A new home

The BGWP has a new home. We're now a DOT COM! Join us, won't you?

My new guilty pleasure...Wedding House

As part of my (cough) research (cough), I've been spending my days off consuming all the wedding blogs/ magazines/ photography sites/ and tv shows that I can. While most of it is very serious in nature, Channel 4 however, has created the most over-indulgent, hilarious wedding show ever, even topping Four Weddings, which pits four brides against eachother in a Come Dine With Me style wedding-off.

In Wedding House, the couples are allowed to indulge their ultimate wedding fantasies, and instead of the gorgeous, tastefully edited visions that came to mind when I had first heard of the show, I was gutted (and yet surprisingly delighted) to find that each wedding has a super tacky theme, and many of the couples are in costume! Tonights themes include: Alice in Wonderland, Turkish bathhouse, 101 Dalmations, and Moulin Rouge! HAHAHA! Why am I not shooting THESE weddings?!

A New Home...soon

Today I had a brilliant meeting with equally brilliant Marie Dunne of Dunne & Dusted Design. She, all too easily, convinced me that to make this project look legitimate, I should let her build me a new site for this blog. Once that is set up, I'll have a lovely wedding gallery for you all to view, and will look a lot less...well...blogspotish.

If you need a website built, I can't reccommend Marie enough. She's easy to talk to, explains things simply enough for a novice like moi to understand, and really knows her stuff. She also writes a considerably cute design blog called Lust Covet Envy. Check her out!

Board Meeting

 I have the next three days off, and how do you think I'll be spending them? That's right. Gayin' it up.

People have told me that I should send out press and sponsorship packets to local businesses and media. This is something I've, once again, never done before. However I have a good idea of what I want to say and how they should look. The idea is to design them like wedding invites, so it's off to Daintree tomorrow morning for some cute-ass paper. I think I should take tonight off to relax, though. My boyfriend picked up a cheese board from M&S and that brie ain't gonna eat eatself!

So many EMAILS!

Thank you to EVERYONE who has offered me advice, support, and encouragement over the past week. I've gotten some great leads including Senator David Norris's email address from my industrious friend, Sue. Norris, if you're reading this, you obviously got my email. We need your beard on board! Also got some fab sponsorship advice from one of my sister's good friends, Nikki, who wrote me the longest email ever from her iPhone...on a bus! You rock, missus!

Speaking of sponsors, I've got two so far. My mate, Marie has offered to help me build a proper website for this blog, and some bloke called Ronan on Boards.ie is doing me up some ads on Facebook. It's amazing how much useful information I've gotten from complete strangers! It's brilliant really. This must mean that the project is worth while, and that makes me feel good! Thanks to absolutely everyone for everything so far. It means so much to me.

x

A grand reception!

It's still early days. I do not want to get too far ahead of myself, but I'm so excited by the response I've gotten over the last 24 hours from friends on Facebook. Normally when I have a grandiose plan, I'll have one sleepless night over it, discuss it the next day with my sister, Shelby, decide it's absolute rubbish, and file it away under "absolute rubbish ideas." I think the difference between this project and most of my other ones, is that this one could actually mean a lot to the people I work with on it.

Photography, admittedly, is very expensive. As photographers, we're not trying to rip you off or anything. We put a LOT of work into your photos, but I can see where it can be such a financial strain on a wedding couple. As it stands now, if I were getting married, I wouldn't be able to afford a photographer.

On top of helping out all the couples that I can, I'll be fundraising as well...which scares me. I'm so frightened that I'll hold this exhibition at the end of the project, and not make any money. I'll hand over an envelope to Marriage Equality with 20 quid in it (that came from my own wallet) and they'll say "Thanks for nothing, Looooooooser!" Because in my nightmares, people still talk like they did in school. But if I can raise a bit of money for my organisations of choice, I'll be very happy. And so far, despite lack of funds, couples, and everything else, the response has be good. Very good indeed.

Hey Film Makers!

Does your name start with "Werner" and end with "Herzog?" Ok maybe I'm setting my hopes a little high, but if you're a documentarian and interested in getting involved, please contact me. I want to hear pitches from folks who are as passionate about the project as I am. Please include contact details and examples of previous work. Cheers!

Hey Gay People!

Are you engaged? Do you want free wedding photos, but not the kind that come from your creepy, elderly uncle Bob who just happens own a Nikon with a 300mm zoom lens? (Who needs that much zoom at a wedding anyway?!) Well now's your chance to tell uncle Bob to take a hike!

I want to photograph your gay wedding. For free. You'll get me for the whole day from the "getting ready" shots all the way up to the first few dances in the evening. I then spend the next few weeks in post production to digitally optimise colour, lighting, contrast, that cake smudge on your brother's lapel, etc. After you get back from your honeymoon, you'll receive a DVD of your photos in High Resolution for printing. You must be aware, however, that I may use one or several of my favourite shots from the day in the final exhibition.

Hey College Students!

Wanna put that Communications degree to good use? Join the Big Gay Wedding team! It pays absolutely nothing, but it's for a good cause. Areas I need assistance in (aka areas of my own ineptitude) include:

-Getting Sponsorships
-Raising Funds
-Organizing a grand event
-Arranging advertising and interviews

I know you're probably thinking "Jesus, this thing is never going to get off ground." And to be honest, I've had my doubts too, but I believe (and please excuse the OTT cheesiness of this next statement) in the power of people helping people. So please, for the sake of the project, let me exploit your college education!

The Inspiration

 Last week writer/ podcaster/ pundit, Dan Savage started the It Gets Better Campaign with his husband, Terry after yet another gay teenage suicide occurred in middle America. For years, activist Savage has contributed so much and has implored us straight folk to do what we can to help the cause as well, but with no volunteer experience and very little money to donate, I didn't know how I could help. A couple days after he and Terry posted this video, I was wondering why no one had thought of it before. The idea was so incredibly simple. Then it occurred to me that the most basic way for me to help out was to use my camera. So I think I will. Thanks Dan!

What it's all about

The Big Gay Wedding Project is my way to do my bit for the gay rights movement. Unfortunately, I have no previous experience doing anything remotely non-profit, so not only is this going to be a project but a bit of an experiment as well.

The idea is that I spend the next year providing free photography services to gay and lesbian couples across Ireland on their wedding days. I use the word "wedding," of course, because despite the fact that gay marriage legislation still has yet to go through here in Ireland, that is, to me at least, what the ceremony is. A wedding. Also, the phrase "commitment ceremony" has too many syllables in it. At the end of 2011/ beginning of 2012, I'd like to hold an exhibition, with all proceeds going towards the Irish Marriage Equality Campaign and BeLonG To.

I intend to use this blog to document my progress and hopefully gain a few much needed contacts along the way. I'm currently in need of sponsers, funding, and LOTS of gay couples from across the country. Since I'm at the very beginning of all this, any input on how to make the Big Gay Wedding Project as big and gay as possible would be greatly appreciated. Or even if you just want to show your support, you can contact me at ShawnaScottPhotos@gmail.com.