Catalyst Wedding Company highlights weddings by and for game-changers. We seek to amplify and empower voices and viewpoints that are usually missing from the Wedding Industrial Complex. We're a community of badass wedding professionals who love all things funky, fresh, diverse, unique, and personality-driven; we convene twice yearly for (un)convention, a collaborative workshop, styled shoot, and dinner party. We're also the publishers of Catalyst Wedding Mag, a resource for couples looking for inspiration and affirmation that doing things differently in wedding-world is not only ok, it's wonderful!
For us lay-people, the mysteries of bridal gown tailoring can seem like pure magic. We sat down with the expert, Amanda Madden of AMadden Tailoring, and we asked her everything we have ever wanted to know about altering, customizing, and creating wedding dresses!
Read More"My goal when photographing weddings is to capture the story of the day. I’m just as interested in showcasing the small subtle moments and quirky personal details, as I am with documenting the big showstoppers. I find beauty in the imperfection and chaos that is a real wedding day. When my clients look back at their photos I want them to have more than just a record of their day, I want them to be reminded of how the day truly felt.
Read MoreI (Jen) am a San Francisco native living in New York for the past seven years. I'm a book editor, and passionate about fiction, traveling, animals, good TV, and Vietnamese food. Hari is from India and moved to New York four years ago. He runs a creative agency that works to develop, design, and brand companies. He's a fan of cricket, podcasts, pets, whiskey, and animated films.
Hari took me to the New York Public Library (one of my favorite places) under the guise of meeting up with a friend. He arranged to have one of the security guards let us into a restricted section and he got down on one knee.
Read MoreAndrei and I met at a "horsewarming party" (or at least that was what the Facebook event was called). One of my best friends from Sarah Lawrence was moving in with her boyfriend, Andrei's friend from his youth. They threw a housewarming party in Lefferts Garden. It was a blistering hot day in the dead of summer, and earlier that day I helped a friend move a used air conditioner (read: heavy) from a tiny East Village apartment to her apartment in Bushwick. I could feel a "throat thing" coming on and was really tired, but mustered up the energy to go to the party. I laid on the couch for the first hour I was there when three boys walked in and the music stopped and everyone looked at them in 20 seconds of silence. Not really, but I did become upright embarrassingly fast once I spotted him: Andrei, the man I was going to marry. I accidentally exclaimed out loud, "WHO IS THAT?" He and is friends immediately went to the fire escape because it was unbearably sweaty inside and I followed them. I introduced myself immediately. I ultimately had to leave the party early before having the proper chance to declare my desire to marry him one day or at least get in a kiss. But I told all of my friends before I left—middle school style—to "tell that boy I like him." And they did!
Read MoreI met Jason on a online dating site; when I saw his gorgeous profile pic I jokingly said to myself, "Hmmm, he could be my future husband." I read his profile and decided to message him but he ignored me. He continuously checked my profile but would not respond to my message. Eventually he messaged me back and we began chatting. after about a two weeks or so Jason asked me out but my schedule was so busy because I was in my entering into my second year of graduate school. Eventually I agreed to a date and we went mini golfing at 9 AM! We dated for about 3 months. I had my guards all the way up because he was just too nice... a complete gentleman overall, but he seemed too good to be true. I came up with every excuse possible—school was too overwhelming, I didn't want to settle down; however Jason assured me he wouldn't be a distraction and to trust him and trust my heart. His kind heart and consistency essentially broke my walls down, and I allowed myself to fall in love. He would tell me randomly I would be his wife... just wait.
Read MoreA significant focus of this inspiration shoot was on impactful and stylish details. From the unique mix of geometric pattern and calligraphy of stationery and signage by Cut Above Stationery, the custom written vows by Daniela at Once Upon a Vow, sustainable linens from The Bayith, the incredible pop of color in the florals by Rose Red and Lavender, and the classic pieces with modern flourishes from Party Rentals Ltd. all of the decor was carefully styled by Soiree & Cabernet to highlight but not overpower the features of the Williamsburg Hotel.
Read MoreAmy: I had so many back-to-back weddings with donuts (they're very in right now), and so at a client's wedding, while I totally knew in my heart of hearts they were not donuts, I had a brain fart and had the band announce that the donuts were now out at the dessert table! I was literally looking at these NOT DONUTS and saying, would you like a donut? Then, the photographer's assistant came up to me and said, “Amy, those are not donuts, right? They're like muffins, right?" And I was like, "no, they're donuts!" And then my assistant and I realized: WHAT THE HECK, THESE ARE CUPCAKES. I had a grandma or two ask for some donuts, and I had to sadly tell them we only had cupcakes. I'm a very on-top-of-my-shit lady, but that was the one moment I broke. Could have been worse! You have to laugh.
Read MoreIt's not very often that a new venue pops up in Brooklyn. The American Can Factory in Brooklyn is just that. It's a work-space turned exposed-brick-dream-wedding-venue on the weekends. We snagged it to feature this gorgeous real life couple, Alexia and Charm.
Charm, a Texan, is a new NYC transplant, and Alexia is a born and bred New Yorker. They're planning to get married in the near future, and they thought, why not try it out before the real thing? We happily obliged by planning them a day that reflected them, their love, and NYC vendors who celebrate LGBTQ love stories.
Read MoreMonica and Chris, a Broadway violinist and a violin maker, sat up in bed one evening and realized that the big NYC loft wedding they’d planned wasn’t at all how they wanted to be married. Going back to the drawing board they stumbled upon the perfect little garden on the Lower East Side and decided they’d have a wonderful dinner with 30 people nearby at Edi & the Wolf.
