Second Summer Bride – Lillian West by Tony Mentel

As a woman of color, it has always been unusual not being able to see my reflection as a beauty standard once I moved here from Puerto Rico. Going through design school, I promised myself that given an opportunity, I would try to change that. Well lucky enough I had an opportunity with Sacramento Bride and Groom to put together a rainbow coalition of vendors and beautiful women representing most shapes, color, and sexuality to showcase what inclusivity looks like. It was a tremendous honor that these allies not only acknowledged that our current beauty standards are lacking, they stepped-up to rectify it by participating in this shoot. I am not only happy that I get to regularly work with these folks, but I also get to call them friends.

It is so heartwarming that Sacramento Bride and Groom embraced the idea of inclusivity for the 25th anniversary, especially considering that Sacramento is ranked the 6th most diverse large city in the US. I was great to use the 2020 Spring/Summer Lillian West collection that honors Sacramento’s bohemian/free/natural spirit and the help from Lead Designer Tony Mentel: to make sure the bohemian collection highlighted our wonderful River City.

As we stood in the hot Sacramento heat and saw the magic we were creating, it was hard not to shed a tear for the joy all the little girls and young women who look like me and the women photographed will experience by seeing their image on a cover of a bridal magazine. I couldn’t say it better than recently crowned Miss Universe Zozibini Tunzi stated during her closing statement at the pageant finals, “I grew up in a world where a woman who looks like me, with my kind of skin and my kind of hair, was never considered to be beautiful. And I think that it is time that it stops today. I want children to look at me and see my face and I want to see their faces reflected in mine.” This photoshoot is dedicated to the marginalized and the under represented, from our spicy gingers to our nubian queens; we see you and what we see is beautiful!

­— Karla Fuentes
Second Summer Bride Sacramento

This was published in January of this year, 2020. Karla’s message is just that more relevant just 8 months later. Black Lives Matter

— Tami Miller
Sacramento Bride & Groom