This month is pride month! Pride Month is currently celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan. The Stonewall Uprising was a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. Atlanta Artistic Weddings is proud to celebrate Pride month with the LGBTQ Community!

As a Atlanta wedding photographer I have had the honor of shooting many gay weddings. The one thing that I have noticed is that they are the most loving and supportive community that I have ever been around, and their weddings rock!

I want to share a story of a particular wedding that touched me to my soul. I often think of this couple and their wedding. The couple had been together for 30 years and finally were able to get married. They wanted to share their wedding with their friends, family and the groom’s father who was getting up there in years.

As a Atlanta wedding photographer who has shot over 400 weddings I still get emotional at weddings. May it be the ceremony where I see a real human moment. I have gotten emotional during the toast where you really get to know the couple and their friends. The toast at this wedding was the thing that has effected me the most of any wedding I have ever shot.

The dad did the first toast for this wedding. The dad was happy to see that the couple could finally marry after 30 years and that his son had a wonderful partner in life. Then his brother gave toast that I will never forget. He talked about growing up with his brother. He shared his brother’s aspiration to be pastor and helping others. The groom went to seminary school and become a pastor in the early 80’s. When you become a pastor they always say it is a calling because God is calling you to help others and his brother echoed that. After he got out of seminary he was talking to his brother and he had his moment of doubt on becoming a pastor. He told his brother “why does my church hate me?”. That one statement hurt me so much. I thought of the all the difficulties he endured being gay at that time and not being accepted by society and the church. The church should be the one refuge that a person can have in life. I cried so hard when I heard that. Sarah the other photographer who does weddings with me was asking me “are you going to be alright?”. I was the most emotional person there!

I have never stopped thinking about that moment. Now that I have some time between the wedding and now. I think I know why it effected me so. As some of you may know I am church going person and at that moment I have never been so hurt. What hurt me so much was that my church made someone feel like they were hated! The church should be a place for people to be loved. God’s greatest gift is love and it should be shared generously. The world would be a better place if we shared God’s love and were more accepting of others.

Thank you so much for coming by and visiting this Atlanta wedding photographer’s blog. I know this blog is a very personal but I wanted to share it. I hope you keep coming back and visiting and seeing what we have been up to. Drop me a line I would love to hear from you.

Thanks again,

David

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