Couple creating line of cards for LGBTQ+ community
Most brides don’t SASKATOON spend the week before their wedding on an extensive search for a card to give their significant other, but for Kate Hofstra it was a real and very frustrating experience.
Hofstra wanted to surprised her fiancé Kate Cowles with a gift and card before she walked down the aisle, but after scouring the shelves at multiple stores she couldn’t find any catering to a wedding between two brides. “We immediately knew we should do something,” said Hofstra.
The couple decided to set up a GoFundMe page to start Love Is Proud, an LGBTQ+ focused greeting card business, in hopes of filling the gap.
“Here and there, she’ll sketch out an idea for me of what she wants to go on the card and then I’ll just take that idea and snowball off of it,” said Cowles.
The couple, who are currently printing on demand for people who contribute to the campaign, are already in talks with a few local retailers interested in carrying their cards. They are hoping be in stores from coast-to-coast, with cards for all members of the LGBTQ+ community.
“As two lesbian women we are the majority within the minority,” Hofstra said. “So we really want to cater to everyone. We’ve made cards for people transitioning, and there are also two-spirit and the questioning so down the road we’d like to really include all the different aspects of LGBTQ+.”
Hofstra said while it’s possible to find a wider variety of LGBTQ+ cards from major retailers online, most people shop last minute, assuming they’ll find what they are looking for.
“It was a week before our wedding and we had everything ready to go ... So I ran over to a close by greeting card store assuming I would find what I was looking for and there literally wasn’t a single thing.”
A search by the StarPhoenix at some local greeting card retailers confirmed the couple’s experience. While there were plenty of generic “On Your Wedding Day” cards and a few celebrating a wedding between two men, there were none targeted towards female same sex couples.
Upon inquiry in Hallmark there was a card for a same sex bridal shower, but an employee said they were currently in the process of expanding their range of cards for LGBTQ+ people and currently had one option for weddings — unfortunately, it was sold out.