Inclusivity Champions: Inclusive Vendors You Need to Follow
Part of being inclusive and supporting and celebrating the LGBTQ+ community includes learning and understanding - these 10 vendors will help you do this
As Editor of Hitched, it’s so important to me to make sure that we are a site that makes every couple and their wedding party feel welcome.
From the name of the brand itself, to the language we use in our copy - inclusivity and representation are huge parts of our every day editorial work, and a huge part of how we do this is learning, and being open to education.
This education is made possible by a range of incredible members of the LBGTQ+ community and allies who use their own time and resources to share their experiences, insight and knowledge - so I wanted to recognise them as the inclusivity champions they are.
We want to honour and celebrate Pride month, while also taking time to recognise and reflect on its core meaning and messages. Pride is about bringing awareness and global attention to important social issues, celebrating people in specific communities and showing that they deserve a fair and equal place in the world.
Pride is about reinforcing a belief in equality and equal rights, and remembering those people around the world who are less fortunate – and can be in danger – because of where they live.
At Hitched, we stand for equal rights and the freedom to live authentically – whoever you are. With this in mind, we wanted to recognise some of the vendors working to help everyone be more inclusive and informed. These wonderful wedding pros dedicate their time to raising awareness and driving change, all year round.
Here are our inclusivity champions - I encourage you to follow them all if you don’t already, and continue to learn about, celebrate and support the LGBTQ+ community.
Inclusive & Representative Wedding Vendors in the UK
These vendors dedicate so much of their time to informing and educating the industry, but also celebrating and uplifting the community.
1. Stephanie Dreams Photography
Steph (she/her) is an award-winning wedding photographer (running Stephanie Dreams Photography) who specialises in LGBTQ+ and feminist weddings. As a queer person herself, Steph focuses on working within the LGBTQ+ community, but celebrates love in all forms.
She works with all couples, creating beautiful, relaxed and authentic photography for weddings, but also creates breath-taking intimate couple shoots too.
She founded Love for All - a business that offers talks, training sessions, shoots and seminars focused on LGBTQ+ love. This business allows the wider industry to learn more about the LBGTQ+ community, and creates much-needed opportunities for vendors to diversify their portfolios.
Her social channels are a wealth of information and insight, combined with gorgeous, celebratory images of queer love. I personally love the inclusive and representative shoots she coordinates, allowing vendors to diversify their portfolios, as well as her informative reminder posts.
2. Ross Willsher Photography
Ross Willsher (he/him) is the creative behind Ross Willsher Photography. He is currently wedding planning with his fiancé James, and as part of this has been sharing his own experience as a nearylwed and gay man on his social channels.
As well as this, he is the published author of ‘Celebrate’ - a wedding planning book that helps couples feel comfortable in their own skin as they plan.
This wonderful book contains heartfelt prose, uplifting poetry, and of course, wonderful imagery, designed to celebrate love in all its forms. As Ross says, “Regardless of who you love, how you identify and the unique beauty of your body, you deserve to feel celebrated on your wedding day.”
His book was a wonderful read and such an important and valid reminder of the importance of self-love, respect and acceptance.
If that wasn't enough, Ross also co-hosts a podcast called 'Your Individual Wedding' which he describes as the 'most inclusive wedding podcast' in the UK, and with close to 12,000 downloads so far, it's clearly striking a chord with many couples.
3. Proud Fox Ceremonies
One of the UK’s only drag queen celebrants, Martin Fox-Roberts (he/him) will guide you through your wedding vows in a ceremony that is truly authentic to you as a couple.
Known as the Foxy Celebrant (or by their stage name Maria Hurtz), Martin can also conduct your wedding ceremony in British Sign Language too.
He married his partner Neil in 2012, who is deaf, and since 2013 he has volunteered every year managing and coordinating the team of BSL performance interpreters for Pride in London.
Couples interested in working with Proud Fox Ceremonies have a huge range of options for their ceremony, creating something that is truly representative of them, and they can read Martin’s safe space statement on his website.
I absolutely adore the riot of colour and joy on his social accounts - it's impossible not to beam as you look at the posts!
4. Kim Williams Weddings
Kim Williams (she/her) is on a mission to tackle the patriarchy, white supremacy and the outdated traditions in the wedding industry, and we’re here for it.
