Category Archives: wedding

lesbian wedding, same-sex, wedding

candice & abigail – married

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Fenna Blue of Short Girl Photography shares the story of Candice & Abigail’s wedding: “Following their awesome engagement, Abigail and Candice were married in the cutest little one-room school house on the outskirts of Wooster, OH on September 8, 2012.  In keeping with the “Country Chic” theme of their engagement shoot, their wedding was full of the most awesome details!  From the school house, to the antique car used to take them from the ceremony to the reception, to the preserves given as wedding favors, everything was just wonderful!  Candice and Abigail used a local florist, Fruitful Flowers, who grew all of the flowers for their event and arranged them.  They had a chalkboard artist create a country scene on the blackboard that ran the length of the wall behind their ceremony stage.  They had dried lavender bouquets for Candice and her bride’s maids.
The College of Wooster, where Abigail teaches, also played an important part of the day.  We met for portraits before the event at Kauke Arch on the college campus, and they were led into their receptions by a student bagpiper wearing the traditional uniform of yellow and black kilt.  The reception was held at The Wooster Inn, a wonderful restaurant that is also LGBT owned.  Standing outside the reception, directing people into the space, was a crossroads sign featuring cities where important events happened for them, with the distance to that place from Wooster.  The seating arrangement was hung in a frame on a table that included their guestbook, some antiques, the favors, and photos of their family members.  The table centerpieces had little booklets with a request to give them advice for the year of their marriage that coincided with the table number.  Every detail from their ceremony to reception was really well thought out and very personal.  It was a lovely day with plenty of sun and lots of awesome, Ohio, country details!
The rehearsal dinner was held at Broken Rocks, a cafe in Wooster.  They used the Black Squirrel Inn for Abigail and her bride’s people to get ready.  Photography by Fenna Blue and Nathaniel Allen of Short Girl Photography.”
A note from Candice: “It was important for us to have our wedding in the community in which we live.  Our message being, LGBTQ people should be able to marry anywhere, we believe someday we will.”

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Vendors:
lesbian wedding, vendor, wedding

mallorie & candy – a mountain top wedding

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this may be one of my favorite weddings so far!  the combination of the awesome scenery with the beautiful couple and all of their details make for a truly amazing wedding!  their photographer, sarah roshan, of sarah roshan photography, did such a nice job telling their story with the images she submitted that she really helped make my job in putting this post together super easy.  so, prepare for a very photo-heavy post – i had such a hard time limiting myself!

sarah shares with us, “Candy was raised in the south Louisiana and Mallorie was raised in Salt Lake City. They both fell in love with Colorado and the hiking, biking, camping, and sunshine that goes with it. In their spare time they love spending time with their dogs and playing ice hockey with many of their friends. They met through mutual friends of theirs and have been inseparable since. When I met these ladies we clicked right away and I knew this was going to be an awesome match. We rode up the chair lift earlier in the day to take some amazing photos at the top of the mountain. I was so taken in by how sweet, kind, and supportive their families were. The joy of the love that these ladies share was celebrated by all and it was truly an amazing evening.”

Why did you chose your location?

-We chose Winter Park because we knew we wanted a mountain wedding
and fell in love with this venue instantly. Of all of the other locations we
visited, it was the nicest and the thought of making our relatives  take a
ski lift to the top was too funny to pass up!

How did you two meet?

-We met through mutual friends and realized we had something when we
moved into the same apartment building and got to know each other better.
We’re very compatible and enjoy the same hobbies, it really is great to
marry your best friend!

How did the proposal happen?
-We were hiking (coincidentally on the last day of The World Cup 2008),
I was really anxious to pound out the hike and get back down in time to
watch the soccer match and I was becoming increasingly annoyed with Candy
because she was taking her time and didn’t seem excited to catch the game.
When we made it to the top to eat lunch, she pulled out the ring and
proposed. It was just the 2 of us and one of our dogs and absolutely
perfect. And, we still got to watch part of the game, which seemed a lot
less important.

Can you tell me a little about how you planned your ceremony?

-I was lucky to be surrounded by amazing vendors because I did not know
what I was doing! I spent a lot of time on blogs looking for fun DIY ideas
(which never really work out as planned). We hired an acquaintance to be our
day-of planner and she was a lifesaver – much more organized than Candy or
me.

Did you include any specific traditions?

-We didn’t incorporate any traditions because both of our parents had
large church weddings and we knew we didn’t want that. We tried to make our
wedding a celebration for everyone in attendance, this was the vision I had
throughout the entire process. Both of our families live out-of-state and we
really wanted to enjoy the short time we had with them.

How was your experience with the wedding professionals that you worked
with?

-We had amazing vendors. My advice for anyone planning a wedding would be
to hire a wedding planner. Having our day-of coordinator was great, but if I
had to do it again I would’ve hired a full wedding planner.

A few favorite things about your day:

-I really enjoyed taking pictures alone with Candy before the ceremony.
we got all of our couples pictures out of the way and got to spend some
quiet time away from our families in the afternoon right before the
ceremony. I highly recommend this for any brides or grooms – throw the “not
seeing each other” tradition out the window, it will make your reception so
much more enjoyable!

what an incredible wedding!  and i can’t get over the scenery in the background of these pictures.  you can really feel the love and support these two women have for each other and that their family and friends has for them.

congratulations mallorie & candy – i wish you both many years of happiness!

