4 Pieces of Advice Every LGBTQ Couple Needs to Hear When Planning Their Wedding
Congratulations! You have found the person you want to spend the rest of your life with. Now it is time to plan a memorable ceremony that will celebrate the bond between you and your soon-to-be lifelong partner.
Planning your wedding as part of an LGBTQ couple can present some unique challenges in addition to roadblocks that straight couples face. Here are 4 pieces of wedding advice that you and your significant other should keep in mind when planning the celebration of your union as a married couple.
Be Mindful When Creating Your Guest List
Sit down with your significant other and create a guest list that both of you are satisfied with. If either of you are unsure of inviting someone, it’s probably best to omit them from your list. Don’t invite distance relatives and acquaintances who are unaware or disapproving of your sexuality and identity.
It’s not your obligation to invite every member of your family just because they are related to you by blood. Your big day is about celebrating the love between you and your partner. Don’t allow people who you barely have a relationship with, and their judgments, to distract from the specialness of your day.
Communicate with your partner to make sure they are comfortable with who is coming to your wedding. This will help make your day joyful and momentous, and this degree of open communication will set a great precedent for years to come.
Wear What Makes You Feel Comfortable and Confident
Wear your mom’s traditional white wedding dress or buy or rent a modern tuxedo from a high-end department store. If you’re more comfortable wearing casual clothes, more power to you! Choose an outfit that will help you enjoy your day without limiting your mobility.
Get All The Angles
A wedding photographer like Dina Deykun at dinadeykun.com will help capture your and your partner’s happiness on your special day. Your wedding only lasts a day, but a great photographer can preserve the memories that are made. Make sure your wedding photographer meets your budget and is supportive of the LGBTQ community.
Communicate with your wedding photographer about what you would like to be captured. Make sure to get shots of you and your partner holding hands, sharing a kiss, reciting your vows, feeding each other cake, and dancing together. Have your photographer snap plenty of photos of your guests having a good time and celebrating the union between you and your partner.
Keep Tradition (Or Don’t)
LGBTQ identities and religion can coexist. Talk with your partner and determine if you want to have a religious wedding. You can certainly have a religious wedding if religion is important to you both. If you and your partner practice different religions, you can create a hybrid wedding that combines elements of differing faiths. If religion isn’t an important part of either of your lives, communicate this to each other and plan a more secular wedding.
If you want to integrate aspects of traditional weddings, like selecting bridesmaids or groomsmen, having one partner walk down the aisle, or participating in parent-child dances, into your wedding, go for it! If you feel that these traditions are outdated or otherwise won’t work for your situation, feel free to create your own traditions that you and your partner are comfortable with. For instance, you could walk down the aisle together or do away with traditional bridesmaids or groomsmen altogether.
The stress and chaos that can be present when planning a wedding as an LGBTQ couple will be diminished by keeping these 4 considerations in mind!