COMMENT:
I was never the type of little girl who dreamed of her wedding day. I had a vague idea that I'd one day get married, but the dress, the cake, the flowers and the venue were little more than hazy details. When my Barbie dolls married their beaus (and yes, beaus rather than belles, because of 1990s heteronormativity) I was less concerned about the trimmings than the various storylines of illicit intrigue that threatened the impending nuptials. The event itself was simply a necessary procedure to advance the plot.
Now, as a formerly (and in my defence, intentionally) chronically single adult, I've surprisingly found myself happily affianced. I say surprisingly because I'm still staggered that there is a sane human being walking the same planet who wants to spend the rest of their life with me. My friends and family are too, but I digress. Thusly, I'm one very chuffed half of a mushily loved-up twosome that is planning a wedding.
Do you know how many wedding websites there are? Millions. Do you know how much weddings cost? Millions. And a non-essential organ. Luckily, there are plenty of wedding apps you can buy (just $13.95 plus in-app purchases!) at the app store to help you to keep track of your budget. There are also plenty of "wedding packs" that wedding venues will happily provide to help to relieve you of five figures of savings. Because nothing says "true love" like a second mortgage.
Of the many millions of wedding websites, apps, magazines, information packs and the like, do you know how many feature in their advertising (or even cater to at all) gay couples? Anecdotally, I'd say roughly 5 per cent. We've looked at apps that store all of the important information for the "bride and groom", magazines that feature exclusively heterosexual couples, advertising material from an upmarket Waiheke vineyard that mentioned the "bride and groom" in almost every second sentence and various other bits and pieces of wedding paraphernalia that have all assumed that one of us is of the male persuasion.
