LGBTQ couples on average spend less than straight couples on weddings. "We are seeing they are celebrating their love like any other couples," said Jennifer Spector, Zola's director of brands. Zola, a company that operates a wedding registry website and other businesses, has adopted less gender-specific descriptions on their websites while at the same time ensured diverse images of opposite-sex and LGBTQ couples in their marketing materials. Much of the wedding industry is taking a low-key approach to selling services to LGBTQ couples, avoiding heavy handedness in aiming to convey a message of inclusiveness.
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population, or 11 million people, identify as LGBTQ, according to the Williams Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles. Supreme Court ruling in June of that year.Ībout 4.5% of the U.S. Growing acceptance of LGBTQ couples in the wedding industry is consistent with the relatively swift shift in societal attitude about same-sex marriage.Īccording to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released this month, a majority of Americans - 58% - said they support same-sex marriage, up 8 percentage points from a similar poll conducted in April 2015, just before the U.S. "LGBTQ Wedding Trends & Why They Matter For All Couples" and "Making Your Business More LGBTQ-Inclusive" were among the online and in-person workshops The Knot has hosted. Service providers are attending workshops to learn about the special needs and preferences of LGBTQ people, everything from wedding attire and use of inclusive language in wedding vows. "They are increasingly assimilated into the mainstream market," said Kathryn Hamm, LGBTQ+ education expert at The Knot Worldwide, which owns The Knot and WeddingWire, two leading online wedding services companies.Īt the same time, the industry has adapted. I'm booking more every year," she said.Ī number of wedding services providers interviewed by Reuters estimated 1% to 6% of their annual revenues now come from lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other queer people. Celebrations have kicked off around the world to mark the protest considered the beginning of the modern LGBTQ rights movement.įor Carla Ten Eyck, a Hartford, Connecticut-based photographer, the segment of her business involving same-sex couples has grown steadily each year since the court ruling. Same-sex unions and other LGBTQ rights may have taken even longer to come to pass but for the Stonewall uprising in New York 50 years ago this month when patrons of a gay bar fought back against police harassment. The landmark decision opened up a fresh stream of business for the caterers, bakers, florists and venue operators who serve those wanting to tie the knot. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution provides same-sex couples the right to marry.
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Quirky wedding cakes are just one of the ways in which the $76 billion a year wedding industry in the United States has embraced and adapted to same-sex couples in the four years since the U.S. While rainbow wedding cakes remain in high demand, Bailey prefers using rainbow as a decorative accent rather than the focus of the cakes she makes.
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"You don't need to dye your cakes," Bailey said, referring to the rainbow symbol of diversity that has become an emblem for LGBTQ people. While Bailey believes every couple should take pride in expressing themselves through their wedding cake, she draws the line at making her creations overwhelmed in rainbow colors. She recently made a square layer cake with black piping for a gay male couple who wanted something different than the traditional round cake with gold piping that is served at most straight weddings. June 24 (Reuters) - Kimberly Bailey, owner of The Butter End Cakery in Los Angeles, loves taking wedding cake orders from LGBTQ clients because their design requests are often more creative than straight couples.
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Same-sex unions and other LGBTQ rights may have taken even longer to come to pass but for the Stonewall uprising in New York 50 years ago this month