Kim dedicates so much of her time to educating couples and the industry about inclusivity, feminist weddings and how to make your day much more meaningful and authentic to you.
Her Instagram is peppered with educational, informative posts as well as personal details, opening herself up to her audience and encouraging open and honest conversations around a range of topics, from mental health to phones at weddings.
She sparked a huge and much-needed conversation about safe spaces in the industry after sharing her personal experience of harassment whilst working at weddings.
Not only does she dedicate her time and resources to creating informative content, she also frequently offers free shoots to members of the LGBTQ+ community, celebrating queer love and forgoing any profits for doing so.
I feel inspired, empowered, encourage and informed every time I engage with Kim's content!
5. Your Story Ceremonies
Humanist wedding celebrant Nic (she/her) is a member of the LBGTQ+ community, and leads wedding ceremonies that celebrate your authentic love story as Your Story Ceremonies.
As well as weddings and civil partnerships, Nic can also work with you on other life stage rituals, such as re-naming days for trans or non-binary people.
Nic’s platforms celebrate love in all forms, and contain gorgeous imagery of couples and ceremonies, interspersed with posts celebrating key dates, milestones and significant moments within the community, ensuring that their followers are informed.
6. Flowers & Freckles
Georgia (she/her) is an inclusive wedding florist, and identifies as a lesbian - she’s passionate about challenging the heteronormative nature of the wedding industry, whilst creating modern wedding florals for all couples.
Her Instagram is dedicated to sharing informative posts supporting the LGBTQ+ community, proudly celebrating her own identity as a lesbian, and educating couples on the value of the industry and the creatives who work as part of it - plus of course, gorgeous images of her own amazing work.
She’s also launched her own blog, talking about and celebrating LGBTQ+ love and celebrations, sharing her own personal thoughts, experiences and feelings, continuing the conversation around queer love and visibility.
I have learned so much from Georgia's content and I encourage you to do the same!
7. Lovestruck Celebrant
Tanisha (she/her) is an open and inclusive independent wedding celebrant who wants to celebrate all kinds of love and all kinds of people through her business, Love Struck Celebrant.
She prides herself on her strong inclusive and ethical values. She became a celebrant after planning her own wedding - Tanisha wanted queer and POC owned vendors, to represent her and her partner.
As she says: “We all deserve to see ourselves reflected back, we deserve to work with people who represent us and on a wider scale, we need the wedding industry to move towards being more diverse and more inclusive - so here I am!”
Her Instagram is a channel celebrating love in all its forms, and she shares a combination of educational, informative and celebratory posts, making all nearlyweds feel welcome and seen.
8. Michelle Funky Celebrant
Michelle (she/her) is a diverse and inclusive ceremonialist, who travels the UK to deliver representative ceremonies for all occasions.
Her website contains a diversity and equality promise, which contains her commitments to create truly inclusive celebrations, as well as an anti-harassment policy, designed to keep couples and vendors safe - inspired by Kim Williams.
Michelle shares a range of content on her channels, including informative posts around trans rights, feminism and guides on how to have a more environmentally-friendly wedding. I particularly find the blog content she shares on LinkedIn very insightful as a member of the wedding industry.
9. Glorious by Heidi
Glorious by Heidi is a wedding accessories business run by Heidi (she/her), who is also one half of the hosting duo behind inclusive wedding podcast 'Your Individual Wedding'.
She has an excellent inclusivity pledge on her website, which includes her mission, her vision and her inclusion pledge - promising to use inclusive language, respect pronouns, supporting your wedding free from barriers, but also to avoid sensory triggers and recognising the best environment for you.
Her Instagram includes a range of great content - as well as her gorgeous accessories, her first pinned post contains the message: "Never forget that dressing up is for everyone." She also shares inspiring imagery and important reminders about inclusivity and representation at weddings.
It's important to note and recognise that this is not an exhaustive list - this is a selection of wedding vendors I admire and continue to learn from and be inspired by. There are many more out there, and I would encourage everyone to continue to follow, share and interact with the inclusive wedding vendors that inspire you to amplify their reach.
If you enjoyed this list and learning about this selection of inclusive and representative vendors, I'd recommend you also take the time to check out our Already Wedding Ready campaign, learn more about adapting or removing heteronormative wedding traditions to suit LGBTQ+ couples, and read our guide to inclusive language and terms in the wedding industry.
