Warning for gay couples on Valentines Day

Warning for Gay Couples Planning to Pop the Question on Valentines Day

According to a survey conducted by Gay Wedding Planner (www.gayweddingplanner.org.uk) more than 90% of gay men and lesbians feel that the wedding industry is discriminating against gay men with terms such as bridal suite, bridal favours and bridal party.

With more than 5,000 gay marriages in 2014 in England and Wales that translates into over 10,000 gay members of the population that were directly affected by an industry that needs to adjust to the fact that gay weddings are here to stay.

Gay Wedding Planner and Bellus Events founder and director Petra Truneckova, whose company provides planners for gay weddings throughout the UK, claims the results show that the wedding industry is upsetting for gay couples planning their wedding.

Petra said: “The wedding industry needs to adjust to avoid putting off potential clients and coming across as discriminatory. In many cases this is simply a case of investing in updating signage, marketing literature and retraining staff. Unfortunately, there can also be deep rooted bigotry and a reluctance to change.”

Bellus Events provides gay couples planning to get married with wedding planning help. This is no different to wedding planning for straight couples in that it reduces the stress of wedding planning during the engagement and on the wedding day, but it also means that the engaged couple do not have to deal with prejudice anti-gay wedding suppliers and discriminatory terms. These terms include (with alternatives):

- Bridal Suite – Wedding Suite
- Bridal Favours – Favours/Wedding Favours
- Bridal Party – Attendants, Best Friends, Wedding Party
- Bridegroom – Groom(s)
- Bride and Groom – Happy Couple, Brides and Grooms, Grooms and Brides

Garrett Bright, 40, a community nurse, and his fiance Kristin Hawker, 41, who runs his own building business are planning to get married in the Cotswolds in early 2016 with the help of Bellus Events. Although they feel they can arrange their own wedding, they don’t have time as busy professionals and want their engagement and wedding to be as much fun as possible.

Garrett said: “We hit it off with Petra as soon as we met her and just knew that we were in safe hands. Plus, we didn’t want to have to deal with suppliers and any of the awkwardness around trying to determine whether they are happy to do gay weddings or not.”

Petra said: “It is difficult for couples getting married to determine whether suppliers are homophobic or not. We cut through that, avoiding the awkwardness for the suppliers and our customers.”

Petra added: “We aim to take the stress out of the wedding planning process by making sure that the engaged couple has as little to do as possible and can focus on each other during their engagement.”

The full wedding planning service cost depends on many factors, but it is definitely something all couples engaged to get married should seriously consider. Petra said: “The wedding planning services we offer are a small price to pay, especially when compared to overall spend, the fact that we will often save you money and you only have one chance to get it right!”