When 24-year-old Kirstin Fredrick got engaged last April, she began planning her wedding with a commitment to use all Black vendors for her big day. “Opening a bank account with a Black owned financial institution was one way to make an impact, but spending your entire $30,000 wedding budget with all Black vendors was exactly the kind of bang I was seeking,” Fredrick said. From the venue, The Lofts at Castleberry, owned by affluent Atlanta family the Russells, to the boutique where the bride’s gown was purchased, Frederick ensured that all vendors providing goods and services for her wedding are African American owned and operated businesses. She calls them her “Dream Team.” “I don’t think my spending this amount of money will be life changing to any of these vendors, but I’m hoping that the concept will catch on. Imagine if a hundred brides did the same thing. With the increase in business, the photographer may need to hire an assistant, then that assistant saves up and buys his own equipment, then he realizes his dream of starting his own photography business. That’s how the impact happens,” she said. Read the full story here.]]>
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