Miss Missouri Lesbian Wedding by Steph Grant Photography

13 May, 2018 Miss Missouri Lesbian Wedding // Erin & Chelsea

Posted at 7:35pm in Bridal Portraits, LGBT, Love, Travel, Weddings by stephgrantdev 2 Comments

Meet Chelsea and Erin! Erin & I first started following each other when she was the first openly gay beauty queen to compete at Miss America. She was crowned Miss Missouri 2016 and has since gone on to do big things within the LGBTQ community. Here’s a little bit about their live story…

How long have you been together?

Going on 6 years!

Where do you two live?

We currently live in Saint Louis, but split our time as much as possible between here and Orlando. When the weather is nice, we love to relax on a nice patio or play in our sand volleyball league. For the most part, we are really chill. We love to just be with our friends, family, and cats.

What is the first thing you remember about the other when you first met? Where were you?

Erin: We were at work and in my mind I was speaking A LOT! Chelsea can be a little intimidating when you first meet her, and I totally was but it was also love at first sight for me. I don’t think Chelsea noticed me for at least a few months.

How did the proposal go down?

Chelsea: I was a wreck and couldn’t stop crying. I do remember Erin stopped me at one point and said “you can do it.”
Erin: Oh, boy! We were at home watching The People v. OJ Simpson. Seriously! We were just in bed and Chelsea kept saying random, serious things in the middle of the show! I finally stopped and asked her what was up. She couldn’t hold it in! It was actually super sweet.

Was there a memory from your wedding that sticks out more than others? Maybe a serious one and a funny one.

Chelsea: Seeing Erin for the first time at our first look. She looked better than I had every imagined and everything came together perfectly.
Erin: I couldn’t sleep the night before the wedding AT ALL and at 3AM I realized Chelsea had taken my hair dryer! I called her and woke her up to scold her since I didn’t have a back up! She was so calm and offered to bring it to me right away. And that’s a reason why I married her, she is also calm when I am anxious and always wants to make me happy. Looking back I cannot believe I was so worked up about a hair dryer that I still laugh about it. I was SO nervous!

What is one piece of advice that you would give to other couples planning their wedding?

Chelsea: Elope!
Erin: Elope!
OK – but really, planning a wedding is stressful and you have to do it YOUR way.

If you could change one thing about your wedding what would it be?

Erin: I wish my nerves hadn’t killed my appetite! Chelsea: I don’t think I would have changed a thing.

Why did you choose the wedding venue/location you did?

Erin: Orlando is such a special place to us. We chose the venue because it’s where my mom got married to my stepdad 20 years ago and it is just SO beautiful.

Did you run into any issues with vendors who were not gay friendly?

Both: NO! Orlando is such an amazing community and we were so lucky. It was uncomfortable to ask every vendor, but the responses were overwhelmingly positive and we really felt like all of our vendors could not have been more supportive.

Top 3 things that make a marriage last?

Chelsea: Communication, Trust, Lust
Erin: We are 2 months in so hopefully this is right!

Why’d you choose Steph to document your wedding day?

Erin: We had been Insta friends for a while and I just knew Steph would capture everything perfectly! It was SO important for us to support other LGBT vendors, too, because we knew you would understand how special this day was for us. It was better than we thought and our guests LOVED you!