I think we can all agree that the last two weeks have a rollercoaster of emotions. The understandable fury of protesters boiled over into a national outcry, and now there's hope that we can hold America to a higher standard. Boy, has 2020 been a ride.
It's also brought up, for me, several of my grievances within the wedding community. Please bear in mind that these are observations from my years of working in the industry, not an expert opinion. There are loads of those out there, and you should absolutely check them out.
It's about to get a little uncomfortable in here.
The wedding industry has a blonde, white, ableist, fat-phobic problem. Some wedding publications have actively worked to address this problem (hi, Offbeat Bride, Catalyst Wed Co, and The Knot), but there are quite a few that haven't. One continually posts the same styled shoot of a conventionally pretty, thin, African American couple. The. Same. One. Over and over. And yet most of their photos consist of blond flowy hair and super small measurements. I honestly have no idea how they find that many conventionally attractive blondes with 200K budgets. It's a complete statistical anomaly. And when it comes to LGBTQ couples, 95% of the time at least one member of the couple is a blonde girl. There's a whole other bag of worms there, but that scratches the surface.
Originally I wasn't going to call Junebug out by name, but they've openly admitted that they have a problem and have said they're going to change things. Hey, it only took 'em ten years, but I'm glad they're finally here! I won't name the ones that are glossing over their history of featuring almost exclusively white people, but suffice it to say, I am CACKLING like a witch standing over a cauldron at the comment sections of their websites/IGs.
Plantations are going undercover. Lucky enough, we're in PA, so we don't run into this problem frequently. It's not as frequent here, but it's not unheard of. If you're going south, definitely do your research (or ask).
Some vendors are showing their colors. I want to be clear that the overwhelming majority of Philly vendors and venues are doing their damndest to be allies in the fight, or are in the thick of it. We're all for love in the many forms it comes in.
But boy howdy let me tell you, we have some whoppers hanging around. Several venue owners have come out against the protest, some with violent threats. There are some vendors that have always been this way. There's at least one photographer in the Philly area that is known to only take on conventionally attractive white people. There's also another vendor that openly put themself on blast last year for "accidentally" only posting white people. They backpedaled publicly, but it was later found that this person deeply espoused all kinds of bigoted viewpoints.
Here at EBM, we support BIPOC-owned businesses. We support our BIPOC clients. And we won't back down. So I give you EBM's Wedding Manifesto:
We will always support and defend our clients. We only work with those vendors who espouse a better future for America- one where there is true racial justice. We also verify that our venues and vendors are 100% LGBTQIA+ supportive.
2. We will continue to provide inspiration for people of all backgrounds. We
focus on models of all shapes, sizes, colors, backgrounds, and physical abilities.
We've always firmly believed that inspiration shouldn't just be for likes on Instagram.
If it reaches the one right person, we've done the job right. We're still gonna be
weird though. :)
Note to self: never type 'weird' in the GIF search bar again. Here's a rainbow flag instead.
3. We're keeping track. We're taking notes the way we always have on people like
this. It's a prime opportunity, as plenty of idiotic moles have decided to pop their
heads up.
4. We will continue to educate ourselves on racial justice. As the situation evolves,
so will we. We understand that we will never be perfect, but we will always be
learning.
Even the Punisher is showing some love for BLM.
“To sin by silence, when they should protest, makes cowards of men.”- Ella Wheeler Wilcox
From our team to yours,
Events By Merida
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