About Us

What does Colorful Weddings do?

 

Colorful Weddings aims to uplift BIPOC/Minority owned businesses in the wedding industry and provide resources for those in need of diverse or ethnic wedding services.

 

We will accomplish this through providing low-cost/free 

• Business listings on our website

• Monthly networking meetups

• Monthly professional development/learning opportunities

• Annual wedding fairs

 

Why was Colorful Weddings created?

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If one goes to any large wedding fair, looks through local magazines, or attends any wedding/creative networking events in MN - one doesn’t see many people of color, if any. Networking and spending money on advertising can be out of reach for many small, niche businesses, and/or seen as a waste if the folks to network with and the other folks advertising on a specific site - all focus on the classic white/Christian weddings with Caucasian, heteronormative couples.

 

Many cultural wedding vendors may network solely within their own communities, or rely on word of mouth, so often transplants to the city and/or multicultural individuals or couples may not have the same exposure to available services.

 

The Twin Cities and surrounding areas have a beautifully diverse community. Many cultures and people of varying backgrounds. This site and group was created to help vendors gain visibility, so anyone getting married can find options to support BIPOC/Minority businesses, and those getting married can find vendors that may be specific to their culture or have understanding of their culture/language/traditions.

 

Who is behind Colorful Weddings?

 

Reena Maheshwari has been in the wedding space informally for many years doing Henna for South Asian weddings.  She formally launched her own wedding design and planning company - Kahani Events & Design - in 2019 with the goal of specifically catering to ethnic and multicultural weddings.  Having been in this space for even a couple years, she has seen the lack of resources and representation available to BIPOC/ethnic groups, and has been wanting to create change.

 

After speaking with many other vendors who felt the same way, she decided to apply for a CAAL grant, which she happily received.  Since then, she is working hard to create collaborative connections to grow and build this community.  Keep an eye on this space to see continuous improvement and new initiatives!

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Check out our PBS interview here!

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