Archive for September, 2010

Carnival Wedding Part 5: Saturday Morning

Posted on September 30th, 2010 by Ms. Sparrow. 4 Comments

Ms. Sparrow

When we went to sleep on Friday, I set my alarm for 9:30.  Instead of the alarm, we were woken up by J’s sister knocking on our door, telling us that it was late and we had to start taking pictures soon.  I freaked for about 30 seconds until I checked my phone and saw it was only 8:30.  I was a little bit pissed at that point, but she brought us coffee so I got over it quickly.

J and her sister went to get us breakfast and I went to check on the tent. Some of the origami balloons had blown off the lights, but the major issue was that the fish line holding up the white Poms had broken.  I talked to Vicki and she said she would fix it and not to worry, which she did and I did and it worked out great. (I loved Vicki, she was the best thing to happen to our wedding.)

My family and a bunch of our guests helped me move the chairs from the tent to the ceremony site.  I think it took 10 minutes. Then I hung the pomanders on the aisle chairs and hung our intials signs in the reception tent.

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5 Takes: My Parents’ Disapproval

Posted on September 30th, 2010 by Nicole. 9 Comments

Nicole
Wedding Date: TBD
Bio: Blogger and bride-to-be. I married my wife, Rose, in an intimate courthouse ceremony shortly after it became legal in DC. Now we are planning a fabulous budget wedding in Baltimore, MD for next Fall to celebrate our love of art, games, wine and of course… each other!

I came out to my parents when I was 19, a few days after Rose and I started our teenage romance. I felt as though I had disappointed them and was not living up to their expectations of me, and it’s taken me years to get over this feeling. They have only ever known me as a lesbian with Rose – and later it was revealed that they put the blame on her for “changing” me. At the time, I was extremely naive and still unsure of my own sexuality. I knew I felt complete when I was with Rose, but I was battling with my own conservative, Catholic beliefs. I think my parents assumed I was going through a phase, but eventually Rose and I grew into adults that were ready for a serious and committed relationship.

Bast from the past! Rose and I shortly after we first met and became fast friends

During the 7 years of our relationship, my parents made it clear that they didn’t want me bringing any “guests” to family gatherings or make any “special announcements.” So I not only felt as though what I was doing was possibly sinful, I also thought I should be ashamed and always hide it from everyone. I was treated like I had to choose between them or Rose. Of course, I now understand that being a lesbian is part of my self-identity and that if someone cannot accept or love that part of me, it is their problem and not mine. It took a very long time for me to come to the conclusion that I was doing nothing wrong and in fact, deserve the same respect as anyone else in a relationship. Just recently I have truly discovered my own sense of pride and have had that revealing moment where I am not afraid to shout from the rooftops “I AM GAY & DARN HAPPY ABOUT IT!”

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Our Surprise Vegas-oween Wedding Shower

Posted on September 29th, 2010 by Derek. 3 Comments

Derek
Wedding Date: October 16, 2010
Bio: I’m a former actor/singer turned Baker from San Francisco. I’m an alumni of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, While I was living and studying in NYC In 2005 I met the love of my life randomly through an accidental myspace mishap. Now we live in Las Vegas, NV

Photo by Amy Bunim

You may recall I recently posted a blog about the amazing Vintage Wedding Shower my mother and cousin threw for us. What I didnt mention was that the shower took place in Southern California which was a little too far for most of our Vegas friends to travel twice in a two month period (the wedding is in SoCal as well). So the shower ended up being mostly family, which dont get me wrong was toattly fantastic in every way. Anyways a few months back Joey’s Maid of Honor Lindsay mentioned to us that her mother was flying into town during September and wanted to take us out for a celebratory dinner. We of course were happy to agree!  … Then we forgot it was happening.

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Real Gay Wedding Chicago, IL : Emilia and Megan

Posted on September 29th, 2010 by Kelly. 12 Comments

Kelly
Bio: Chief Creative Officer and Co-Founder of So You're EnGAYged

Thanks to Heather Parker for sending this wedding that was not published in MTV’s “Tres” Latin wedding feature since it wasn’t a “legal” wedding. We think Emilia and Megan had an amazing wedding and tons of great ideas- like a mariachi band? Genius!
One of our favorite moments was the first look. Prior to the first look we both got ready in separate bridal suites. We decided to meet downstairs at the hotel bar (a swanky lounge that was reserved just for us). The anticipation and the thrill of seeing each other for the first time was amazing. And it was relived during the ceremony. Once our eyes met we were both filled with emotion as if we were seeing eachother for the very first time. We walked in, one at a time, met at the end of the aisle and walked down together. It was perfect.
(for those of you hesitant to do a first look…its actually quite nice)

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5 Takes: Family Wedding Drama

Posted on September 29th, 2010 by Wasabi. 2 Comments

Wasabi
Wedding Date: Spring 2011
Bio: I just finished up my MBA while planning our wedding, learning about Judaism, and hitting the ski slopes at every opportunity. My fiancée, Ginger, helps disabled kids here in New Orleans when she’s not reading or snowboarding. We are getting married on May 21, 2011 at a funky art museum in a traditional Jewish ceremony followed by an unconventional wedding reception.

By Lara Swanson

You know how every family has their own little brand of crazy? Well I think this stuff just gets amplified by the pressures and expectations of weddings. I want to share with you the things that we had trouble hashing out with our families. I would have thought for sure that the guest list and the budget would be things to argue over. Or maybe what traditions we will and won’t follow. But, I was completely blindsided by the things that ended up being difficult to come to a decision on, with each set of parents weighing in.

So many SYE bloggers have stepped up and let us all in on their family issues related to their wedding, and I think it’s brave and really helpful, so I’m gonna take a stab at it. As you may remember, we decided to fund the large bulk of the wedding expenses by splitting the cost between the two families equally. Obviously, if you want to avoid some of the parent drama, you could just pay for the wedding yourselves. That way everyone doesn’t have a stake in each decision.  But, unfortunately, that just wasn’t in the cards for us. So we had to compromise in a way that didn’t give up anything too vital to what Ginger and I want out of our wedding, while ensuring that we thought about what our parents and guests need to get out of the wedding too. (more…)

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Writing our Ceremony

Posted on September 28th, 2010 by Wasabi. 4 Comments

Wasabi
Wedding Date: Spring 2011
Bio: I just finished up my MBA while planning our wedding, learning about Judaism, and hitting the ski slopes at every opportunity. My fiancée, Ginger, helps disabled kids here in New Orleans when she’s not reading or snowboarding. We are getting married on May 21, 2011 at a funky art museum in a traditional Jewish ceremony followed by an unconventional wedding reception.

By Lara Swanson

I have to admit I was pretty lost when I first thought about writing our ceremony. The first hurdle was that it would be interfaith in some ways- but what ways? how much? (I was in the process of converting to Judaism, and its still very much a work in progress.) Then there was the bridal party- We want to honor our friends and family but in a non bridal party way. How do you do that? Last where do you go to find out how to write the ceremony, especially if your not planning to actually do any…writing? I needed explanations of traditions, prayers, readings from the Torah, and ways to acknowledge our Queer Marriage and particular legal status issues, but I didn’t really want to start from scratch and write it myself. Googling the indiebride ceremony readings thread was helpful, but I was still pretty lost despite the time put in. One of the nice things about a long engagement is that I can just shelve stuff on the to do list when I want. I had had over a year to go, so I knew I would figure it out eventually…or not, I guess?

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