Archive for June, 2010

Real Gay Engagement in New York, NY: Brian and Tom

Posted on June 30th, 2010 by So You're EnGAYged. 7 Comments

So You're EnGAYged

Yes, this is a real engagement…but were actually featuring our very own blogger Brian!

Last month, Tom and I had our engagement shoot with the fabulous Kristina Hill, who just last week was added to SYE! She snapped us in some of our favorite spots in DUMBO and Brooklyn Heights. One of my favorite locations was the courthouse. I felt it imperative to shoot a few there in protest to the inequality we face in our home state. Those photos are my favorite!

Anyway, we just had the best time with her. And, we brought lots of fun props. I strongly suggest that all couples brings things to play with in their shoots!  We never had a dull moment and just look at some of the photos that came out of that day!!! If you are looking for a photographer, I highly recommend booking Kristina! You’ll be glad you did.


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Having your ceremony on public land

Posted on June 30th, 2010 by Alyia. 6 Comments

Alyia

OR: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Paperwork.

Wow, you guys.  I took my eye off the ball for just a second and before I know it we’re under four months till the wedding day.  Cuh-razy.

So, you’ve seen our reception location.  Now I’d like to show you our ceremony site, Westinghouse Memorial Pond in Schenley Park.

Photo via Creative Commons license on Flickr.

Photo used with permission from Elston via Flickr.

(My apologies — I haven’t been able to get my own photos of the site for reasons I’ll detail in another post, so I ended up using a lot of Flickr pictures from all seasons.  You’ll get the gist, though!)

It’s a gorgeous place, and even though there’s a road nearby it’s pretty tranquil.  Stacy and I have sat on those benches on many dates, enjoying the reflections in the pond and the sounds of the surrounding trees.

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DIY Postcard Table Names

Posted on June 29th, 2010 by Erica. No Comments

Erica
Wedding Date: 17 April 2010 and 16 October 2010
Bio: My wife Alex is the medic, the Brit, the music & book lover, and the most compassionate woman I've ever known. I'm the writer, the pancake maker, the American living with her in London, and completely smitten with her. With the help of much family and friends, we've already thrown one amazing wedding in Cornwall, England, and now we're gearing up for a 'country kitsch' ceremony & party in Northern California--we can't wait for October!

Image by Cornish Wedding Photography

When it came to our table decorations for the UK wedding, the format was pretty simple: recycled bottle for a vase with one purple tulip, a stack of green napkins from IKEA, 20 or so wooden scrabble tiles, and two postcards from us. Another one of our last minute DIY projects, I thought I’d share how we put them together as we thought they turned out pretty neat.

The first postcard was the table name–a California city–on the front, and the answers to five questions–Favorite Spot, Best ___ in Town (often Food), Song to Drive By, Lasting Moments, Why We Remember It–on the back. The head table was ‘Santa Cruz’ and the answers were:

Favourite Spot: The Redwoods (Kresge College)

Best Food in Town: Saturn Café, Walnut St. Café, Zachary’s, Kelly’s Bakery, Pink Godzilla & Asian Rose

Song to Drive By: ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ Journey

Lasting Moments: Slowing dancing in the kitchen to Nina Simone & reading Cecile together on the couch

Why we remember it: We fell in love in Santa Cruz…

It was a lot of fun, just a week or so before the wedding, to remember all the places we’d been together, memories we loved–especially being so far away from the place where so much of that happened. Filling in the answers for ten tables took a few hours and drafts, and I’m actually grateful for that creative time with Alex just before the wedding.

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Navigating Etsy

Posted on June 29th, 2010 by Michelle. 5 Comments

Michelle
Wedding Date: November 10, 2010
Bio: I'm a teacher, reality TV addict and avid theatre nerd. My fiancée, Deborah, and I met during a production at a local theater a little over three years ago. She pretty much tap danced her way into my heart. We are planning a slightly off-the-wall but mostly traditional wedding in our hometown deep in the heart of Texas.

