The wedding industry is, more often than not, targeted at women as the ones with the purchasing power. However, a lot of it is done in really archaic stereotypical ways. The assumptions that you’ll be dieting for your wedding dress, or that you’re wearing a dress in the first place! The assumption that you’ll be taking your partner’s name, or that you can only propose to your partner on one specific day every 4 years…the list goes on. If all you see is the mainstream wedding coverage, it can seem a pretty alienating place. BUT DON’T WORRY! That isn’t the whole of the industry. Of course with five feminist women running Patchwork alternative wedding registry we can promise you that you’ll only find positive posts that celebrate and empower women on our blog and across our social media. But today we thought we’d share a few of our favourite independent media and events brands that will make you feel good and fill your wedding planning journey with love and power every step of the way.
Catalyst Wedding Co.
Catalyst Wedding Co. offer wedding inspiration and advice, all – most importantly – with an intersectional feminist lens. Their entire MO is to increase the representation of diverse couples in the media, and to ‘engage in critical dialogue about love, marriage, and weddings.’ Those critical conversations don’t mean anything unless they bring in race, religion, gender, sexuality, class, body size, and more into the frame, and the team do so in such an incredible way. We love every single one of their posts!
Dancing With Her
Dancing With Her is a magazine, directory and blog celebrating LGBTQ+ women in love. Though they ship worldwide, they’re an Australian-founded outlet – and you know what they say about those Aussies and their impeccable style! They’ve created a community of ‘women who love women to celebrate their love the way they’ve dreamt of doing’ – and that is what it’s all about, is it not?
Nu Bride
Nu Bride is the brainchild of diversity campaigner Nova Reid. As a black woman, she found it really hard to find representation in the mainstream media when she got engaged – and so she created her own. Nu Bride is multi-award-winning – and rightly so! – and is one of our favourite resources for truly representative inspiration and advice. Last year Nova launched Nu Bride: The Show, the ground-breaking first inclusive wedding show, and this year she’s gone on stage as a TedX speaker. We’re in awe.
Rock n Roll Bride
Kat’s been championing alternative weddings since 2007, when she founded her blog based on her own experience as a bride planning a wedding that was anything but cookie cutter. Whilst still sharing extraordinary and unique wedding inspiration – and now with a bimonthly magazine under her belt too – she also uses her platform to call out the bull**** diatribe that a lot of the big platforms blurt out.
The Un-Wedding
The clue is in the name! Whereas nowadays weddings are a firm focus on love and a celebration of equality, their roots are in the patriarchy. This still filters through sometimes in terms of traditions, which is why Mel’s motto is to make new ones. We love this approach – picking only the ones that mean something to you, and creating new ones that resonate too. (They have a wedding show coming up too, which we’ll be at – grab your tickets here!)
A Most Curious Wedding Fair
A Most Curious Wedding Fair are all about supporting the indie businesses: the artisans, the makers, the movers and the shakers. They’ve the go-to wedding fair for couples looking for something different; a curation of suppliers who are pushing boundaries to create alternative weddings that really feel like you, and who want to work with you to create magic. We regularly refer to them for exceptional inspiration, know-how and know-who. Plus, they promise never to put diet shakes in their goody bag!
The Wedding Collective
We’re proud members of The Wedding Collective, a directory connecting couples with modern, creative suppliers who revel in creating authentic wedding days. We love that they don’t buy in to the usual tropes, instead focussing on what really matters: excellent design and an excellent spouse. What else do you even need, really?
Restless Magazine
Restless Magazine are relatively new, but the waves they’ve made in that short time are sizable and seismic. Curating articles focused at ‘women who give a damn’ (errr, that’s us!) they cover loads of really interesting topics. In particular, we’ve loved a load of great pieces from Alice Snape on her thoughts on marriage as a modern woman. We’re looking forward to more with this modern lens!