To our LGBTQIA+ Community:
we See you.
We celebrate you.
and we'd love to work with you.
Love is love is love is LOVE. We've had the privilege of planning queer weddings for years, and we'd love to provide an inclusive and supportive experience for yours. It'd be tasteless to say that your gender identity or sexuality doesn't matter, because it does. We want to celebrate all that makes you, you. We recognize that the wedding industry is rooted in cisgendered heterosexual traditions, and we are committed to continuous improvement to make these spaces more inclusive. Here are some ways YPB has changed our policies to support our LGBTQIA+ clients:
1
Your pronouns are important to us.
Gendering you and your partner correctly is something that we want to get right from the get-go. We ask our planners to share their preferred pronouns, and we will ask for yours. These pronouns will also be used in communication to vendors and other key players to ensure your identity is honored.
2
We use gender-neutral langauge in all of our resources.
Rather than defaulting to bride or groom, we'll write Partner 1 and Partner 2 until you share your preferred titles. We also use "wedding party" as opposed to "bridal party" and strive for similar language throughout our documents.
3
We'll pair you with vendors who share your values.
We want to connect you with someone who will honor your love and values. The investments you make in vendors are as important as they are spendy, so pairing you with the right ones is crucial. We can direct you to queer-owned businesses, inclusive vendors, and a bevvy of resources designed to ditch tradition (or not!) depending on your vision.
4
We recognize the roots of our name, so we are transitioning to YPB Weddings rather than Your Perfect Bridesmaid.
Our name was conceived in the early years of our business (way back in 2008), and we recognize that it is binary gendered language. Nowadays we believe that the planning process should involve both partners. Our services are not exclusive toward the bride - our services are catered toward couples as a unit. While our rebrand is in progress, it is our hope to phase out all gendered language as soon as possible.