(all images credit to: sarah roshan photography)

vendors:

Floral Designer:  Pick Me Floral and Event Design Studio (a 4Real recommended vendor)
Event Venue:  The Lodge at Sunspot
Photographer: Sarah Roshan Photography (a 4Real recommended vendor)
gay wedding, legal, wedding

steve & joe – boston public gardens

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Glen Cooper, a Boston wedding photographer, shared this wedding with me.

Steve & Joe were married on October 8, 2011 in the Boston Public Gardens. They have such an awesome travel theme represented in the details of their wedding and I love that they chose to have a legal wedding ceremony on their 10th anniversary!

Why did you choose your location?
We’ve been together for ten years living in the Chicago area for the first nine. We had considered having a ceremony a few years ago despite the fact that Illinois did not recognize marriage or civil unions (that changed in 2011). When Steve accepted a new job in the Boston area we began to think where we’d like to exchange vows with our families and friends in attendance. We both love the Boston Public Garden and decided to mark our tenth anniversary as a couple by making it official and legal.

Can you tell me a little bit about how you met?

We met online via gay.com. After chatting for a few weeks, we finally met. Joe was just out of a marriage which provided him with two wonderful children and was living in the Chicago area. Steve had never been married and lived and worked in Madison, WI. With weekends together, our love for one another blossomed quickly.
A month after meeting, which coincided with the night before of 9-11, Joe left for a two week business trip to Germany, Belgium and the UK. Each night during the trip we talked about the day’s events and became closer and closer. We decided to write essays for each other detailing our lives, our past relationships, how we grew in our sexuality and what we wanted and desired in a potential life partner. Upon Joe’s return we sat on the floor of a hotel room near O’Hare and read one another’s essays. At the conclusion we were convinced that we were right for one another. Since it had only been six weeks since we had met, we decided that there would be no commitments for 30 days. While in Knoxville in late October, 2001 we decided that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together regardless if it was as legal husband and husband or not.

The Proposal:
After our 2001 commitment to one another, there really was no true marriage proposal, no real need for one. We just decided that since we had moved to a blue state which recognized same sex marriages, we’d take advantage of our good fortune.

Can you tell me a little about your ceremony?
While making our wedding day plans, we used a couple of books on same sex marriage to get started. Thinking ultimately about our ceremony and location, and the fact that 9-11 has special meaning to us, we decided on the 9-11 Remembrance Garden in the Boston Public Garden. Our ceremony had three main sections:

>> Why I Admire You

>> Why I Love You

>> Our Vows to Each Other

We chose a string quartet to play classical baroque music, however with our ceremony location being outside in early October in Boston there was a chance that the temperature would be below 60 or rainy, and they wouldn’t be able to play outside. So, we decided to forgo music at the ceremony. Much to our surprise, it was a fabulous 80 degrees with abundant sunshine! Joe did, however, attempt to sing “I Love Your Truly” off-key, very off-key!
Exchanging the rings was very easy for us. We actually have had our rings, gold and titanium bands with diamonds, for eight years and they are identical and the exact same size. We wore our rings to the ceremony and then truly “exchanged” them after the vows. We periodically exchange them with each other showing our love.

Were any specific traditions incorporated into your wedding and what did you include that had some sort of meaning behind it?
Throughout we decided to do things in a relaxed way. That started with taking the T (bus and subway) from our home in Arlington to the hotel in Boston to get dressed. After dressing (and Joe watching a bit of football), we passed on the traditional limousine to the ceremony and strolled on the Boston Common, by the State House and on Beacon Hill before walking over to the Boston Public Garden, across the Lagoon bridge to greet our guests. That’s all captured in our photos.

We asked a family friend to marry us. He got a one day commission from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, again an enlightened rule which allowed us to have someone important in our family marry us.
Our favorite color is purple; we choose formal tuxedoes from Main Event Tuxedo with a purple vest for Steve and a coordinating purple tie for Joe. We incorporated two other meaningful items in our ceremony. We brought with us and pinned flowers on our mothers and Steve’s father. Secondly, we each honored those closest to us who are no longer with us: Steve’s brother and Joe’s father.

How was your experience with the wedding professionals that you worked with?
We used the internet to find our photographer and our string quartet, Riverview Chamber Players. In both cases, we interviewed several before choosing.

Joe’s daughter designed the invitations and worked with a printer, Cards & Pockets, online to provide an invitation which incorporated our wedding theme: Travel. The baker, Montilio’s took our ideas and provided a wonderful wedding cake – two suitcases with many stickers of our favorite travel destinations. We selected favors on line and each table was a wonderful destination including Paris, Florence, Rome, London and Key West.
Our reception was at Maggiano’s just a few blocks from the ceremony. They were also wonderful to work with incorporating our ideas.

