Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Bridesmaid & groomsman gifts and cake toppers for same sex couples / gay marriage

I was asked by ShopForWeddings.com to talk about bridesmaid gifts, and with all of the talk in the recent elections about gay marriage, and with the Alaskan Governor calling for a special session of the Alaska Senate to determine what to do with the Supreme Court ruling on same sex couples benefits, I decided to take a look at the site and see just what can be found for the bridesmaids and groomsmen for same sex couples. ShopForWeddings says about themselves: "the Internet Wedding Superstore, is the best place online to find cheap, personalized wedding favors as well as groomsman and bridesmaid gifts. Many items with free personalization."

After looking around I found that they had a disappointing selection of gifts for non-traditional bridesmaids and groomsmen. Everything having a "bachelor party" or "bridal shower" feel to it that I just can't see anyone but the most traditionalist of wedding planners suggesting for proper bridesmaid and groomsmen gifts.

I was particularly disappointed with the cake toppers that were available, however, I think that if a couple did not have their heart set on figurines they could have a very elegant looking cake using the decorative letter toppers. I did a small search for "same sex cake toppers" on Google and in the image search I got back 20 results, 98% of which looked like two grooms or two brides from heterosexual sets separated and paired off for same sex cake toppers. Over 50% of the toppers (11 out of 20) were from the same site (gaymart.com).

So then I went to eBay and searched there for cake toppers.

"same sex cake toppers" found 0 items with the following suggestions:
1 items found for same sex cake toppers
2 items found for same sex cake toppers
4 items found for same sex cake toppers
4 items found for same sex cake toppers

"gay cake toppers" found 0 items with the following suggestions:
Try these alternatives:
Save this search to Favorites and get an email when new matching listings appear on eBay.
Post to Want It Now and tell millions of other users what you want.

Needless to say I am a bit surprised. I had assumed that someone had to be in the market of making custom same sex cake toppers for commitment ceremonies. I tried "custom cake toppers" - 12 results, all catering to a bride and groom with the only option for same sex couples being to go with non-figurines or to take the option of a monogram or similar topper. I have to wonder what the people making custom toppers out of clay would say if asked for a same sex couple cake topper.

It has me seriously considering opening a business of making cake toppers for same sex couples, even talked it over with my mom. I used to make fancy cakes all the time, including my parent's 50th wedding anniversary cake, so I know a lot about fancy cakes and designs and such.

It is just disappointing that there are not more bridesmaid gifts and groomsman gifts out there for same sex couples. It's like I told my mom as we were talking "I don't care who you are or who you love, you want that day to be as perfect as possible and there's just something about a groom and groom or bride and bride having to go out and buy two toppers, go home and take a hack saw to them that... it just seems like it would take some of the romance out of it." So now I am pondering the notion of looking into setting myself up a site somewhere to offer custom cake toppers for same sex couples and other information on same sex marriage.

Anyone know of any places that have bridesmaid and groomsman gifts for same sex weddings? (Please no plugs for your own or affiliate sites unless they are TRULY on topic and helpful to same sex couples. Thanks.)

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This post was sponsored by ShopForWeddings.com, however the opinions on the subject of same sex marriage are those of the blogger and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the post sponsor.

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