It's that time again! As you may have noticed, the APW staff has been working hard lately to bring you content each week that not only embodies the ethos of APW, but that also fits around a relevant theme that we don't think gets enough play in the wedding world. The reason we do this is that we believe it makes your contributions that much stronger when they are surrounded by posts that are equally thought-provoking in either complimentary or contradictory ways (like our back-to-back posts on moving in easily and moving in with difficulty).

BUT! We need your help. In order to bring you this awesome themed content, we need posts that speak to the specific ideas we've cooked up. So, if you have something to say about any of the following topics (or about a topic that isn't listed here and hasn't been covered before), please click here and submit your post. It's that easy, and we will love you forever.

• Marriage & Careers
• Embracing Imperfection
• Curveballs
• Opposites
• The Ways We Show We Love Each Other
• Adventures

Oh, and we need posts of all types, so if you've been dragging your feet about sending in a Wedding Graduate post (I'm looking at you EVERYONE), now is the time! Remember, all you have to do is submit, and we promise unconditional love in exchange. So, really, you're totally getting the better end of the deal here.

Last, but not least, we're coming up on the second annual APW Pride Week, which is an entire week dedicated to LGBTQ weddings, marriages, and lives. And while we're always in need of posts from our LGBTQ readers, if you've been sitting on a post for a while, maybe it's time to finish it up and send it our way! And as always, we run almost 100% (Actually 100%? Seriously every single thing we can get.) of the LGBTQ and minority weddings that we receive, but we can't publish what we don't have. If you feel like your voice hasn't been represented on the site yet, the only way to fix it is to submit your wedding! We're trying to change the face of the wedding industry one post at a time, but we need your help. You really do not want made-up posts about Maddie and Meg getting married, and that's the best we can do without you.

So what are you waiting for? Go! Submit! I'll be right here, waiting patiently to give you your hug when you're done.

Editor's note: I know some of you are reading this and thinking to yourselves, "But I submitted my grad post already! Who do these guys think they are, asking me for more?!" And the truth is, we get so many awesome submissions every day and we honestly (truly!) read every single one that comes in. But our staff is tiny and they work super hard, and unfortunately there just isn't enough manpower on the team to contact everyone who submits. We really wish there was, but you know, money, and paying people, and such! So if you've already submitted, then first we'd like to say thank you. And second, rest easy, because often the turnaround time for publishing a post can be several months. (But we'll let you know before it runs! In case, you know, it's been a year since you submitted it and and you forgot we exist.) Even if we're not able to run your post, please know that we're no less appreciative of the time you took to sit down and carefully put your thoughts into words. We really hope that anything you write, you write first for you, and second (or third or fourth) for us. Because while we're nice (we think) the real point of writing is to figure stuff out about your life, no?

I cried watching the interview, I'm not going to lie to you. Come hell or high water, the fact that a sitting president of the United States was finally willing to say out loud what we all know to be the truth, is a powerful moment. We've come so far in my lifetime. I can't wait for the day where everyone has the freedom to legally marry the person they love. On that day, we'll have confetti to throw. For now, I hope this inspires us all to work a little harder, to change a few more hearts and minds.

If you follow me on Twitter and Facebook, you know that I've been writing about wedding planning for Etsy for the last few months. What you might not know is that I ADORE writing for Etsy. It's flat-out the best. The Editor-In-Chief of the Etsy blog is Alison of TeenAngster, who's in the middle of planning her wedding, and she and I are just eye-to-eye on wedding stuff all the time. Sample conversation:

Meg: Is this post too angry?
Allison: Eh, wedding planning is war. Fun war, but WAR.

Bingo. I love them. Which brings me to the big news! Etsy has launched a whole new section of the site, Etsy Weddings. It includes easy ways to shop for wedding stuff (and you know that every-other post on APW we're like, "You should totally shop Etsy" and now it's easier). Plus... drumroll please... they have finally (finally, finally, finally) launched at Etsy Wedding Registry. Some of us have been waiting for this for a billion-y years, and now y'all can use it, lucky ducks.

But of course what I really think you should check out is all the writing on Etsy Wedding. Particularly, um, my writing. Here are my brand new (and some slightly older) articles. It's like picking my brain on wedding planning stuff!

The Guest List With Fewer Tears
Hack Your Wedding
The Registry
The Stuff

And you can check out the full Etsy Wedding Blog here. Hurrah for like-minded people doing something complementary and awesome. Let's keep changing the world ladies... one wedding at a time.

For as long as I've known Emily, of Emily Takes Photos (now the APW Advertising Manger), she's had a dream of putting together a workshop to teach the business side of running a photography studio (something she's brillant at). And then, over the last few months, I found out that Maddie (now APW Associate Editor) had a a dream of putting together a workshop to teach branding (something she's brillant at). So, because there is nothing I love more than a business set-up, I did a huge amount of nudging, to try to get them to do a workshop together. And after a ton of planning, now they are! Emily and Maddie brought on Jonas Seaman (who's doing some of the most innovate wedding photography around, you can read my raves of his work here) and put together The CoLab Workshop, taking place in Sunol CA on May 21-22. If you're building a wedding related small business (it doesn't have to be photography) I think this is a must attend event. Plus? I'm keynoting! I'll be giving my Very Strong Opinions about building a creative business, maintaining your personal creativity, and not acting like a douche (just because the wedding world tells you that you should). I'm going to let Maddie tell you more, and I'm so excited to meet some of you there.

One of the things that always surprises people when I tell them, is that the APW sponsors are actually (many of us) friends in real life. Because of the way that APW advertising is set up, we have the opportunity to act as a support system for one another. We offer technical advice, help each other through tough spots, and celebrate each other's successes. And what this experience has taught me is that being a wedding professional is so much more rewarding when you are part of a larger community that all shares the same values.

Why should anyone care about this? Well, because the wedding industry is crazy. If couples think that the WIC puts pressure on them to act a certain way or to produce a certain kind of wedding, just imagine the kind of pressure that's put on wedding professionals to turn out a certain kind of work. The result of this kind of pressure is that you end up with wedding vendors who do crazy things during your wedding for no other reason than they are "supposed to." (Like forcing you to spend three hours of your five hour reception doing posed formals. NO. THANKS.)

Which can make starting out in the wedding industry seem impossibly hard. So a few APW sponsors got together in the spirit of sharing, and decided to create a workshop that's all about building a business authentically. And that's how CoLab was born.

It's called CoLab for two reasons. Firstly, we think collaboration is one of the best things you can do for your business. The idea that success happens in a vacuum is absurd, but it's one that permeates the industry. We think that sharing knowledge is a win-win for everyone. We can learn so much more from working together than we can alone.

The other reason it's called CoLab is because we like to think of our workshop as more of a learning lab than a traditional workshop. We're not trying to make everyone the same. The best way to achieve this is through hands-on experimentation.

Hence, CoLab. Continue reading The CoLab Workshop: May 21-22