A few favorite things about your day:
The opportunity to share with family and friends was most important to us.
The pace we set and the casual approach worked wonderfully for us and a warm sunny fall day in New England was a wonderful backdrop. We enjoyed having our ceremony in the Boston Public Garden followed by a quintessential Italian dinner/reception with wonderful Baroque music. Finally, developing and incorporating our wedding theme of travel with a passport guest book, our tables set in various cities and a unique wedding cake, suitcases with stickers showing our favorite travel cities. A few words of advice/tips/lessons learned when planning your wedding to share with other couples
Think about what you want focusing on the pace of the day from beginning to end. Pick a theme for your wedding and work around that idea.
Interview your vendors and choose those who you feel comfortable with, particularly the photographer, the music and the locations for the ceremony and reception. Have a budget but be sure that you get what you want, the way you want it. Negotiate hard, but choose those who you feel will deliver what you want the way you want it.
Talk through the ceremony, the reception, the day/weekend and all logistics together with the person who will marry you. Make sure to walk through these items with the photographer, the caterer or restaurant, DJ/musicians, etc. Just remember while planning what you want together, that you do so through love and your commitment to one another, and you’ll have a day you will always remember.

(all images credit to dmpj by glen cooper)

congratulations steve & joe!

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lesbian wedding, wedding

sarah & meg’s bright & colorful wedding

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i am beyond excited to share this wedding submitted to me by Bernadette Coveney Smith – for those of you who don’t know who she is, well, she is THE first gay wedding planner in the country and is also a writer for the huffington post wedding section.  Her company is called 14 Stories and they’ve planned more gay weddings than anyone else in the country.  They’ve been in business since 2004 when they opened their doors as same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts. Now they plan weddings for LGBT and other progressive-minded couples everywhere they are legal with offices in Boston and New York.  i was completely honored that she thought of my blog for this incredibly beautiful wedding.

from Bernadette, “Sarah and Meg’s September wedding in the Berkshires had some amazing rustic details throughout the weekend-long event that definitely pulled out all the stops.  Guests were greeted with name-tags carved out of slices of wood before being shuttled to their lodges and cabins.  Their weekend’s events started with a camp bonfire at the Becket-Chimney Corners YMCA.  Sarah and Meg’s ceremony was held lakeside, and the New Orleans style band led a parade of all the partcipants back to the cocktail party and reception in the beautifully transformed camp dining hall.  Seasonal organic florals by Jessica’s Country Flowers were displayed in mixed vessels and the food was served family-style from large platters.  Plastic camp plates of hummus, crackers, and olives were available instead of the traditional rolls and butter.  Mason jar escort cards contained a bulb of garlic, a packet of seeds, and instructions on how guests could grow their own garlic when they got home.  Sarah’s dress was also custom made by a designer in Seattle.“

So, sit back and enjoy this rustic and colorful wedding.

(all images credit to ilene perlman photography)

congrats to meg & sarah and thanks to 14 stories for submitting this wedding!

*images submitted via two bright lights
lesbian wedding, personal, wedding

loving the rivalry – jen & keri’s wedding

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i LOVE featuring weddings of my friends, and i am SO excited to share the wedding of these two friends of mine.  i’ve known jen for about 5 years now, and can remember back to the beginning of her and keri’s relationship…  i remember standing with jen on the sidelines of the flag football field watching “the cute girl with the striped socks” aka keri…  little did we know then that that “girl with striped socks” would end up becoming her future wife!  i’m so happy for these two beautiful women and know that they each found their perfect match in this marriage. 

so, here is jen & keri’s wedding – the day when one die-hard red sox fan married one die-hard yankees fan…

Can you tell me a little bit about your location?

We chose Independence Harbor in Assonet MA because it was an ideal location due to the fact my family lives in MA and Keri’s family lives in CT.  Independence Harbor (IH), has a beautiful outdoor ceremony site and a nice indoor reception space. Even though the location was beautiful, I wouldn’t suggest IH. They didn’t personalize our wedding and in fact was strictly geared to opposite sex couples. We asked them on several occasions to change the wording on letters that had been sent to us including the actual wedding contract.  It took almost a month for them to revise the wedding contract, and then just a few weeks before our wedding, we still received a payment letter that read ‘Bride and Groom’ in several locations. The wedding professionals weren’t very professional; they didn’t seem to care much to keep the brides happy at all.

Tell me a little bit about how you met & got together:

Keri and I met through the Boston Women’s Flag Football League. She was on an opposing team.  After some encouragement from my teammates I got the nerve to introduce myself at a flag football social. We began to hangout on Sundays with our teams and eventually we met up outside of flag football where our relationship began to blossom. We spent a lot of time together on and off the field, and travelling between Boston (where I lived) and Providence (where Keri lived); we began to fall in love.

How about the proposal?

The proposal was very sweet, private and unexpected. Keri and I were at home having a relaxing date night, but little did I know she had more in mind. She had the ring in her pocket all night just waiting for the right moment to pop the question. After the movie ended Keri took the ring out of her pocket and asked me to marry her. I thought she was joking around with a fake ring. I asked her several times if she was serious or if she was joking. Keri assured me that this was the real thing. She made me the happiest person alive at that very moment and still does to this day.

Any important songs included in your wedding day?

Our wedding song was “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol. This song has great significance because Keri asked me to dance to this song when we first started dating. Every time I hear that song it reminds me of her. Just by chance we saw a couple having their first dance to the same song when we were on our honeymoon.

We walked down the aisle to “Everything” by Lifehouse. Keri and I connected to the lyrics of this song. We also had the DJ play “Only You Can Love Me This Way” By Keith Urban. I wasn’t a country fan until I met Keri and now we both share a love for Keith Urban’s music.

How about any cool specifics of you day:

One of my favorite specifics about our wedding was the two wedding aisles. We were trying to work out the details about who was going to walk down first and Keri came up with the good idea to have two wedding aisles instead of one. Two brides therefore two aisles.

