So You're EnGAYged, A Gay Wedding Blog

[ SIGH ]

What’s that, you say? Oh, that’s the huge sigh of relief from Dana and I after we walked out of the Warehouse Café with our reception booked.

After what seemed like dozens of venues (but was probably more like 10) that could not accommodate our needs for various reasons (really? You don’t book the fire hall on Saturday? And you don’t return phone calls or e-mails during a recession?), we found a winner.  Dana called and spoke to them on a Friday, we received the info in the mail on Monday, I called and asked them “the question” on Wednesday, and we met with the party director, Patty, on Thursday. Within two hours we had toured the restaurant/bar, spoke about pricing, had a rough idea of table and deejay setup, and eaten a tasty dinner.

What’s that? What’s “the question”? “Hello. You spoke to someone the other day about a wedding reception at your restaurant. It’s a wedding reception for a same-sex wedding. Is that going to be a problem?” Not only was it not an issue, but both over the phone and in person, Patty expressed her surprise that the question even needed to be asked. “I just don’t understand people,” she said. “No, that’s not a problem. I can vouch for that, and I can vouch for my staff. Don’t worry about it.” (more…)

Daniel Krieger sent over the wedding photos from our own blogger Dawn. I know she’ll be doing some recap posts soon but I wanted to share the overall wedding! Today it’s getting ready, couple shots, and the ceremony.

The wedding took place at le Parker Meridien in New york City which has a killer view of Central Park. Both Dawn and Jennifer decided to wear white dresses and have deep wine colors in all their details. I love the branches with berries on them for the ceremony.

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I closely go through each application to our vendor list. I had a question for Marie Tyler Wiley about hers, so I gave her a call, and ended up on the phone for close to an hour! She had me rolling on the floor laughing while telling me all about how much she loves what she does. An officiant in Connecticut, Marie specializes in seaside weddings, and was voted the #1 wedding officiant in CT three years running!

How did you get into doing what you do?

I became a Justice of the Peace because of the clod of a JP who married my husband and me a thousand years ago. Seriously…if it took 30 seconds that would be pushing it. To the point: I have never remembered to this day…ever having said…“I do”…that’s how fast the JP was…We then walked around Manhattan for the next 45 minutes w/me questioning my husband…”Are you SURE WE’RE MARRIED????”

He was like…”yeah…I guess so…he said we were”. Duh!

At that moment, way back then… I decided…I would never, ever, let another bride go thru that mini horror show. That’s no way to be married and that’s why I am fanatical about weddings. My mission is to make sure your entire experience, not just my part , the ceremony …is stress free and is full of fun, joy and laughter!!! I’m really good at those three things!!! :) (more…)

I am assuming by now it is really easy, even without it in my profile, to guess which site we chose. The Hubbell Homestead was everything we wanted. The field overlooks the Green Mountain National Forest.  There is a permanent 60′ x 90′ tent, which means that we can have an outside wedding with no worries about weather.  We will have two buildings with a total of 7 bedrooms. One building has a wrap around porch and the other has a kitchen, a living room, a dining room, and a library.  There is also an outside pool, hot tub, and, the best part, a fire pit.  The place is ours for the whole weekend. We will have a BBQ on Friday, the wedding Saturday, and brunch on Sunday. Since almost everyone coming will be travelling, it is perfect that we can actually hang out with our friends instead of trying to spend 20 seconds with everyone during the reception.

photo via Hubbell Homestead (more…)

While I was working on the ceremony, I was trying to find a way to honor our parents.  We’re so lucky that all seven of our parents and step-parents are supportive of us and our marriage, and I wanted to express publicly how much that means to us.  Since I’m not into rose ceremonies or unity candles, I thought that reworking the Jewish tradition of reading seven blessings would be perfect.  We aren’t comfortable with the original text, so when I found this beautiful reinterpretation written by Rabbi Allen Secher I knew right away that we should ask each parent to read one.  After some light tweaking, we ended up with these:

Officiant: As our children find partners and build their lives as adults together, each family is enriched and enlarged. Would the parents and step-parents of Emily Kate and Lynn please stand. This occasion is a special celebration for you who brought these children into the world, and who have nurtured them into adulthood. Today you are witnessing another stage in the lives of your daughters.  Emily Kate and Lynn count themselves as truly fortunate to have you all standing beside them today, and have asked that you be the first to bless their union.

Lynn’s mom: We wish for you the special joy of being a couple, making decisions together,  sharing ideas, hopes, and dreams, celebrating life’s joys and confronting life’s  difficulties hand in hand. (more…)

Ms.Grrrl Bio|Posts

All Photographs by Kelly Prizel Photography

One of my favorite wedding bloggers (sadly, I can’t remember which one… but I bet it was Meg at apracticalwedding, she was my wedding planning guru through the whole process) said that a personal, moving ceremony sets the scene for the entire wedding. She seemed to think that it didn’t really matter what happened after the ceremony because if people felt like they had just played a part in something deeply moving and sacred, they would experience the wedding as a wonderful event, no matter what kind of table linens or music or favors there were at the reception. That bit of advice really stuck with me and looking back on our wedding I think it is absolutely true.

We put a lot of effort into making sure that our ceremony was as personal as possible. (more…)

When Nicole and I first started thinking about where we wanted to celebrate our union the very first place that came to mind was the beach. It was the place where we spent a lot of time in college and also the place where we had our very first kiss! We toured only three places before falling madly in love with a location.

The runner-up: Daddy O’s in Long Beach Island, NJ

DADDY O'S - View of the dining room

We contacted the owner to see if they were open to hosting a civil union ceremony. (more…)

So if you’re in the wedding industry, you know Anna Kuperberg. She takes amazing shots again and again. If you follow her blog, you get a constant source of creativity and inspiration. We were lucky enough to snag some amazing couple shots Anna recently did of Ben and Harley.

One thing I vowed after getting my wedding photos was to get professional photos of my wife and I taken every year. Because I’m a photographer, before our wedding, I had a bijillion shots of my wife. But maybe a dozen of us together after being together 7 years!! So seeing other couples remember to document their love, besides a wedding and an engagement, makes me excited.

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There are so many ways to connect with So You’re EnGAYged – follow us on Twitter (we love to give shoutouts to our favorite readers and vendors!) and on Facebook (where we’ll soon be sharing special stuff, only to fans of our Facebook page!).

For our engagement pictures, I had really wanted to get my makeup done by someone else.  I know nothing about makeup and haven’t worn any since I was in high school.  Also, I thought if I paid attention to what they were doing and then practiced myself, doing my make up for the wedding would be easy.

We ended up going to bareMinerals, not for any reason except that we were walking by and Macy’s was a crazy house.  Walking in, I was confused.  The amount of powders and brushes they have was overwhelming to me. How can you tell the job of a big, poofy brush from the medium, poofy brush? The makeup artist asked me what color eyeshadow I wanted and proceeded to show me 300 options!  How am I supposed to know if I look better with green or purple?

Here I am before (I am not sure why I look so angry)

photo via me

Here I am after

photo via me

I think my make up turned out okay. Staring at my picture reminds me of saying a word over and over again, even if it starts out normal, it always ends up sounding funny.

I ended up buying their starter kit and figured that I would go to CVS to pick up some cheaper products with which to play.  Anyone have any suggestions?