Magical intimate garden wedding in Pittsburgh

Due to Covid-19, Lauren and Liz reduced their wedding from 165 guests to 11 and moved it from a lakeside resort to a local flower conservatory.

Changing the wedding style from a large resort to an intimate garden wedding in Pittsburgh proved to be the right one.

“The ceremony felt like we were in a magical garden,” the couple shared with Equally Wed. “Every detail was thoughtful and personalized. We incorporated the neutral colors we wanted (whites, grays, greenery) and they contrasted perfectly to the pinks and purples of the flowers in the room.”

The couple wore silver cuff bracelets in place of traditional corsages, and the attendants carried floral hoops instead of bouquets. To infuse some personal touches, Lauren’s bouquet also contained lace flowers made from her mother’s wedding dress, while the ribbon in her dress utilized her dad’s tie and was pinned with her grandmother’s pin.

Lauren and Liz also wrote their own vows but read them to one another privately before the ceremony and after their first look.

The officiant was Lauren’s cousin, who worked with the couple for a whole year to create their dream ceremony.

“It wasn’t religious but it focused on all sorts of love,” they wrote, “family (both biological and chosen) love as well as love for each other. We talked a lot about how our friends and family helped us become the women we are now which allowed us to love each other. Our mother’s were our ‘ring bearers’ and that was really special to us.”

To honor their love of Broadway, they walked down the aisle to instrumental versions of their favorite songs, which included Once’s “Falling Slowly” and Wicked’s “For Good.”

What advice would you give to engaged LGBTQ+ couples?

Make the wedding you want to have. We spent a lot of time making very deliberate and thoughtful decisions so that our wedding was special to us. Do the things that will make you happy. We wanted to have a private minute with just the two of us after our first look to read our vows with no one else in the room. The wedding was about our love for each other and we wanted to have that moment so we did. Even for our wedding shower, we were both dreading the thought of having one, but we decided to make it what we wanted it to be. So we did outdoor drag queen bingo and our guests had a blast!

Advice for vendors and venues working with LGBTQ+ couples?

Don’t accept LGBTQ+ couples if you aren’t comfortable welcoming them warmly and openly. Tension is very apparent and if you aren’t 100% comfortable everyone will feel that. It’s better to say no than to ruin the couple’s day.

What challenges did you face as an LGBTQ+ couple planning your wedding?

When we were very early in the process, we did find 2 venues that would not welcome LGBTQ+ couples. It was hard to “come out” to every venue and vendor and seek their acceptance. It was very important to have everyone welcome us openly but it also sucked to feel like we were seeking permission. Thankfully, this really only happened with the venues. I feel like that is a challenge though that straight couple’s don’t face. The biggest challenge we faced was COVID. We had started planning in early 2019 and by fall of 2019 we were set-to-go. We had a lakeside resort booked for a whole weekend of fun for our 165 guests. Safety became our priority in March 2020 and we knew we were going to have to drastically pivot by June. Our wedding planner was clutch in helping us negotiate with vendors and plan the perfect minimony. Moving forward with just 11 guests was a hard decision, but with the uncertainty of things it was the safest option.

Did you encounter any pleasant surprises as an LGBTQ+ couple planning your wedding?

Our wedding planner was amazing. Yes, she is family, but also she made sure we didn’t know any of the hurdles that happened the day of the event. She made sure everything was beyond our wildest dreams. Also, the love from our photographer and videographer was especially touching. They both went over and above to give us magical perfection.