We chose a cranberry color for our wedding party. We wanted to have a fall color theme.

Keri and I share a deep passion for baseball but we cheer for opposing teams. Keri is a Yankees fan and I am a Red Sox Fan. Because we both share such passion we made Sox/ Yankees themed save the dates, wedding favors and incorporated a short line in our vows. This is a loving rivalry we share which extends to the flag football league as well, due the fact that we are on opposing teams. What were your favorite things about the day?

I was in the dressing room with my Dad waiting for the ceremony to start. I was becoming more and more anxious to get outside to see Keri. He was trying to keep me relaxed by joking around, I enjoyed those special moments with him.

Seeing Keri for the first time in her wedding dress as we both walked toward our aisles will be an image I will never forget. She was breathtakingly beautiful, and I felt like running down the aisle because I couldn’t wait to become her wife.

The actually ceremony was a highlight for me, looking into Keri’s eyes and promising our lives together. How beautiful she looked, her touching words, it was just her and I. Our Justice of the Peace was amazing, Barbara Medeiros.

Any advice to share with others planning their wedding?

Most importantly, don’t sweat the details. It is all about you marrying your best friend, soul mate and the rest is just icing on the cake.

well, we had an awesome time at their wedding.  their ceremony was incredibly heartfelt, dinner was delicious, and there was tons of dancing late into the evening…

congrats jen & keri mcinnis! may you have many years filled with love, happiness, and red sox-yankees/irish-foul play rivalry….

(images courtesy of dana pierce photography & a few personal images)

many thanks to dana pierce for sharing all of these beautiful pictures with me!

lesbian wedding, wedding

real lesbian wedding – laura & laura

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i was so excited to receive this submission the other day from one of my readers!  laura has been reading my blog for a while and also writes her own – becoming mums, which i love to read as well, as my wife and i are in a similar situation (trying to “become mums”).  it’s so nice to “meet” people online who have similar experiences to you and to keep up with their lives on a regular basis through their blogs…

laura & laura were married on the 13th of August 2011, at the Rowhill Grange Hotel, in Kent, England.  they had a beautiful outdoor ceremony under a gazebo and then a fun reception afterwards inside the hotel.  everything from their dresses, to their tiaras, to their wedding cake is just awesome and all works together!  they did an incredible job putting it all together and i’m excited to share their english country garden wedding with you.

so, without further adue, all the way from england, here is laura & laura’s wedding!

Why did you chose your location?

We decided early on that our guest list was the number one priority for us – we wanted all our friends and family to be there to share our day.  We had quite a few family members travelling from various parts of the country so preferably we wanted somewhere that included accommodation or had hotels nearby.  Rowhill Grange is a spa hotel, but is also only a short drive from a couple of cheaper chain hotels, so everyone could be catered for.  We also had a lot of colleagues and friends who live local to us and we didn’t want them to have to fork out for a hotel if we could find somewhere near enough to be a taxi drive away.  This limited our options to venues close to where we live.  Having said all that, when we first visited Rowhill Grange, we absolutely loved the way it looked and loved the idea of an outdoor ceremony.  We checked out a couple of other places, but there really was no competition.


Tell me a little bit about where/how you met:

We met at work and were actually both seeing other people at the time, but eventually we realised we were meant to be together (alcohol helped).  We kept our relationship quiet at first, because we were worried it could be awkward working together, but everyone at work has been brilliant and loads of them came to the wedding.  We are both teachers and even the children know we are married now, which is great.

The Proposal:

I planned it for ages.  I had secretly had a ring made based on one she had seen and loved and booked us into a restaurant of a famous British TV chef we both like.  It was a couple of weeks after Christmas and I told Laura that she had one more Christmas present to come, but that it was a surprise.  I’d also booked us into a cottage over night so I packed a case for us and then we got in the car.  Laura said she was mentally ruling places out as we travelled along the motorway and passed various turn offs.  As we pulled into the village, she realised where I was taking her and was thrilled.  That night we went for our meal and once we had sat down and had a glass of champagne in front of us, I stumbled my way through a little speech I’d rehearsed and put the ring in front of her.  Her immediate response was to kiss me, which was lovely, but then I had to ask, “So, is that a yes?”  It was an amazing evening, bettered only by our wedding day itself.


Were traditions incorporated into the day and other cool specifics – why a certain color pallet – what did you include in your day that had some sort of meaning behind it?

When we first started thinking about the aesthetics of the day, we googled bridesmaids dresses to get some ideas.  We found a picture of some bridesmaids in a very pale grey/green and really liked it. 

Then we were browsing in a department store and found these mosaic green glass vases that were on sale at half price.  We bought them to use as centrepieces, thinking initially that we could put candles in them, although they ended up with flowers in.  The green glass had a metallic, oily sheen with pinks and purples in, so we tied those colours in with our bouquets and the flowers on the tables too.


Our table plan and table names were handmade.  We didn’t like the idea of having table numbers, but struggled to think of a theme for table names until we came up with the idea of famous lesbians.  In a lot of ways our day was very traditional and we wanted something a little bit different.  Each table name had a picture of a well-known lesbian along with some information about what they were famous for and some detail about their coming out or gay rights activism.  I managed to make them look quite classy, printing the pictures in sepia onto ivory card backed with a sort of burnished gold that matched the style of our invitations.  As we’d hoped it was a great talking point and the guests really got a kick out of it, as did we.  The top table was ‘Ellen DeGeneres’ of course!