...a car drove by and its male driver slowed to honk his horn to harass us ... Thankfully, I had these two badass women in front of the camera. They coolly looked toward the car, and with the greatest of ease, extended their middle fingers as high as they could ... These two women were the perfect embodiment of what I wanted to represent. Be aggressively yourself.
Read MoreEveryone can agree that no two people (and no two relationships) are alike. Yet so often we fall into a cookie-cutter trap when selecting gifts for the ones we love. The best gifts say something about both the giver and the recipient and the bonds and memories shared between them. If you’re looking for a gift, ask yourself: what makes this person unique? When thinking about the time you have spent together, what are the first images that pop into your head? When you really tap into these specifics and use them as your springboard, you will end up with a gift that is thoughtful, creative, and one-of-a-kind.
Read MoreLeah is a theater director in New York City. Rachel is a history teacher. What better place to get engaged than the set of Hamilton with the assistance of Lin-Manuel Miranda?! Yes, that actually happened. These two are the quintessential New York City couple. For our engagement session, we started at their place in Bedford-Stuyvesant and then headed out to the New York Transit Museum (which is my favorite place in NYC), ending in their old neighborhood of Prospect Heights, where they lived together for years.
Read MoreLiz: So what does your business look like today, nine years later?
Amy: Prosperous.
Liz: That's great to hear. And reassuring to all of us who are younger in our businesses.
Amy: I've had opportunities that I never would have imagined nine years ago. I moved here with 2K in my bank account with a hope and a dream. I had no apartment; I slept on my aunt's couch for months, but slowly I've made a way. Nine years later, I live in a brownstone and make enough money to support myself, my family, and then some... So that makes me proud of myself.
Read MoreSamantha had us meet her at the High Line at the perfect time: just before the morning crowd and runners. She and her assistant put us at ease because we were both anxious about having our photos taken, and they reassured us that we were going to be 'natural' rather than posed. We were anxious about how the morning would pan out, but to our pleasant surprise and relief we had the most amazing time walking the High Line with Samantha and her assistant. A year later I still remember how we both felt at the end of that photo shoot—relaxed and completely at ease and completely in love! We are so glad we picked Samantha to do our engagement shoot. She is an incredibly talented photographer who is creative and someone who I would highly recommend to anyone. We cherish her photographs and displayed them at our wedding, and they grace the walls in our home.
Read More"We have been together for five years. We met in college on an Alternative Spring Break trip to Alabama to work with Habitat For Humanity. We spent the week helping to rebuild a house, and during the process we developed a connection. In the summer of 2016 we got married, and since we were college sweethearts we decided to have our wedding on the campus. It was a beautiful day that we will remember always."
Read MoreAre you a socially conscious couple in New York that gives back to your community? Then you are eligible to win free wedding photography from Corey Torpie!
Read MoreQueens-based wedding photographer Corey Torpie is the real deal. She studied photojournalism in school and has been honing the craft of documentary-style photography for eight years as a professional photographer while teaching courses in the darkroom. And there’s something really different about the images she creates — something captivating about the subtle moments she seems to capture so effortlessly. And those moments are like segues into an unfolding story, one that the viewer can begin to imagine without even knowing the couples in the photos.
Read MoreNatalie and Lucie were visiting from London and got in touch with me before their trip because they knew that while here on holiday they wanted to tie the knot. I was not only their photographer, but also their witness at City Hall. They told me they both love architecture, so after their ceremony at City Hall in Manhattan, we went over to Brooklyn and took photos in DUMBO with the Brooklyn Bridge as an awesome backdrop, as well as the rest of the fun feel of the neighborhood. The colorful murals were perfect for their white outfits to pop against! They wanted intimate and romantic mixed with fun, and I think we accomplished that well!
Read MoreDear Quyn,
Our wedding is just around the corner, and everything’s starting to pile up! We’re nervous, stressed, and, worst of all, worried that all of this anxiety is going to show up in our photos. How do we stay sane throughout all of this?
Help,
Bundle of Nerves
Read MoreOnline two years ago, they both swiped right, despite no written profile. They went out for a quick glass of wine on their first date, but Katie had made dinner plans (as an escape option), not that she really needed them as they got on very well and had quite a bit in common. She was headed to the Cayman Islands for the holidays, and then they lost touch a bit as Sylvester’s matches disappeared! Sylvester remembered what Katie did and found her on LinkedIn; she accepted his request to connect, but she was headed away again skiing in the French alps! He wondered who this jet-setting woman was… Date two was again just a drink (as Katie “conveniently” had dinner plans, again), but Sylvester persevered, and they had a lovely third date at Beauty & Essex on the Lower East Side, followed by ‘pint-size’ glasses of red wine in a nearby hotel lobby. They discovered a photo booth in the basement where they had their first kiss (yes we have the photos still) and the rest is history!
Read MoreCatalyst Wedding Co. may receive compensation or products from these companies. This helps support our site.
Catalyst Wedding Company highlights weddings by and for game-changers. We seek to amplify and empower voices and viewpoints that are usually missing from the Wedding Industrial Complex. We're a community of badass wedding professionals who love all things funky, fresh, diverse, unique, and personality-driven; we convene twice yearly for (un)convention, a collaborative workshop, styled shoot, and dinner party. We're also the publishers of Catalyst Wedding Mag, a resource for couples looking for inspiration and affirmation that doing things differently in wedding-world is not only ok, it's wonderful!
For DMCA takedown notices or other concerns related to possible infringing content, please email jen@catalystwedco.com.
Catalyst Wedding Co. is made possible by the support of our vendors and partners, as well as through the revenue generated through a number of affiliate programs. This means we include monetized links across our site and we may earn a commission if you purchase a product via these links. We will do our best to indicate these links when possible, and will only promote products we believe in.
Copyright ©2020 Catalyst Wedding Co.
