Gay Weddings are Good for Business

A few weeks ago I was in a clothing designer's studio taking a bride to be fitted for a custom pants suit.  Things were going really well and we made a follow up appointment.

Later that week, that bride's fiancee called me asking to cancel the second appointment with the clothing designer.  Why?

Because the bride's 87 year old mother said to her, "You better not be dressed like a man on your wedding day."

So instead of wearing a custom suit that she was really digging on, the next week we had her trying on wedding dresses.  And she looked and felt like a fish out of water.  I took her to places where the wedding dresses were simpler (like J Crew) but we didn't have any luck finding her something she'd be comfortable in - and that's because she'd be more comfortable in a suit.

This situation hasn't resolved itself yet.  How would you handle this situation?  As you work with lesbian brides, you might find yourself in a very similar situation.

During a gay wedding ceremony, the couple often signs the sacred text, the Foundation Covenant, during the ceremony.  Inspired by the Ketubah and Quaker wedding certificate, this is later signed by their guests and may be framed as wall art.  We love ours and it's a great reminder of the validation we experienced from our guests on our wedding day.

There wasn't too much excitement this week in the world of gay marriage except for a couple of postponements in critical rulings regarding gay marriage in Italy and Malawi.  What's happening in your neck of the woods?

Local news:

• Once again a DC Senator is trying to ban gay marriage, this time by tacking on an amendment to the recent health care law.  Gay marriage has been in effect in DC for several weeks now
• In California, the court challenge to Proposition 8 is stalled because the marriage equality supporters don't want to give up campaign paperwork to the opponents of marriage equality.
• At least 25% of the couples applying for marriage licenses in DC are from Maryland, the neighboring state whose Attorney General just agreed to recognize these legal marriages.

And around the world:

• The President of Portugal sent the gay marriage bill that came to his desk over to the Constitutional Court for review, claiming that he doubts its constitutionality.  Portugal's Parliament approved the bill last month.

Jen and I were at a wedding open house a few weeks ago and one of the vendors, upon hearing of our niche, said to us, "That's great!  I'd love to work with you to support these alternative lifestyles."

As the news became official that the District of Columbia was going to legalize gay marriage, a startup company called GLBT Wedding Services created an event designed to set the Guinness world record of the most number of couples married at the same time.  The previous record was 168 straight couples and the company was aiming for 400 same-sex couples.  It's a very sweet idea and if it worked, would have been pretty cool to see.

Unfortunately, only 10 couples participated.

There's a lesson in this that should be noted as gay marriage becomes legal in other places.   Mike Crawford says it best in this Washington Post article:  "We have been waiting a long time for gay couples to be able to marry, so people are focused on creating events that are going to be really special," says Mike Crawford, co-chairman of DC for Marriage. "And it's hard to be special when you're getting married with hundreds of couples you don't know."

The bottom line is this - gay marriage is rare, sacred and historic.  There aren't very many places where it's legal and only roughly 10% of the population is LGBT.  Gay couples aren't to be tokenized as gay marriage becomes legal.  Marriage is an important institution.  It means something special.  

And you have to be authentic to reach this market.  

How do you feel about large group marriages - even if you're straight?  Is that something you would ever do?

Happy Friday and welcome to the weekly gay marriage news roundup.  This week had some interesting developments. I'm particularly interested to see what happens with gay divorce in Texas.  Here we go!

Gay marriage is official in DC and has been for a few weeks now.  Jobs are expected to be created by the increase in revenue to the Capital. Yes, that's right:  the gay wedding industry is so strong that it can create jobs.  Here's more you should know:

This is the week that gay marriage began in the nation's capital.  Truly a historic day.  Let's start with that and explore the other gay marriage and wedding news of the week!