How was your experience with the wedding professionals that you worked with?

Our day came together perfectly in the end, but we felt like we often had to do a lot of chasing of the people we had hired to do various things.  It took us months to pay the fee for our ceremony, for example, because the payment department was constantly busy, no matter how many times we phoned!  We were very happy with the professionals we chose in terms of their being ‘gay-friendly’ although we did have a rather unpleasant encounter with a toastmaster at a wedding fair, who refused to believe we were marrying each other.  Needless to say, we decided against having a toastmaster, particularly him!

A few favorite things about your day:

It’s so hard to pick out one or two really special parts because the day itself was just one long amazing experience.  We’d decided that we would both walk down the aisle, but that I’d go first and then Laura would follow and the hotel worked very hard to make sure we didn’t see each other before that moment. 

(i love this image of the train of her dress!)

We had chosen our dresses together to make sure they complemented each other, but hadn’t seen them again at any of the fittings, or seen the other’s hair and makeup.  I didn’t expect seeing Laura for the first time to affect me the way it did, but the moment she appeared from behind the trees at the end of the aisle my eyes welled up and I really had to struggle not to cry (I didn’t want to ruin my makeup!).  She looked SO beautiful i just couldn’t hold it together.

Another highlight was the speeches.  My brother’s Best Man speech was pretty much a stand-up comedy routine about lesbian weddings and was very, VERY funny.  Several people have told me it was the best wedding speech they’d ever heard and I’d have to agree.  He had us all in fits of laughter and it really did make the day even better!


Our cake was pretty amazing too.  It was ridiculously expensive considering that, ultimately, it was a CAKE.  But we spent days debating whether or not it was worth spending that much money on a cake and eventually decided that it was, because it really was like no other wedding cake we had ever seen.  Plus it was DELICIOUS!  We had a chocolate layer, a strawberry layer and an apple layer, but those descriptions do not do justice to how totally amazing it tasted!(um, look at their cake!!)


A few words of advice/tips/lessons learned when planning your wedding to share with other couples
Remember that you won’t be able to please everybody – and that the most important people are the two of you!  Don’t let other people dictate what your wedding should be like. Remember to relax and enjoy the day.  Also, we didn’t realise how much time we would spend with the photographer on the day.  When we realised that, we were so glad we’d chosen the photographer we did, because he really put us at ease and we were barely even aware he was taking photos – and yet look at the brilliant results.  Choose your photographer with care as this is really one of the most important decisions!

congratulations laura & laura!  i wish you many years of love and happiness.  and much success on your journey of becoming mums!  i can’t wait to read more of your story.

legal, lesbian wedding, wedding

real lesbian wedding – katie & alyssa

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this colorful and fun wedding was shared with me by aubrey greene photography.  i love  rainbows – and it looks like these brides do too!  you can tell from their words and these images that they really personalized their wedding.

i’m excited to present: katie & alyssa!

From the brides: “We got married at Willowdale Estate in Topsfield, MA on a chilly, cloudy, beautiful day surrounded by our families and closest friends.  We each had a bridal party of four of our favorite people and created a rainbow theme with their shoes and flowers.  We often felt like we were planning the straightest gay wedding EVER! To gay it up a bit, we incorporated a rainbow theme with our flowers and shoes. Alyssa’s side even rocked some colorful tye-dye under their dresses!

The hour or so before the wedding that we got to spend getting ready with our parents, siblings and best friends was a really great way to begin the day and get excited for all of the other things that were to come.How did you make your ceremony meaningful for the both of you?

We asked Alyssa’s aunt to perform the ceremony because we wanted someone who knew us both well to be the one to marry us.  We chose poems by Maya Angelou, Pablo Neruda, and e.e. cummings for family members and friends to read and even asked a friend to write one for us herself.  During the readings, our wedding bands were passed around to every person in the audience to hold for a moment and put their most positive thoughts and wishes into them.  It was a great way to include everyone in our celebration.

After the ceremony, it was all about dessert and dancing. We had cake, an ice cream sundae bar and gigantic, and warm chocolate chip cookies.

Guests flowed between the dance floor and the photo booth, which allowed us to capture some awesome memories instantly. The photo booth pictures were pasted in a scrapbook and our guests wrote extra nice notes for us next to their hilarious poses. We really enjoyed looking through the book the next morning.

In the end, despite some seriously stressful moments during the planning phases, our wedding day was exactly what we wanted it to be: unique, colorful, and all about our love!

What was your favorite moment of the day?

Katie: The brief moments that we had alone between the ceremony and the reception.  It gave us some time to talk and share our excitement about finally being married!Alyssa: When the ceremony, pictures, formal dances and speeches were over, the pressure was off and we finally got to dance and celebrate with our friends and family as a couple of married ladies!

Some tips for other couples planning their wedding you wish you would have known:

1) Take A LOT of deep breaths.

2 ) Always remember that in the end, this day should be all about YOU and celebrating your love with friends and family.  The place cards, invitations, and meal options will not matter in 20 years, but how you felt that day will stay with you.

3) Don’t ask for advice unless you are ready to hear EVERYONE’S opinion.

Congrats Katie & Alyssa! And thank you for sharing your wedding with us!

