WI where we shot their engagement session. It was important to them to have an intimate, joyful destination wedding that included all of their closest fiends and family. They spent a long weekend with their guests enjoying an all-inclusive resort in Mexico, playing games and hanging out in the pool. It's nice when the guests from all over the world get to know each other before the wedding day- it makes the party even more fun! They were walked down the aisle by a best friend and brother and had male friends and family as part of their wedding party. Dawn handmade their beautiful and unique wedding bouquets, and she surprised Joann with a song during the reception. They had a non traditional guest book and a Cards Against Humanity make-your-own-card set which was I'm sure will provide many years of entertainment.  But it wasn't all rainbows and butterflies: Joann had a foot injury and wore one heel and one flip flop the whole day! Still, they were super relaxed and had such a great time--they even jumped in the pool in their dresses at the end of the night!