Portland, Oregon gay-friendly vendors?

lfire

I'm looking for gay-friendly vendors in the Portland, Oregon area. I guess I am hoping to feel totally comfortable on my wedding day plus I like to support our community.

Thanks for your help!


mybigfatGAYwedding.blogspot.com

K&J64

Since this is an international board you may have a hard time getting feed back here. Post on your local board. Maybe the folks there have been to gay weddings in your area and can help. Or even know if there are any gay owned businesses. Also contact your local LGBT organization, I found Garden State Equality to be helpful for vendor searching. The other thing is just to call and be up front on the phone if you wish to avoid any awkward moments in person. You'll be able to read by the person's voice on the phone if they're gay friendly or not ususally. I chose not to clue in the reception halls until we met with them in person because I wanted to gauge their real reactions. Some were very welcoming, others not so much.

Good luck!

2dBride

Honestly, I would ask on your local board for recommendations of vendors, and then call and ask the recommended vendors how they would feel about a same-sex wedding.  In a state that does not have legal same-sex marriage, few vendors are likely to have dealt with same-sex couples before.  However, if you call them, you can get a sense of how supportive they would be.  And of course, if they are hostile, you just don't use them.  Our own experience, though, was that it was quite rare to find a wedding vendor not willing to work with a same-sex couple.

lfire

Thanks for your help. Sorry to post this here, I am clearly showing my newbie status . I have had pretty good luck with just showing up, announcing that we're two brides, and then seeing the reaction. Portland is a very gay-friendly city, but I have also had a lot of people be completely confused and ask ridiculous questions ("Wait, so you're having a dual wedding and your fiances are okay with this?"). Ugh.

Thanks!


mybigfatGAYwedding.blogspot.com

2dBride

Oh, yeah, we had one ask, "Two such good friends are getting married on the same day?"  She actually turned out to be quite helpful, after we'd finished explaining the situation.

lfire

LOL. Yep, 2dBride, that's exactly the kind of comment I mean. Well, I guess we can just keep explaining and laughing.


My Blog

K&J64

I actually had about 3 venues pully the "dual wedding" question, lol. People are so easily confused. All those that went there actually were really very sweet and helpful.

tsarbaby

We're not local vendors, we're from Chicago, but we are happy to accomodate all unions.  We offer adorable wedding party gifts at http://www.pocketspa.com. We'll even personalize and ship for free.

jamiehanneman

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_gay-weddings_portland-oregon-gay-friendly-vendors?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special Topic Wedding BoardsForum:44Discussion:13cfd6f7-340a-41fb-9e39-15a018cee699Post:c74d5137-6e05-4d1a-9676-34fe476800d8">Portland, Oregon gay-friendly vendors?</a>:
[QUOTE]I'm looking for gay-friendly vendors in the Portland, Oregon area. I guess I am hoping to feel totally comfortable on my wedding day plus I like to support our community. Thanks for your help! mybigfatGAYwedding.blogspot.com
Posted by lfire[/QUOTE]



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