(all images courtesy of aubrey greene photography)

Vendors:
Photographer: Aubrey Greene
Venue: Willowdale Estate, Topsfield, MA
Florist: Kiwi Cabbage
Caterer: Willowdale Estate
Cake: Konditor Meister
Dress/Suit/Accessories: Both dresses from David’s Bridal.

*images submitted via two bright lights

lesbian wedding, wedding

real lesbian wedding – jaqueline & victoria

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when i received this submission from the awesome photographer maggie winters, i was so excited.  i truly love the story behind this couple and how they decided to celebrate their marriage.  renting an entire b&b for their closest friends to spend a wedding weekend together? what an awesome idea.  and what a great way to really ensure quality time with everyone who comes to celebrate your marriage with you.  i also love that it took place in washington d.c.   i often fantasize about moving home to my beloved virginia, and with the politics being what they are down there, d.c. seems like my only choice…

so, here’s to jaqueline & victoria, two lovely, talented ladies who had a beautiful wedding celebration.

Why did you chose your location?
We got married in Washington, D.C. because we wanted our wedding to be completely legal.  We’re currently living in Cincinnati right now, so we looked at the places where same-sex marriage was legal, and Iowa and D.C. were both 9 hours away.  That made our decision.  Jacqueline also grew up around the D.C. area, and it was one of the first cities we visited together, so it is a really special place to us.

Tell me a little bit about how you met.
We met in Tennessee where we were both getting our undergraduate degrees.  While we met during our freshman year of college, we didn’t become friends until sophomore year.  We were both English and Creative Writing majors at a conservative Christian college, which was how we were brought up and what we believed at the time.  So, needless to say, we were honest to goodness platonic best friends for a couple of years.  It then began to dawn on us that “wanting to postpone marrying boys” because we “wanted to go to grad school together” and be “roommates forever” might be a sign of a higher calling.  We officially dubbed our friendship as a relationship before our senior year of college, and then spent a year in hiding so we wouldn’t get kicked out of school.

The Proposal – details please!
After we graduated, we moved up to Cincinnati to start a graduate program, but then we decided to take a year or so off school and just ended up staying in the city.  We’d started occasionally talking about marriage, but neither of us wanted to actively plan without being engaged.  Throughout our relationship, Jacqueline always joked that she needed to be the one proposed to because she’d been a girly-girl who dreamed about her proposal.  I really didn’t care either way, so I took the proposal upon myself.  One evening, when I knew Jacqueline wasn’t expecting it, I told her to stay inside and that I was going to go out on the porch.  I had hidden a bag in the trunk of my car filled with flowers, candles, and “I love you” balloons.  I brought the bag to the porch, and scattered her favorite flowers–mini roses–all over the porch, and put a few on the stool that I wanted her to sit on.  I tied the balloons to the stool as well, and scattered the tea light candles that I picked up from the thrift store–white regular tea lights, and red heart tea lights (how perfect?)–all around the deck.  I lit the candles and went back inside to get her.  As soon as she stepped out onto the porch she started to cry.  I had her sit on the stool, and I knelt down in front of her and pulled out index cards that I had written on.  I had already written what I wanted to say because I knew I would totally forget everything special that I had in mind.  I mixed up some dates, thinking it was our anniversary, but she said yes anyway.

What were some of the important songs used during your ceremony/reception and why?
We brought a small stereo to our ceremony, and when our officiant pronounced us married, we had one of our friends hit play.  The song that started playing was “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer.  It’s a song that’s always been special to us–particularly to Jacqueline because it was one of my favorite songs, and she used to think of me when she heard it before we were officially together.  The songs after that on the CD were 19 more songs that had special meaning to us (and ranged from Regina Spektor to Eurythmics to The Beatles to Muse).  We actually burned one of these CDs for everyone, and included those in their favors.

Were traditions incorporated into the day and other cool specifics – why a certain color pallet – what did you include in your day that had some sort of meaning behind it?
We invited our eleven closest friends to celebrate our wedding with us, so we really wanted to incorporate our friends into our ceremony.  We had a ring warming ceremony where our rings were passed among our guests, and they paused with them to either say a silent or spoken hope/blessing for us.  We also really liked the idea of eternity rituals, but none of the ones we found resonated with us, so we made our own.  We had our guests each take a flower or two out of a vase and lay them in two circles around each of us so that it would create the eternity symbol.  That was one of the most meaningful moments of the ceremony; we were completely surrounded by our friends and their love for us, and we remained in the flower eternity for the remainder of the ceremony.

We’re also really big thrift store junkies, so a lot of our wedding came from the thrift store.  We found both our dresses at different thrift stores, as well as part of the favors that we gave our guests.  In a weird way, it was important to us that we thrifted for the wedding because it’s so much a part of who we are.

How was your experience with the wedding professionals that you worked with?
Since we were doing a small wedding, we really wanted to go all out and stay with our friends for the weekend in a Bed & Breakfast.  After doing some research, we chose the Swann House in Dupont Circle.  We couldn’t have made a better decision.  Rick was amazing to work with, and he made our stay (and everyone else’s) incredible.  We got married in the living room of the Swann House; their wedding package included the wedding set-up and a champagne toast for everyone.

