Transcripts

RUPA SHENOY: Twin Cities Pride Began in 1972 as a protest for gay rights. Last year, the community was fighting a same-sex marriage ban. After it was voted down, and state legislators began talking about legalizing same-sex marriage, Dot Belstler knew pride would have to be different this year. She started working in January on a new wedding section for the event with Twin Cities GLBT magazine Lavender.

DOT BELSTLER: We started the wedding showcase with a group of vendors that have been long-time advertisers in Lavender magazines. So we know that they're already committed to the community. That's where this started.

RUPA SHENOY: Belstler runs Twin Cities Pride. When the governor signed the Freedom to Marry Bill in May, she says, calls poured in from mainstream wedding businesses that wanted a booth at the event. Belstler says she never thought about raising prices despite the increased demand.

DOT BELSTLER: We probably could have capitalized on some of these wedding vendors, but I think it's more important here for the organizations, the businesses that really support the community and want to be here that they're here.

RUPA SHENOY: Belstler screened the companies asking about their involvement with the gay community. She didn't like it when business owners said they were setting up a separate web page to market to same-sex couples. Belstler doesn't go in for the separate but equal approach.

DOT BELSTLER: That's not really being supportive. You really need to-- if you are supportive, if an organization is supportive, they are going to incorporate the GLBT community into their current advertising, their current marketing.

RUPA SHENOY: In all, about 35 businesses and 6 bands made the cut. Many of those business owners realized their marketing materials needed an update. They pooled their resources for a photo shoot of gay couples in tuxes and gowns. The pictures covered the walls of wedding planner Julie Lyford's tent at the center of the wedding showcase.

JULIE LYFORD: And these are all couples. We only use couples who were really in love and in really committed relationships because you can see the difference.

RUPA SHENOY: How did you find them?

JULIE LYFORD: Friends, I know them.

RUPA SHENOY: Lyford says, many couples are a little overwhelmed. They haven't thought much about marrying in Minnesota because it wasn't possible.

JULIE LYFORD: They can't open up brides magazine and see themselves. And that's one reason we did a photo shoot with couples who are real couples in daydreams of having their wedding. And then it happened to become legal.

RUPA SHENOY: Twin cities florist Alice-Lynne Olson says the gay couples who have come to her have shown some preferences.

ALICE-LYNNE OLSON: They're looking for things a little bit more stylized and clean and classical and not fluffy. Even the girls, what we used to call in the old design school days, the roundy-mounty, huggable hump, they don't want that. They want something that makes a statement.

RUPA SHENOY: Other wedding businesses at pride said appealing to New clients is just good business. According to the statistics site, the Wedding Report, the average wedding in Minnesota last year cost nearly $23,000. And the state's wedding industry had a market value of $644 million. That could increase by 4% in the next year because of same-sex marriage, according to a study released by UCLA in April.

DAVID FABER: we're good at what we do. And if you want a gorgeous wedding, if you want a gorgeous event, you should come to us.

RUPA SHENOY: David Faber is with Event Lab. He estimates that thousands of people walked by his booth. Faber says, the company can handle many more clients.

DAVID FABER: We are actually expanding already. We just switched in a new, bigger space for the offices and tackling more clients.

RUPA SHENOY: Saint Paul resident Joe McManmon appreciated having gay-friendly wedding businesses in one place. He's tried before to go into stores that cater to couples getting married.

JOE MCMANMON: I mean, sometimes you could walk in and you have to be careful about how you say, well, would you mind doing a same-sex wedding? And then you have to wait for their response versus just being like everyone else who can just go in and say, hey, I want to get married. What do you have for me?

RUPA SHENOY: McManmon and his partner, Michael White, had a marriage ceremony three years ago.

JOE MCMANMON: We rented a location. And we had it catered. And we had a minister. And we really kind of went all out for that particular thing. And this time around, it's really the legal side of it.

RUPA SHENOY: And the legal side of it means something because of the recent US Supreme Court ruling that struck down a federal provision denying benefits to married same-sex couples. McManmon and white are marrying in the Como Conservatory in Saint Paul on the first day possible in Minnesota August 1. But this time, they say, they probably won't spend as much money. Rupa Shenoy, Minnesota Public Radio News.