{"robots":"","author":"Kirsten Palladino"}

March 2012

March is a big month in my family. My birthday kicks it off (three cheers for Pisces) and two weeks later we celebrate our twin boys’ first birthday. On the 22nd, Equally Wed celebrates its second year of publishing the nation’s premier online LGBTQ wedding magazine, and then Maria and I finish out the month with our original anniversary—the one we celebrated before we tied the knot. This year makes 8 for us.

Even though Equally Wed Magazine has grown to encompass a larger kick-ass staff, we still think of Palladino Publishing as a close-knit family, and we’re pretty excited at EW HQ about turning the big 2. Like wine, cheese and women, I believe we’ve gotten even better with age. We’ve taken our quarterly publication to monthly. We’ve grown our once-daily posts to two or three times a day. As soon as we publish this issue, we’ll pull back the curtain on our wedding tools we’ve been hard at work on for your wedding-planning pleasure. We’ve got some other tricks up our sleeve, too, that we’re excited to reveal in due time.

What we can reveal to you right now is the March issue, which is rich with the personality, inspiration and ideas, and, of course, the spotlight on the LGBTQ community that Equally Wed is known for. I’m inspired by the four Real Wedding stories that showcase how very different gay and lesbian couples personalized their ceremonies and receptions from an aviary theme to incorporating children and family ties to taco and ice cream trucks.

Our senior editor Brittny Drye heavily researched ways to really help you save money—and know when to spend it with 40 Ways to Save for Your Wedding Day. New this month is our Viewpoints department, in which our regular contributor Jason Carson Wilson debuts his monthly opinion-based column. This month, he waxes on the lack of visibility of black Americans—and the beating they’ve received publicly from their own community, especially when both groups have had to fight for marriage equality in this country at different times in history. Freelance writer and Washington state resident Deanna Duff goes in depth to find out exactly how her state became the seventh in the nation to legally recognize same-sex marriage with exclusive interviews from some of the key players in the fight.

What sets Equally Wed apart from other wedding magazines is not just that we exist to give a voice and a vision to same-sex weddings, but also to serve as a legal resource for education and news on the latest in the fight for marriage equality—in the United States and abroad. I continue to be honored to create a workplace that cares about such important matters, as well as cover fabulous weddings and all the intricacies that come with putting them together.

Happy reading, friends!

XO,