The best LGBT friendly wedding suppliers in the UK 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

Hi peaches, Shaaba here, this time with a very valuable list!

As you know (because I simply haven't been able to shut up about it), Jamie and I got married this September 🥰🥰

Choosing our suppliers was particularly difficult, as we wanted to make sure they were:

1) Reasonably priced (mama's only got so much in the savings account)

2) Good and kind people (when you're working with others, particularly on such an important day, this was very important)

3) LGBT+ friendly!

This last one was particularly difficult to navigate, mostly because when you meet us for the first time, we don't 'look' LGBT. Before you start making your quips about pink hair and cuffed trousers(!), what I'm referring to is our straight passing privilege. Jamie and I are both bi, and Jamie is also a trans man. But when people see us, they see a man and a woman. They're not wrong, haha, but it then makes it difficult to know if a supplier is LGBT+ friendly as you can't make a judgement on how comfortable they are speaking with you. (Note: you'll need to play the world's tiniest violin for us here - I totally appreciate that the fact we look like any other straight couple means we avoid a lot of the discrimination same-gender couples face. We're never assumed to be 'good friends' or 'sisters/brothers', though I suspect the different colours of our skin also play into that last one!)

All LGBT+ people know that coming out isn't a one time thing, but it did feel particularly scary to do when asking people if they'd like to be involved in one of the biggest days of our lives! We could of course have not mentioned anything at all, but it was important to us to establish that our suppliers were LGBT+ friendly for two reasons. Firstly, we wanted to make sure that our lovely online community felt they were in safe hands if they used any of the suppliers we did (we take this 'influencer' thing seriously!), and secondly because we didn't want suppliers finding out on the day of our wedding and making anybody uncomfortable (we have a lot of same gender couple guests, and some cute pride touches to our celebrations that if they didn't know beforehand, there was a high chance they'd find out). It was also a pretty difficult thing to avoid because most suppliers ask you about your relationship story to know if they'd like to work with you, and the LGBT+ elements of our story are not things that are easy to hide! Not that we'd want to of course.

For some suppliers, it was easy to figure out. Photographers for example - you knew you had a good egg if their main portfolio included people of colour and same gender couples. But for others like outfit suppliers and cake suppliers, we were less likely to find full on rainbow suits and trans flag cakes to reassure us! We mostly went about outright asking people, and (perhaps unsurprisingly) came across a couple of suppliers who weren't comfortable with our multiracial and LGBT+ relationship (their loss). What we did curate is the most STUNNING group of wedding suppliers, some of which we're now lucky enough to call friends.

We wanted to share the love, encourage you to support their small and local businesses by viewing and liking their social pages, and if ever you plan on having an event, know that we rate they very highly and would absolutely recommend with a cherry on top. So without further ado, here's a list of all of our suppliers:

WEDDING VENUE 💒

We got married at Parklands, Quendon Hall. It's a gorgeous manor estate in Essex, near London. The prices were reasonable, the food was great, and most importantly, it's set on a beautiful deer park with brown and white deer (which just felt like fate tbh we're that silly).

Find Parklands, Quendon Hall on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter!

PHOTOGRAPHY 📸

Dani and Helen from Mini & Me Photography and Pinky Promise photos were THE BEST! You can now hire them individually as they run two separate businesses. Not only are they each highly skilled, they're also total experts in making you feel comfortable, a big must for the wedding day.

Mini & Me Photography: Instagram Pinky Promise: Instagram, Facebook

VIDEOGRAPHY 🎥

Being creators, videography was so important to us! Jade does unique wedding photography that feels more like a music video than a wedding video, which is exactly what we wanted. You can find her Instagram here.

CELEBRANT 👩

India Bel was, by far, the most personally valuable wedding supplier we had! Wedding ceremonies shouldn't be boring, and India worked with us to make sure ours was fun, and a true reflection of us. We have a fun thing coming up where you can go back in time and come to our ceremony with us - watch this space!

Find India Bel on: Instagram & Facebook

WEDDING DRESSES 👰🏽

Abi from Abigail's Collection has the most beautiful collection of wedding dresses I've seen. I've been to a number of wedding dress try ons for my friends, and I tell you, not a single wedding dress shop owner has made brides feel as comfortable as Abi did for me. It's an overwhelming process and you want the focus to be on choosing the right thing for you, not your babbling bridal squad - and Abi does just that!

You can watch me try on dresses with Abi here!

SUITS 🤵🏻‍♂️

Rob runs The Groom's Room right next to Abigail's Collection, they're a great husband and wife duo! Jamie's suit was incredible)

Abigail's Collection and The Groom's Room have won so many awards (totally deserving) because they really are the best at what they do.

Abigail's Collection: Instagram & Facebook

The Groom's Room: Instagram

MAKE UP AND HAIR 💄

Ashleigh Bunce is my go to MUA, she's absolutely incredible and also a star at making you feel comfortable on a very overwhelming wedding morning!

Bee from Bee's Barnets is also an incredible hair stylist for bridesmaids in the Essex area.

Find Bee on Instagram and Facebook

FLORISTRY 💐

Vicky from Simply Stunning Flowers knew exactly what we needed, and helped us with very reasonable prices at a last minute pinch (our previous florist couldn't do our new date following lockdown).

Follow Simply Stunning Flowers on Instagram & Facebook

CAKE 🍰

Kerry Ann from Kerry Ann's Cake Boutique said let them eat GOOD cake. Kerry Ann was so lovely about our story, worked to include Mehndi detailing in our cake, the colours we wanted, and also sends samples by post to your door of her amazing flavours, does it GET any better?!

Find Kerry Ann on socials: Instagram & Facebook

ENTERTAINMENT & STYLING 🎉

The beautiful Alexa & Bud from Shropshire did our styling. A wonderful family team with great props, we fell in love with the moon and clouds photo backdrop! Check them out on Facebook and Instagram.

PuttParty Crazy Golf Hire are a cute family run business that started as a way to entertain kids during lockdown, and their wedding crazy golf course is brilliant!

MEHNDI VENUE 🎊

The Royal Mahal Banqueting Suite in Tooting is a beautiful all inclusive venue. I cannot tell you how many positive reviews we've had about the food, the team were very inclusive, and really well priced too. Find them on Facebook and Instagram!

DHOL DRUMMERS 🥁

Drummers Delight are INCREDIBLE! We had two of their Dhol drummers perform at our Mehndi, the dance floor was so packed, and their fusion of Indian Dhol drumming to popular Western songs was perfect. Make sure to check them out on Instagram and Facebook.

MEHNDI 🙌🏽

Yasmin from @HennabyKapre is SUCH a good egg! Her Mehndi is beautiful, she provides beautiful custom designs, is so inclusive, and I kid you not, my Mehndi lasted for over two weeks! Incredible!

It's entirely possible that I've accidentally missed someone out, so if you've seen something in our wedding content that I haven't listed above but would like to know about, please let us know! It may be that we DIY'ed it, but still very happy to share 💛

Much love, Shaaba x