DC just us...need ideas

sabrinazart

Hi all
My partner and I are going to go to DC to be married. We are going to use All Souls Church and its just us, the minister, and a photographer.

Looking for a photographer who is ok with lesbian wedding. Any ideas? We will take photos at the site and then will go to a cupcake shop and take more photos. Then maybe some outdoor sites. If we are going to pay for a photographer we decided to have them spend a few hours taking photos of us after the ceremony and outdoors.
Ideas about where would be helpful.

Any ideas how to do the ceremony? Do I set  the music and other items we want to use at the service up and then go get into my dress and walk back down the aisle?

Any and all ideas welcome.
Thanks
Sabrina

2dBride

First off, welcome, and congratulations on your engagement!

Second, I would suggest asking for recommendations on the DC local board for photographers, and then calling them to ask how they would feel about working with a same-sex couple.  Same-sex marriage is new enough in DC that many photographers have never worked with a same-sex couple, even if they are totally open to it.  If you call recommended wedding photographers, and they sound hostile, you don't have to use them.  But if you limit your search to only those known to be ok with lesbian weddings, you will rule out a whole lot of people who could be excellent.

And I say this as half of a lesbian couple that lives in the DC area.  We didn't use a DC photographer, unfortunately, because we were married before same-sex marriage was legal in DC.  However, we had our reception in DC and used a lot of other wedding vendors in the DC area--bridal salons, alterations, hair and make-up, etc.  And our vendors included a Judaica shop in which the only other customer there at the time was a woman so Orthodox that the men in her family would not listen to a woman singing, because that was considered too seductive.  Nevertheless, we did not encounter any vendors who were openly hostile, and there was only one we thought might have been uncomfortable with us.  We went to one bridal salon in which the owner had clearly never dealt with a same-sex couple before.  Yet when she figured out she had the potential to sell two wedding dresses at the same time, she was extraordinarily helpful.

Anyway, good luck!

sabrinazart

Gracias for your ideas and I will begin auditioning photographers. Its really important that they are ok with us. I want some artsy photos, I'm an artist activist. I am open to anyone who will travel to DC and spend the day with us, documentary style.

We are an older couple and I do social justice work so we are excited we can leaglly wed. Thats why the church we selected, its historic. 

 I will order a boquet in DC from Little Shop of Flowers. My Beloved will bring her duds and I will bring my dress, CD with music and a few traditional TexMex (me) items for the ceremony. It will be just us so now to find some places for great photos.

When we finish our work here in Little Rock then we are off to a home in New Mexico and then a fiesta to celebrate in a year or two. Congrats on your wedding and I am glad you had success with vendors.
Thanks for the welcome and response.

kimmyA08

Luke Eshleman Photography just posted a blog post today of a gay engagement session:  www.lukeesh.com/blog, so he must do gay weddings too.

I think his work is beautiful! 

And I think it's a great idea to take some pictures just around DC afterwards- there are tons of great spots to do this!  Those are the pictures I treasured most from my wedding- just the two of us hanging out, and nothing to posed.

The Georgetown Canal can be a great picture spot for candids after the ceremony... then again all over DC you can find great spots, so I'd pick something that's convenient to the church.