STYLED SHOOT: CHAPEL WEDDING - GAY WEDDING BLOG

Happy New Year!
Gay Wedding Blog has been on a break for the last few months but it’s back and kicking off the new year with a gorgeous styled shoot. It was shared with us by Marvin Trevisi who planned and styled the shoot. It was photographed by super duo Vivi & Kate.
Enjoy the beautiful pictures and story behind the shoot (with a super happy ending!) from Marvin.

Eventhough Germany is a liberal country LGBTQI+ people are facing discrimination from time to time. In social life but also in other areas of life. I grew up in the country side of Germany and being a young gay man life wasn´t always easy because being gay was rare and most people found it not „normal“ back then.

I was always asking myself: What is normal though and who defines being normal? Once moving to Cologne, which is considered the gay capital of Germany I found myself in an environment where life was much more colorful compared to my hometown & being gay wasn´t such of a big deal. With time passing my vision of becoming a wedding planner became clearer and clearer. While building my own brand it was always a goal incorporating diversity into my business model.

My vision was to show the world the most simple thing: LOVE IS LOVE.

In Germany LGBTQI+ couples can get legally married since 2017 & have the same rights as heterosxual couples when it comes to marriage. But still gay couples can not get married in churches so there is still some kind of inequality when it comes to same sex marriage. For me being a believer I wanted to show the world that even gay couples should get the chance to get married in church and that there is nothing contradictory about it. My belief is that loves all of us – no matter what age, race, skin color of sexual orientation. Looking for opportunities to make church weddings possible also for LGBTQI+ couples I found the event location „Eventkapelle“ in Cologne. „Eventkapelle“ in Cologne is a small desacrated chapel open for celebrations of all kind for all kind of humans. While visiting the location for a side inspection I immediatley had the vision of a LGBTQi+ getting married in the chapel. For sure it is not the exact same thing as getting married in a church but i tat least it comes closest to a real church wedding and for sure is for the being the best opportunity to allow LGBTQI+ couples to get married in a church ambience. So I decided to organise a Styled Shoot with a LGBTQI+ couple getting married in this special location.

Designing the concept I kept the simplicity and special lighting of the location in mind. I wanted the shoot not to be loud and coloful to show that also gay couples have the desire to celebrate a simple love and a wedding just like everyone else.

Looking for vendors who share my vision I found the LGBTQI+ video- & photographers Vivi & Kate who are also a same sex couple building their own business by telling peoples love stories through their lenses.

To make the feeling during the free wedding seem even more like in a real church I asked the gospel singer Boysie White, who by the way is also a drag queen, to sing „You Raise Me Up“ by Westlife.

Knowing the couples story I found this song very suitable since the two are coming from completely different backgrounds where being gay & finding true, accepting love also was not always easy. Hearing the couples story me and the wedding celebrant „martinredet“ decided to incorporate a sand ceremony into the free wedding ceremony. The sand ceremony should show the guests that the different worlds the couple comes from on that very day oft he wedding would become one world only.

While looking for wedding suits for the couple at the men´s outfitter „Guido Lepper Mode für Herren“ close to Cologne, we found out that the couple that back than were in relationship for less than a year had never seen each other in a proper suit. The emotions already were incredible during the fitting and everyone noticed: THIS IS REAL LOVE.

Just a week after the fitting and a week before the Styled Shoot the couple, Tim-Joachim & Michael called me to say that during the fitting we inspired them to get married also in real life and that Tim-Joachim proposed to Michael. The two are getting married this July already.

On the day of the shoot itself it was raining cats and dogs but the couple filled the location with so much love & made the shoot seem like a real wedding. The affection , acceptance and love their share for one another made even the wedding vendors forget that this was only a shoot. Their love made it feel like a real wedding day. The outcome speaks for itself. They did not need any direction during the shoot and we just let their love language speak. I couldn´t be happier with the outcome becaue if the picture show one thing it is that LOVE is LOVE, which also my initial message and inspiration for the shoot.