Etsy, the online market for handmade goods, is a great resource for finding awesome ideas and items for your wedding. With tons of shops selling everything from birdcage veils to actual birdcages, it can be a little difficult to find that one specific thing you have in mind. If you are new to the site or haven’t had time to really delve into the handmade goodness, here are a few tips! In this little tutorial of sorts I’m looking for bridal shower invitations for a friend as an example, but these tips are applicable to pretty much anything!

Ok! Let’s Go! From Etsy’s homepage you’ll see a nifty sidebar that is divided into sections. Since this is a bridal shower thing, I’m going to go ahead and start in the ‘Wedding’ section.

Screenshot of the Etsy Wedding Front Page

From the sidebar on the homepage, I have gotten to the Wedding: Invitation section. Oh dang!  There are over 13,000 listings. I don’t really have enough time for to peruse that many, even though I am on summer vacation! So, I’ll narrow it down by using the additional options on the sidebar. This is what the orange arrow is pointing to. By clicking on the shower sub-category, I’ve narrowed the listings down to 2,000 and I haven’t even typed anything in yet.  My friend’s colors are Royal Blue and Yellow, so I’d like to find a card that fits that. She is also very eco-conscious, so I may want to keep that in mind too when I go the search box. The cool thing about Etsy is that it follows your search. This means that if I were to look for a specific color, say yellow, it would only search the wedding: invitation: shower section. It is really handy, but remember to go back to the homepage if you are starting a new search.

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5 Takes: Groom’s Cake

Posted on June 29th, 2010 by Mandy. 3 Comments

Mandy
Wedding Date: May 29th, 2010
Bio: I am currently in the process of of living happily-ever-after with my amazing spouse, Bek; brightening up our drudgery of grad school and non-profit administration by camping, traveling, drinking on the balcony, and planning the expansion of our family! Our recent projects have included throwing the best New York City wedding EVER.

I already wrote a post about our wedding cupcakes, and I wrote a little something too about our experience trying to get a same-sex cake topper; so I thought for our 5 Takes Cake Week I would write a little something about Groom’s Cakes!

And here he is again, my Big Gay Armadillo Groom's Cake... Photo courtesy of S. Pyle

I think the idea of the groom’s cake is… weird. The generally believed idea these days about the reason and history of the groom’s cake is this – the wedding cake (like everything else about the wedding) is pretty, frilly, and the choice of the bride; so the groom get’s a manly cake to shore up his masculinity. Doesn’t sound much like something that fits neatly into the world of LGBT wedding planning, right? The actual history of the groom’s cake is a little more complex and fairly vague, best I can tell.

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5 Takes: Having My Cake & Eating It Too!

Posted on June 28th, 2010 by Brian. 4 Comments

Brian
Bio: Date of Marriage: Civil Ceremony in New Haven, CT on September 7, 2010 and Wedding at Las Caletas in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on October 17, 2010. About me: I’m a college counselor living in NYC with Tom, my partner of 10 years, and two cats, Toby and Maude. I’m a traveler, an activist, a teacher, a favorite uncle, a knitter, a blogger, and a now - a husband. I’m a lover of all arts and a passionate pursuer of dreams and beer.

I’ll be honest with you… the wedding cake has become a bit of a stresser for me in this wedding process. Here’s why: when you decide to have a destination wedding, a lot of the planning is done on trust, without trying or seeing anything until the day of your actual wedding. And for the cake, traditionally one of the highlights of a wedding, it’s difficult to give up all control.

As you know, Tom and I are getting married in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Although we were able to hop down there in March to solidify a few very important details such as the location of the ceremony and all of the food and alcohol, etc, we didn’t really focus on the cake during that trip. Looking back, I wish we would have made an attempt to choose the cake but at the time seven months felt so far away. We did try some of the food that will be served and we are having a “dessert bar” with tons of fun things (including flan) which we got to sample as well, but cakes were not included in the sampling.

For those of you that don’t know this, destination weddings typically include a cake in the package. You get to choose the flavor of the cakes and the icing and are charged by the number of heads at the event – in our case, I believe it is about 2-3 dollars per person. If you would like something bigger and better, or of a different color, etc., you have to pay for it. Even though we were given a few options with their cakes, I wasn’t really happy with them and would like to have tasted it first (there is that control seeping in).

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