2020 was a doozy for the wedding industry. It hit us all hard in different ways, but one thing it certainly zapped was energy. You might even be feeling apprehensive about the upcoming wedding season, and that's understandable and more than OK. It's common.

That's why I'm so excited to tell you about the first ever Wedding Summit Series event! 

Taking place Feb. 22-26, this five-day virtual event is packed with more than 40 industry experts focused on giving you new skills, knowledge and inspiration surrounding just one topic: COMMUNITY. 

For example, I'm going to be talking all about how to connect with LGBTQ+ wedding professionals, a topic I've never brought to a conference before so get ready if you want to learn how to connect with wedding pros who identify as LGBTQ+!

We're featuring some pretty big names, including

Renee Dalo

Aleya Harris

Amber Anderson

Bron Hansboro

and more!

The best part? It’s totally free! 

Get your free ticket for the...

More wedding and event pros are opening their hearts and business doors to the LGBTQ+ community. As this welcoming happens, it’s important to take note of the level at which businesses are saying yes to equality.

While running our LGBTQ+ wedding magazine, Equally Wed, for the past 11 years, I’ve found that inclusivity and acceptance is happening on multiple levels, from “willing to take money from gay people” all the way to celebrating the full spectrum of the LGBTQ+ community. Being LGBTQ+ inclusive doesn’t just mean being kind to everyone. It requires more work on your part to be intentionally welcoming with your words and actions.

For a wedding business to be authentically LGBTQ+ inclusive means that you have taken at least these measures to embrace all couples:

1. Use gender-neutral language throughout your website and social media posts, i.e., couples or marriers instead of bride and groom. Keep in mind that not all LGBTQ+ marriers identify...

Being an inclusive wedding professional does not only mean inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community. There are many ways to be inclusive, and today I want to talk to you about being inclusive of disabled people. Specifically, hard-of-hearing and deaf folks.

To look at me, you might not think anything is wrong. But I'm hearing-impaired. I wear hearing aids in both ears. I hear 9 percent of sounds in one ear and 25 percent of sounds in the other. When I can't hear what people are saying, I feel isolated and alone. It's tiring to continue to ask people to repeat themselves so often I just smile and nod because I'm exhausted.

When people like me attend events, there are ways you can be accomodating. And since you might not know if a hearing-impaired person is attending your event, I recommend you just do these things anyway. Here are five tips to make your event more inclusive of hard-of-hearing or deaf guests.

1 / Mic up your couple for their vows and have a mic for toasts and speeches....

By Kirsten Palladino

With the advent of marriage equality, more wedding pros are opening their business doors to the LGBTQ+ community. As this welcoming happens, it’s important to take note of the level at which businesses are saying yes to equality.

 I’ve found that it’s happening on a gradient level, from “willing to take money from gay people” all the way to celebrating the full spectrum of the LGBTQ+ community.

To be fully LGBTQ+ inclusive means that the business has taken at least these measures to embrace all couples:

1. Uses gender-neutral language throughout its website, i.e., couples instead of bride and groom.
2. Uses gender-neutral language in its social media posts and bio, i.e., couples instead of bride and groom.
3. Uses gender-neutral language in its contracts, i.e., couples instead of bride and groom.
4. Demonstrates inclusivity in communicating about the wedding day, such as calling the attendants the wedding party instead of the bridal party...

Working with weddings places you in a special circle of trust with your clients—one that should not be violated. There are certain parameters that you know not to cross with your clients, and privacy is one of them.

Even though you’re being hired to create a magnificent work of art for your client (whether it’s visual, tangible or experiential), never forget that though you retain the rights to the art, you do not have the right to violate your clients’ privacy.

Over the past 10 years in publishing Equally Wed, we have dealt with a not-infrequent amount of couples asking us to remove images that contained their faces or entire Real Wedding features that their photographer or other wedding vendor had submitted to us, never asking the couple for permission.

It’s important to remember that though we have full marriage equality in the United States and in many countries around the globe, we—the LGBTQ+ community—can still be fired from our jobs...

Wedding industry pros are some of the hardest working folks around, especially when they're also doing double duty fighting for social justice and equity in the wedding industry. Enter the Radical Wed Retreat, a workshop for wedding pros happening November 12-15, 2019, in Austin, Texas.  

Led by planner and stylist Justine Broughal of Together Events and photographer Jamie Carle, Radical Wed Retreat is geared toward creatives and wedding professionals who seek to or are conquering the social justice space and integrating parts of that into their businesses.

^{Nourishment from 2018 Radical Wed Retreat, photo...}

You’ve taken the leap and invested in a wedding directory listing on Equally Wed, the No. 1 LGBTQ+ wedding website where LGBTQ+ couples come from all over the world to find inspiration for their weddings, engagements and honeymoons and are looking to connect with equality enthusiasts like you. Congratulations! You’ve made a critical decision to get involved with the LGBTQ+ wedding community, to show them you support marriage equality, and to invite LGBTQ+ couples to do business with you. You’re probably thinking “If I build it, they will come,” which is halfway true. You can make the most of your presence on equallywed.com by utilizing the tools we offer to make your wedding directory listing stand out. Let’s talk about the building blocks of an outstanding listing.

Once you’re an approved preferred vendor on Equally Wed, you have full editing abilities of your listing at your directory dashboard to edit it any time of day or night, all on...

As the author of Equally Wed: The Ultimate Guide to Planning Your LGBTQ+ Wedding, the cofounder and editorial director of the Equally Wed website and the course creator at Equally Wed Pro, I recognize perhaps more than some how important words, names, labels and boxes are—whether it’s a matter of usage or avoidance.

Gender is a complex and fluid continuum. One of the reasons there was a need for a book like Equally Wed was to finally break the mold of the heteronormative terms “bride” and “groom” used in wedding books. Even other books that mention same-sex weddings often call two female-identified people getting married two “brides,” even though that term isn’t universally appropriate in the LGBTQ+ wedding community.

By the same token, not all male-identified marriers want to be referred to as a “groom.” Social constructs are just that: a worldview built by society. People are complex, no matter what our...

By Kirsten Palladino

We’ve seen it over and over. We tell someone we’re gay, trans, queer, bi, nonbinary, etc. and the response is blasé. The person acts like they couldn’t care less … for a few seconds. And then they start talking again. And that’s where the problems start.

They say things like, “Just don’t expect me to go to any rallies.” Or “I don’t judge that lifestyle.” Or “What do I care who you like to have sex with? You’re still my friend/sister/brother/coworker.” And at this point you’re feeling a mix of acceptance and eyes bugging out of your head in complete bewilderment. Is this what being loved feels like? Maybe.

Sometimes the jokes set in at this level or perhaps we’re going to get lucky and not hear those this round.

When I talk to wedding pros around the world, I hear a variety of responses when I tell them who I am and where I work. Here are some of the...

By Cassandra Zetta

In celebrating and educating for the LGBTQ+ community, we must also discuss the struggles and needs trans people have when wedding planning. Through tips shared in this article, we hope to begin to create a more open and safe space for the trans community within the wedding industry. The thoughts and experiences shared below are the reflections of contributing trans community members. Please keep in mind no two people or experiences are the same.

A foundational step in being an inclusive vendor is to only use gender-neutral language on your website, contracts and social media. Click here to learn more about creating inclusive wedding contracts. Gender-inclusive language sends the clear message to your clients that your business is a welcoming place for LGBTQ+ people—including transgender people.

“In general, I think the best way to be inclusive of trans folk is to be conscious and respectful about language,” says JB Fuoco. “Not...