Founded by straight mom, Gretchen Hamm in 1999 and acquired by WeddingWire, Inc., GayWeddings was the first website of its kind: an online wedding planning resource dedicated to providing inspiration and resources to same-sex couples seeking to affirm their life-long commitments to each other through commitment ceremonies, civil unions, domestic partnerships, marriage and other alternative weddings.
Extensive Wedding Planning Resources
Prior to the site’s closing, GayWeddings offered the most comprehensive directory of LGBTQ-friendly wedding professionals in the world, featuring more than 200,000 wedding vendors.
Kathryn Hamm was the President of the company from 2005-2015 and, after its acquisition, served as Publisher and an Education Expert for WeddingWire.
When WeddingWire, Inc acquired GayWeddings in 2015, it was the nation’s leading technology company serving the $100+ billion wedding, corporate, and social events industry. The company eventually opted to sunset GayWeddings as it moved to make its platform and directory more fully inclusive in 2018, supporting the company’s non-discrimination policy.
The Mission of GayWeddings
GayWeddings has always been a thought-leader and trend-spotter, dedicated to providing wedding inspiration, wedding planning tools, information networking and support to engaged couples, their loved ones and wedding professionals. The founding mother-daughter team strove to be an agent of change and champion of inclusivity in the larger market, and was committed to empowering underserved LGBTQ-identified couples and the wedding industry through access to technology and educational resources.