Our photographer was Maggie Winters, who we found through Off Beat Mama, a mere 5 weeks before the wedding.  We weren’t going to have a photographer because it wasn’t in our budget, but I really did want pictures of our day, and when we found Maggie, everything fell into place.  Miraculously, she was available, and she was incredible.  She showed up early to shoot, and went above and beyond what we could have asked for from a photographer.  She gladly tromped around the D.C. mall in March, and rode the escalator backwards to get pictures of us.

We’d scheduled a post-wedding dinner at Firefly in Dupont Circle, which was tasty, but the service definitely left something to be desired.  The rest of the day was so amazing though that we weren’t really crushed.

Also, our amazing yellow cake was a wedding present from a good friend of ours.

A few favorite things about your day:
We decided to take pre-wedding pictures in our dresses around D.C.  We had so much fun riding the metro and escalators (working and non).  It was a blast to be walking around the streets of D.C. and having people cheer, whistle, and honk at us.  We also had a lot of people take pictures of us from their iPhones.  It was a really cool and bizarre experience.

A few words of advice/tips/lessons learned when planning your wedding to share with other couples
Do what you want to do.  It’s completely and totally your day.  If there is something you want to incorporate, but think it’s a bit a weird, ask yourself if you’d be disappointed without it.  Also, whatever happens the day of the wedding, make sure to enjoy it.  Don’t stress that the “custom-made water bottles weren’t delivered,” or whatever–all your friends are there for you and to celebrate your love, and ultimately, that’s what’s important.

(all images courtesy of maggie winters)

If you want to read any more of their story, you can find it here:  http://offbeatbride.com/2011/04/dc-thrifty-wedding

their photographer, maggie, was very excited to share this wedding with me, and with you all.  she has a ton of experience shooting same-sex weddings as almost half of her wedding business is in same sex weddings–she gets a lot of out of town elopements to DC–and she would love to shoot your wedding if you are thinking of getting married in the DC area!

also, one of the brides, victoria, is a photographer!  and she would love to photograph your same-sex wedding!  check out her website here: victoria livingston.  she is based in Cincinnati, Ohio, but loves traveling and would definitely be willing to do so for the privilege of being your photographer.

*images submitted via two bright lights

wedding

real gay wedding – adam & grey

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talk about reunited! these two handsome men met, dated, and fell in love, and then their lives took them in different directions…  then, 7 years later, they found their way back to each other and this time they decided to make it official with a civil union in tampa, fl at the Tampa Club.  they decided to have a small, intimate ceremony surrounded by their closest family and friends, and even though civil unions are not legally recognized in florida, it was important to them to express their love to one another in an outward ceremony.   they chose photographer Andi Diamond to capture these lovely images of their big day.   you can tell from their words and Andi’s images that they put a lot of thought into their ceremony and i am excited to share their love with all of you!

tell me a little bit about how you met and decided to get married.
This one could be great material for a real Lifetime movie! September 15, 1999 – first date – Jackson, MS. Adam was in college and Grey was in his first year of medical school, so we opted for a late lunch. Soon after, we were dating. In June we moved in together. We were young, and after 3 1/2 years of dating/living together, social pressures, primarily religious upbringings, led us in separate directions.

         
Fast forward 7 years. Grey was working in Mississippi while Adam had moved to Florida. We had “grown up” somewhat, and vaguely kept in touch through a mutual friend. We eventually started talking again. We were both single again,  and on a whim we decided to meet in Las Vegas for a wild weekend trip! We quickly realized we’d never stopped having feelings for one another and confessed we’d thought of each other over the years.
We began hopping back and forth between Mississippi and Florida every free chance we had, both of us thinking of what the future might hold.                                                          

who proposed and how?
our dear friend Susan (avid Beyonce fan) had a “Put a Ring On It” dance birthday party. It was outrageous, complete with costumes and a dance instructor to teach us the moves! One of the party favors was a flashing pink plastic ring. Grey had already been itching to pop the question, and after the party, what better time. Grey got down on his knees, and with that flashing pink plastic ring, asked Adam to marry him…to which Adam responded, “Are you serious?” and Grey emphatically said, “YES, I am serious even though I’m asking you with this pink plastic ring!!!” And Adam said yes…and we cried a little bit. why did you choose your location?
Choosing the location was tough. We decided on a small, intimate wedding. Every venue we looked at was too big, and the price was the same whether you had 50 guests or 500 guests. Fortunately, a friend overheard our dilemma, and suggested we take a look at The Tampa Club.   It was perfect! The room was an excellent size for a small wedding, with a great view of the bay for a backdrop.
did you incorporate any certain/special traditions into your celebration? 
We both grew up Christian,  and that has continued to be important. Therefore we wanted a religious ceremony, yet a relaxed environment. After meeting with the pastor, we decided to have a traditional, religious ceremony format, including communion, scripture and prayer. But we wanted a comfortable atmosphere, and to have the reception in the same space as the ceremony. One of the fun things we did was start with a cocktail hour in The Tampa Club’s library. We even mingled with the guests while sipping on a traditional spiked peach punch and salty dogs. Guests were encouraged to wear cocktail attire, including festive cocktail hats.
We headed up to the ceremony room while the guests continued to enjoy their cocktails. We decided to go with two long tables, flanking a center aisle.The room was already filled with rich colors and traditional paintings. Each table had three large arrangements, raised on golden candlesticks. They were filled with our favorite flowers, clusters of grapes and fresh eggplants, accented with pheasant feathers.The guests entered the room while we stood up front with the pastor and the pianist played “Chapel of Love”. Interestingly enough, everyone began singing along as they entered the room. That was great! Music has been a great part of our lives, so we decided to sing a duet together. We chose “Bless the Broken Road,” because it truly expressed our journey. We said our vows and exchanged rings and finished with communion…and a big fat kiss!!The reception took place immediately following. Waiters began filling wine glasses and the guests enjoyed a family-style southern feast. We really enjoyed passing plates of fried chicken, okra and cornbread. It was gluttony at its finest. (sounds like my kind of food!)tell me a little about the wedding professionals you worked with…
We’ve heard all kinds of “war stories.” For us, we had a great experience.
The event coordinator at The Tampa Club was wonderful from the onset. We received a warm welcome to have our wedding at their club. The menu was completely personalized. The setup, the organization…everything was well planned and prepared. But not only that, the staff was so warm, receiving and genuinely excited to host two guys wanting to get married. They set a warm, comfortable environment for us to celebrate.


