The Oklahoma Rainbow Collective
@rachelwaters.co
I am passionate about helping people tell their love stories. On my quest to capture those stories through my camera, I made a discovery: a myriad of elements go into making a couple’s wedding day special, but there is no single place to easily find high-quality vendors for all the necessary services - especially for couples who identify as LGBTQIA in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Rainbow Collective is my labor of love and my answer to streamlining this process. It is a comprehensive vendor directory where clients can go to find specific vendors that cater to the LGBTQ+ community to help with all of their wedding needs.
Getting this idea off the ground has been a long time coming.
I’ve been lucky. Being on the inside of the Oklahoma wedding circuit meant I knew many wonderful people to work with when it came time to plan my own wedding to my best friend, Austin. It was a day filled with joy, and I’ll never forget all the people who helped create those memories. But I couldn’t help thinking, if I hadn’t been lucky enough to already know these supportive, talented people, it might have been a very different experience. It can be difficult to find vendors willing to support LGBTQ+ weddings in your community.
The real turning point hit for me when I saw this difficulty firsthand.
One day, a lesbian couple approached me and asked if I would photograph their wedding. They had just been turned down by another photographer. This photographer had told them that their love wasn’t valid. The photographer flat out refused to take them as clients. And they were devastated.
What was supposed to be one of the happiest times of their lives, turned into a painful experience. Because of a vendor whose rejection and hate questioned the value of their union, this couple was being attacked instead of celebrated. They didn’t have a safe place they could trust to find vendors who would support them during this momentous time in their lives.
I was angry. Their experience fueled my fire to put my idea into motion even quicker than I had originally planned. It was clear that there was a very real and immediate need for this product, and I knew it was time to do something.
Fast forward to today, and the Oklahoma Rainbow Collective is ready to launch.
So how does it work?
It is extremely user friendly! Vendors can create an account, provide information for their listing and attend to any maintenance or upkeep. Every listing is moderated and checked before it’s allowed to go public. As of today, there are almost 40 vendors including photo, video, catering, DJs, planning, styling and more. I would especially love to build up the presence of vendors outside of the photography sector of the wedding circuit, so we can build out a well-rounded offering of services.
Why use it?
The Oklahoma Rainbow Collective is the only comprehensive LGBTQ+ friendly vendor directory in the Oklahoma market. Currently it is free to use this service on both sides! My mission now is to get more vendors to participate and build general public awareness of this resource. The way I see it, the bigger we grow, the bigger the community of support we can build.
I created this resource, because I want to support people who support me.
I get questions all the time like How does an LGBTQ+ wedding even go? What parts do you keep in? What traditions do you take out? The answer is: whatever you want! This is fairly new territory, and the Collective is here to help customize each specific couple’s big day into a ceremony that is unique and special to them. This vendor list will help people make their weddings their own and celebrate their love story authentically with no judgement from the mainstream.
The Oklahoma Rainbow Collective is the next chapter of my story. I hope it will be a part of many more stories in the Oklahoma LGBTQ+ community too.
