Kansas newlyweds take photos at No Kings protest ‘to put our values into action’

Many couples opt to take their wedding photos in front of lush greenery or large floral displays, surrounded by friends and family dressed in color coordinated formalwear.

Few couples invite protestors to waive their signs and join in their pictures.

But for newlyweds Davis Hammet and Melissa Stiehler, a sea of demonstrators chanting and cheering seemed like the most fitting background to commemorate their union. After all, the location of the recent No Kings protest against policies implemented by President Donald Trump’s administration — the Kansas State Capitol — has been core to their relationship from the start.

It’s where Hammet first spotted Stiehler in 2018 as she checked people in for a voting rights lobbying day. It’s the place the two have testified on voting rights together and spoken at protests.

On its steps is where Hammet proposed to Stiehler two years ago.

“So much of our life happens in that statehouse,” Stiehler said.

And now, photos of Stiehler in a lacy white dress with a flowing tulle skirt and Hammet in a plaid, brown suit and lavender tie are framed by smiling protesters and their signs.

Protesting because you love something

Hammet and Stiehler chose June 14 as their wedding date and planned to take photos on the Capitol steps long before the widespread national protests against Trump’s policies were announced, they explained.

Not wanting to distract from the protest, Stiehler asked the protest’s organizers for permission to take photos that day, whom she said were “thrilled” to accommodate.

What resulted was “beautiful and powerful,” according to Hammet.

“The crowd was just screaming. And we’ve gotten so many messages from people just saying how validating and nice it was to have that celebration and joy, because resistance and protest and doing those things is an act of love,” Hammet said. “You don’t go to a protest because you hate something. You go to a protest because you love something that is under threat.”

Hammet and Stiehler said they are no strangers to fighting to protect what they love. Stiehler led the effort at the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas to expand voting rights, and Hammet is a co-creator of the “Equality House,” a rainbow-painted house that serves as a symbol of LGBTQ acceptance and advocacy right across the street from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka.

Their activism is what brought them together. In June 2018, Hammet sat on a voting rights panel that Stiehler moderated.

Currently, the two lead Loud Light, an organization Hammet founded in 2015 after realizing how low voter turnout was among younger voters in Kansas, especially for Gen Z and millennial voters.

The nonprofit’s mission is to increase civic engagement among Kansas teens and young adults. The couple said Loud Light doesn’t tell voters how to feel about the issues, but they said it provides tools and resources to make it easier to participate in government more confidently.

While the Kansas Legislature is in session, Loud Light hosts weekly advocacy days at the Capitol. Hammet and Stiehler said they help participants get to know the building and meet with their representatives.

Hammet serves as Loud Light’s president and Stiehler as the advocacy director.

Love and accountability

Even on their wedding day, the two said they wanted to show up and support the No Kings protest.

“Part of the reason that we fell in love and that we stay in love isn’t just because of who we are to each other, but it’s who we are to the world and how we show up for our people and how we show up to constantly try to put our values into action,” Stiehler said.

Many of their wedding guests also came to the ceremony straight from No Kings protests. The couple said the wedding was a great way to celebrate those guests who made it possible for them to be together.

“A marriage is a union that involves love and accountability … but we’re also a country trying to be in a more perfect union,” Hammet said. “That involves love, and that involves accountability.”

This story was originally published June 25, 2025 at 6:00 AM.