The I Do Booth at the Victoria Pride Festival: Five Weddings, One History-Making Day 

Five queer couples got married at the Victoria Pride Festival on July 12th of this year. Right there in the middle of the festival, surrounded by a crowd that stopped to watch and cheer them on. It’s the first time in Victoria Pride’s history that a wedding has happened during the festival, and this year it happened five times in one day.

Where It Started

Cecilia Penner, officiant known as The Vancouver Island Wedding Lady, and I were just talking one day when she brought up a dream of hers: a booth at Pride someday, even just to sit with people and talk about queer weddings. I pushed the idea further. Why stop there? Why can’t we have weddings at Pride?

We didn’t know if it was even allowed, so last year, right after Pride ended, I reached out to the Victoria Pride Society with the idea, half expecting a no. Amazingly, they said yes! That yes kicked off a full year of planning, second-guessing, and dreaming.

We had the idea, but for a while, we didn’t even have a name for it. That came later, once I started marketing it. Putting it out into the world gave it a life of its own, and somewhere in that process, it became the I Do Booth.

It stopped being just an idea Cecilia and I shared between us and turned into this whole identity. Something couples could picture themselves stepping into. Something the community could get excited about before it ever existed.

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Five Couples, Five Ceremonies, All Their Own

Five couples got married on July 12, 2026. All of them were brave enough to stand up in the middle of a festival and make it official, in front of anyone who happened to be walking by. It was so special to see that even though every couple got married in the exact same set up, each pair’s ceremony felt special and unique to them.

One couple had a hand-fasting, hand tied rope wound around joined hands. Another wove in a traditional a Tunisian wedding culture. It was so special of them to bring rituals from home and share with all of us.

Hand-fasting ceremony

The Details, and the People Who Poured Their Hearts Into Them

Mayan of Flowerface Farm put together the ceremony florals, bouquets and boutonnieres for the day, and the flowers brought so much colour and joy to the day. Danielle Lindenlaub photographed every ceremony with so much tenderness and intention (all photos in this article are courtesy of Danielle!). Elle of Candid Creative, a content creator, was filming through the crowd all day.

Darling Cake Co. made a special 4” funfetti cake for each couple, so every pair had something special to cut into. Sea Cider Farm & Ciderhouse donated sparkling non-alcoholic cider as a bubbly toast right after the couples were pronounced as married.

Hotel Zed gifted every couple a gift card for a one-night stay at any of their three BC locations for a mini honeymoon!

Why This Mattered

When we met with the couples, all of them mentioned that being 2SLGBTQIA+ made planning and having a traditional wedding feel unattainable, out of place, or uncomfortable, for many reasons. The I Do Booth gave them the opportunity to just focus on their love and making it legal.

The strangers who just happened to be walking by felt like family in that moment. The way they stopped, stayed, and cheered these couples on through something this monumental. I watched it happen five times in one day and I teared up every single time.

Pride is a protest in its own right. There’s something so powerful about showing the world that love is love, that queer people aren’t afraid to stand up and get married in the most public way possible. As an ally, getting to help build a space where that could happen is exactly why this work means everything to me.

I’m still overwhelmed thinking about it, honestly. Five couples. A fabulous officiant. Amazing vendors and friends who gave this their whole hearts. And a crowd that turned the Victoria Pride Festival into a witness to five new beginnings, all at once.

What’s Next

I had so many lovely conversations on the day, and during all the months of planning before it, about doing this again. Every one of those conversations made the dream of this becoming an annual event feel more and more real. But we need help to actually get there.

This year, everyone showed up and gave what they gave out of the kindness of their own hearts. I will never stop being grateful for that, but I know it isn’t something we can keep asking of people every year. It isn’t sustainable, and this dream and mission deserve more than that.

So if this is speaking to you at all, whether you’re a business who’d love to be part of it, or a couple who’s ever dreamed of getting married at Pride, I’d love to hear from you. We’re already thinking about doing this again, and I can’t wait to see who joins us next.

Here’s to the first year the I Do Booth made history at Victoria Pride, and here’s to it never being the last!

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Planning a Wedding of Your Own?

Days like this are exactly why I do this work. Every couple I plan for gets the same intention, whether I’m with you from the very first idea to the last dance, managing the details in the weeks leading up to the big day, or meeting you somewhere in between.

Your wedding deserves to feel as true to you as the I Do Booth felt to these five couples. If that’s the kind of day you’re imagining, I’d love to help you build it. Send me your vision, and I’ll help you make your fête fabulous!