13/06/2025
Pride means a lot to meâitâs not just the absence of shame, although thatâs part of it. Itâs hard to put to words without using clichĂŠsâliving out loud, being who you are, being unapologetically yourself. All of those well-worn phrases are part of Pride, but for me, itâs truly embodying myself, real self possession, confidence, and a refusal to shrink any part of who I am. Life as a q***r kid was pretty gnarlyâCatholic school, Catholic family, conservative upbringing, and all the things youâd picture going with those things. Sneaking around, being forbidden to see my girlfriends, and constant weighing of who I could and couldnât trust.
Then I met my husband, and a whole different set of feelings aroseâconflicted joy, resentful celebration, confused relief, a new weird closet I didnât consent to walk into, despite my intense love for Loren.
Iâm so beyond happily married, but my generation of g**s werenât super welcoming to bisexual people. (I was one of those g**s as a 20-something who hated the word âbisexualâ and didnât believe girls who said they were bi). I started calling myself âOmni-sexualâ in jest before pansexual was pt of the lexicon. I thought I invented it. (I did not! đ)
The whole thing was strange. I felt like I was abandoning a part of myself in some weird way. I was becoming less visible, more ânormal.â I could barely stand the word âwifeâ for the first few years of our marriage, and planning our wedding brought up all kinds of internal conflict. This was long before I joined the wedding industry.
Being here now and getting to be a part of so many joyful, beautiful celebrations of love has been such a gift. I love hearing from my LGBT couples, and I love welcoming them to Moab. I love their unique takes on tradition, meeting the family and friends who support them, and sprinkling positive energy into all the flowers I make for them.
My marriage doesnât look like theirs (it doesnât look like what I thought it would as a younger person!), but itâs still part of this LGBTQ family, part of Pride, part of LOVE and celebration and joy, and Iâm just so proud to get to do what I do for all these wonderful people. Happy Pride, yâall đ