Bernadette Coveney Smith

There's not a lot of data out there yet about same-sex weddings so a few years ago, one of my businesses, the 14 Stories Gay Wedding Institute, sought to survey LGBT couples. We created a survey and close to 500 engaged or newly-married LGBT couples from across the...

My inspiration always comes from working with my clients. I don't read wedding blogs (except for HuffPost Weddings, of course) and seldom read magazines. I hear stories from my clients and get inspired. As we explore the options for their wedding, my imagination runs wild. As we walk through the...

In 2002, I was 25 years old and working at a YWCA in a program for teenage girls right outside of Boston. That was the year I went to my first gay wedding.

The wedding was that of a lesbian couple I considered to be my "lesbian role models"....

The Federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the unconstitutionality of Proposition 8 Tuesday in California. That's a very good thing. But don't rush off to get married quite yet...

Although the judges ruled that Prop 8 is unconstitutional, they also said that the ban on same-sex marriage will remain...

I'll never forget the day that I went for a cake tasting with a pair of my brides. We arrived to a bakery where I'd been plenty of times before and had great experiences. When she saw us, the assistant who greeted us that day said, "So, which one of...

One of the cool things about gay weddings is that there are no rules -- so when it comes to decisions like how to be pronounced at the end of the wedding ceremony, we can do whatever we want! Being pronounced "man and wife" isn't even an option -- so...

As of New Year's Day, LGBT residents of Delaware and Hawaii can finally enter into civil unions. Sounds awfully romantic, huh? I have mixed feelings on the subject. So do lots of other LGBT people.

How would you like to be proposed to and enter in a civil union? How...

In my business, the business of gay weddings, I don't see too many of the 400 person (straight) weddings planned by many of my colleagues. In my business, we plan a lot of small weddings. Last year alone we planned 25 weddings with fewer than 50 guests, but our average...

In my business, the business of gay weddings, I meet lots of couples who don't have their parents as guests at their wedding, lots of couples who have created a "chosen family" because their real family doesn't accept them, lots of couples who aren't invited to Christmas dinner.

My parents...

The wedding ceremony is my favorite part of the whole deal. It's why everyone is supposedly gathered -- to witness your vows to one another. I work with mostly same-sex couples and I've had a bunch of them express interest in being married by a friend or family member rather...

One of the cool things about gay weddings is that there are frequently two of everything. Two dresses or two tuxes. Two aisles. And yes, often two proposals and two engagement rings.

Think about it -- in a straight wedding, the guy saves up three months of...

Weddings are the great equalizer in America. Regardless of the style or budget, for many families, weddings are an expected rite of passage. The fairytale. The mother's dream. The father's pride.

Bit by bit, same-sex couples are being invited to participate in this rite of passage. And as crazy as...

There was something missing at New York's Bridal Market last week as my colleague Xochitl Gonzales so brilliantly pointed out. But there was also something there in relative abundance, something important and exciting for brides everywhere...

Pant suits.

Pant suits?

Yes, pant suits...but why are pant suits so...

Make sure "When a Man Loves a Woman" is not on your set list.

No offense to Percy Sledge.

That's just one of the pieces of advice I give when I'm talking about gay weddings. And I talk about gay weddings all the time. I've planned hundreds since 2004, when...