Equally Wed: Your Online Guide to the (Gay) Wedding of Your Dreams

Bridal. Brides. Modern Bride. World Bride. Elegant Bride. Attire Bride. Martha Stewart Weddings. These are the bibles of the modern bride. Chock full of advice about honeymoons and garters and cakes and first dances and all that ... wedding stuff that happens between bride and groom. And except for Martha Stewart, who boldly went where no wedding magazine has gone before and featured a gay wedding in its pages, these magazines are page after page of advice for the soon-to-be-wife of a soon-to-be-husband.

Enter equallywed.com, "the country's premier same-sex wedding magazine, providing gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender couples with a modern, elegant and unique guide to wedding planning." The site officially launched on March 22, and, from what I can tell, it's full of all the things those other wedding rags have -- invitation etiquette and romantic engagement stories and destination weddings and the best waterproof mascara -- and a few things they don't. Namely, gay people.

Equally Wed wants to give you, affianced LGBT folks of America, the non-traditional wedding of your dreams, without your having to cram it into the mold of the Traditional Dream Wedding. Because Modern Bride won't tell you what to do when both brides want to wear a wedding gown? Or what if one of them doesn't want a gown, but doesn't want a tux either? (For those folks, check out the "Broom Closet" for those not quite a bride, but not quite a groom.) And do you invite your Uncle Joe, even though he's against gay marriage?

An argument I've heard time and time again is that legalizing gay marriage could do wonders for a state's economy. With the average wedding costing around $20,000 -- with a yearly total hovering somewhere around $86 BILLION a year on the wedding alone, not counting honeymoons and registries -- it doesn't take a math whiz or a Queer Eye to understand the monetary impact that gay marriage could have. (Unless the National Organization for Marriage is right, and society implodes, but then we'll have bigger problems than state economies.) Engaged gays have the power to put some serious duckets in the hands of wedding purveyors. Equally Wed has vetted businesses across the country and compiled a pretty awesome list of gay friendly vendors for everything from cakes to invitations to officiants. Wouldn't you rather give them your money?

And it's not just bouquets and signature cocktails. The ladies behind Equally Wed, married couple Maria and Kirsten Palladino, have links to Freedom to Marry, and legal advice about marriage in your state. They've worked hard to create an atmosphere of joy and celebration, without ever losing sight of the significance of each and every couple who is a part of the story.

I didn't have a wedding, much to the chagrin of my mother-in-law. It's not because I don't believe in them, trust me, I love a good wedding, but I'd rather spend the money on a family trip to Greece or a down payment on a home. That's just me. For those of you planning the blowout gala of the century, there's a great new party planner in town.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons