Change The Wedding Industry: World Day for Cultural Diversity, Dialogue + Development

A brief intro from me, before I let you devour these gorgeous images, to let you know that the words below come from Ami of Lo & Behold Bespoke, who has an important and heartfelt message to share on what is a pretty special day today. Over to you Ami…

When we launched Lo & Behold Bespoke we wanted to create beautiful weddings and events that appealed to the bohemian dreamers and wild-at-heart lovers out there, those couples searching for something a bit special. We consider ourselves an inclusive business and always strive to make sure that regardless of who you are, your skin tone, background, religion, size or whom you choose to love, that you feel like we appreciate you, your love story and that we welcome and celebrate love in all it’s glorious forms.

Film by Loved Up Films 

 

Unfortunately this isn’t always the case across the rest of the wedding industry – I know that a lot of people fail to see themselves represented within this environment. When I was a bride-to-be, I really struggled finding dresses in my style that I loved that would fit me because I wasn’t what the industry decided was a standard ‘bride size’. So I know in a very small way what it feels like to feel alienated and ‘othered’ – it’s not a nice feeling.

Now that I’m part of this wonderful industry (and it really is a wonderful, kind, inspiring place to be) I am even more aware of this problem and sadly, how wide it extends. If you’re a person of colour, have a disability, are bigger then a size 10 or are in a LGBTQ+ relationship, finding beautiful inspiration that you can personally truly relate to is not easy, and this can be so disheartening when you’re embarking on your wedding planning journey.

This is something that as suppliers and creators of content, we have the power to change and should all embrace. Ami, Lo & Behold Bespoke

I’ve noticed some brilliant diverse ripples within the industry recently and they’ve all been met with such enthusiasm and encouragement. Whether it’s a mannequin in a wheelchair in a wedding dress shop window, a plus sized model walking in the wedding dress catwalk shows, a ‘gay wedding’ referred to as just a wedding or a beautiful woman of colour with natural curly hair gracing the cover of a leading wedding magazine.

These are all fantastic changes, however they’re still so few and far between they can feel like token gestures. Everyone needs to get on-board and instead of feeling disheartened by the lack of diversity, get involved, feel empowered and do more.

We imagine a time when love is portrayed in all its glorious forms and guises as the norm. When it’s clear that dress designers are designing for women of all shapes and sizes because they show this off in their advertising! When our children grow up knowing that couples of different races can have beautifully diverse fusion weddings. When everyone can feel confident in their own skin to just be themselves on their wedding day and not feel that have to fit into an unachievable and unattainable mould.

This is what empowers and excites me.

Earlier this year, I began following a beautiful American couple online called Hakeem and Jasmine. They are working tirelessly to ensure that more industry professionals are held accountable for creating relatable wedding inspiration.

We never want folks planning their wedding to ever have to struggle to see images of themselves in these spaces. If we have an industry based on love then it needs show more than one version of it. We cannot alienate minorities and marginalised communities by not sharing their stories. Hakeem and Jasmine

To further raise awareness of this, Hakeem and Jasmine they created a hashtag campaign #changetheweddingindustry that launches today on the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development. We are so proud to be a small part of this campaign. We are also thrilled for this shoot to be shared on Love My Dress, a platform that we truly feel is making a huge inclusivity effort.

For our shoot, we sought out diverse models, professionals and suppliers and everyone came together to create something, which celebrates diversity and inclusion.

For us, beauty isn’t perfect, polished and pristine – it’s real life, real couples, relatable and remarkable. It’s treasured keepsakes, handcrafted and intricately detailed. It’s laughter lines and genuine smiles and seeing true friendships and love. It’s vintage items brought back to life and highlighting the aged beauty of something rather then masking it. It’s textures and layers of detail, it’s soft warm colours and bringing things together that shouldn’t work but do.

Earlier this year when I was beginning to plan our 2019 styled shoot I reached out to the team at Larmer Tree as I thought it would be the perfect backdrop for the shoot I was envisioning. Home to a unique collection of ornate buildings set amongst 11-acres of gardens on the Wiltshire / Dorset border it’s an incredible venue. Luckily for me they said yes. I then received an email from the lovely Jenna from Wonderland Invites who got in touch to see about collaborating. Jenna’s designs and bohemian aesthetic compliments ours beautifully and it seemed to be a match made in heaven.
She was also on board with ensuring the shoot was as inclusive as possible…

“This shoot was so important. From the very first conversation I had with Ami, we both knew that we had to stand up and make a change. The wedding industry has been intrinsically cis, hetero, skinny and white for such a long, long time…which isn’t at all representative of the UK, or global, population. 

We wanted to bring together a beautiful concept and a wonderfully diverse team; from the suppliers creating the magic to the models who would be in front of the camera.”

“Celebrating diversity alongside inclusivity was the cornerstone of this shoot. And the ultimate goal…the hope is that real couples planning their weddings feel that are seen and that they are heard, regardless of their age, size, religion, colour, gender or sexuality.”

“It is my hope that this shoot inspires more people to push themselves to source diverse teams and models to bring concepts to life…not to tokenise, but as a real, heartfelt desire to do better at representing the wonderful diversity in our communities.” Jenna, Wonderland Invites 

I am so proud of the final team that came together to help create this shoot – beautifully diverse and so incredibly talented! I think that all contributed to the finished result, which I am equally proud of. I was clear with everyone from the get go what I wanted the shoot to celebrate and why this was important to me and luckily everyone got it and was proud and excited to be a part of it.

The finished photos are incredible and photographer Nadia Meli captured the genuine feelings of joy that were apparent on the day and these quotes from those involved prove that it’s a campaign everyone is passionate about;

“I wanted to be involved because love isn’t determined by race. Everyone deserves to love and be loved. Let’s celebrate a more diverse understanding of love and what love looks like for all types of people. Most importantly let’s have fun… getting married is a celebration for everyone to enjoy!” –  Emma, Model

“It was a beautiful shoot organised by people with a love and passion for what they do. Ami, you put this energy and spirit into everyone involved and it’s reflected in all our efforts and the results” – Will, Model.

“Diversity is about much more than just being involved in a shoot. It’s telling the world that we can be fat and beautiful and be in love and have hot sex on our wedding night just like thin people can. Thinness is not a prerequisite to an enjoyable life, and with a wedding known to be the happiest day of one’s existence, diversity needs to start here. I am a biracial and average-sized woman. In the industry, that means either my white features or my Indian features are extenuated.”

“It means either I wear the plus-size dress that doesn’t flatter me, or the size 2 dress that doesn’t fit me. This takes a toll on your identity. It meant the world to be to be involved in a shoot where I wasn’t put into XYZ boxes, but could just be me.” – Priyanka, Model

“Growing up in an east meets west household where two people of very different cultural and religious backgrounds came together to create my family I have been exposed to the beauty of diversity from birth. Crazy, beautiful & REAL that’s what this world is made of.”

“We are all different shades & shapes, in our appearance and our minds. 
The beauty that becomes of different genes, eye colours, hair colour, skin colours and languages, and the fact we are all unique and individual, this amazing shoot was inspired by just that! I am proud to be part of #changetheweddingindustry – a campaign to awaken the wedding world to the reality and beauty that is all around us!” – Yasemin Bilgic, Makeup Artist