The invitations were charming perfection. The crazy part is, via Facebook, we discovered an old  friend who was a graphic designer. His & Hers Printing in Nashville, TN took our ideas, and had our gorgeous, seersucker invitations on our doorstep within a week. (oh how i wish i could see those – they sound adorable!) They generally specialize in large format printing, but decided to take the challenge. They printed our invitations, attire and registry cards.
Because a month prior to the wedding Adam moved back to Mississippi, we relied heavily on friends. After talking, exchanging pictures and ideas with a couple of friends, they set out to meet with the florist at The Potting Shed. When the florist realized she was doing a wedding for two men, she was ecstatic. She really took pride in the wedding. She was excited about making our vision come come to life, and it was beyond our expectations. We were speechless when we first saw the arrangements. The clusters of grapes, bird’s nests tucked away, thistles…it was unique, exotic and beautiful.
The pastor was great. She met with us several times prior to the wedding for marital counseling. She had so much insight for us, and she always sent us away thinking about the past, present and future. One neat thing she did was involve the guests. She asked questions about making relationships last. One couple had been married 35 years, and they offered words like trust, play, laugh, and forgive. Our pastor told us to be sure and remember these words over the years to come. Her part in our ceremony really communicated what we were about, and she did an amazing job.
One thing we weren’t sure on was how a photographer works. A friend had given us the card for Andi Diamond Photography, and we’d seen some beautiful work she’d done. So, two weeks (yikes) prior to the wedding we talked with Andi. She was a real trooper and accepted the job of two guys who were clueless about wedding photography! As soon as Andi arrived on the scene, she was a riot. She was like having a long time friend as your photographer, and you want to be comfortable when you’re taking pictures. Andi didn’t shy away from any picture experience, and she made us feel wonderful. She found unique places for pictures, from serious shots in a wine cellar to intimate moments in hidden away back rooms. We had no idea what type of gift we were getting when a friend handed Andi’s card to us.

what were your favorite moments
We really loved how everyone came walking in and broke into song. It was totally unexpected…funny! The vows were really special. You always hear about the vows, vows, vows…but when we started saying them, with all those people watching…it was really powerful and emotional. And we did enjoy the wedding night, of course!

any advice/tips/lessons learned to share with others planning their wedding?
Friends really want to help, so let them. The decisions can become overwhelming, so let friends pitch in. One tore out page after page from different magazines and compiled things for us to go through. It cut down on the massive amounts of information to pilfer through. Another friend handled all the flowers and their every detail. A family member arranged for transportation for out of town guests.
We had our wedding on a Friday night. That was originally because our venue was booked for Saturday. That was another blessing in disguise. We had a wonderful wedding, and a friend hosted a brunch for everyone on Saturday. It was just more time for us to celebrate with our loved ones. We made reservations at local restaurants for a fun Saturday night dinner and Sunday lunch. Because of all the out of town guests, having the wedding on Friday allowed every one the opportunity to really take advantage of a getaway wedding.
We used a local grocer for the wedding cake. The cake was simple and beautiful. It wasn’t the centerpiece for the reception. We really focused on good food and drink. The time spent with the wedding cake was a flash in comparison to other things. The cake tasted great and there was a ton left over. We sent all our guests away with wedding cake cupcakes from GiGi’s. Try not to stress…the wedding professionals are…professionals. They have survived many a wedding, so you don’t have to stress out. They will guide you along the way. The things you don’t get done don’t really matter. People are not coming to you’re wedding to be entertained. They are coming to celebrate how much you love each other. They are there for you. It’s the one true day when people will throw on their best cocktail hat to say, “You boys love each other, and we love you for it.” It’s worth it! congratulations adam & grey! and thanks to andi for sharing these! what a lovely celebration of love.

vendors:

location/food: The Tampa Club, Tampa, FL

photographer: Andi Diamond Photography

flowers: The Potting Shed

invitations: His & Hers Printing

*images submitted via two bright lights

lesbian wedding, wedding

real lesbian wedding – amy & krystal

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so, you got to see these two lovely ladies engagement photos earlier this week and now i’m sharing their wedding!  i love that they are rocking both a snazzy suit and beautiful white dress.  and then, for a little added edge, they’ve got ed hardy shoes underneath!

thanks again to starshine photography for sharing these with me!

congrats ladies!

*images submitted via two bright lights