I love seeing the Washington, DC weddings get submitted because it seems so unreal that they legalized gay marriage in my hometown. I just love seeing that legal marriage certificate!
When we set out to design the overall theme and program of our wedding day, our most important goal was to make the occasion uniquely expressive of our personalities and shared interests. We thought hard about ways to incorporate modern, non-traditional touches into our concept of a traditional American wedding celebration.
First, we wanted the ceremony to be a little bit like a show, since we share a love of the theater. Gary spent a lot of time orchestrating the perfect music to give the ceremony a feel that was unpredictable yet traditional, and both light-hearted and emotional. Our opening act was Gary’s high school friend Chelsea singing “A Moment Like This.” Her amazing voice calmed the audience, and set the stage for the ceremony. We then had our six “groomsmaids” march out individually to the Glee cast version of “Somebody to Love.” Our guests loved this, and it was definitely a highlight of our wedding day in our minds.
Once the wedding party was on stage, we walked out simultaneously arm in arm with our mothers down two diagonal aisles to Jamie Foxx’s “When I First Saw You.” The song’s words created a romantic yet celebratory mood. Finally, after the ceremony concluded, we recessed to Jennifer Hudson’s “All Dressed in Love.” The DJ started the song just after we were announced as married, and the big band chords that open the song provided a triumphant backdrop for us to walk out of the courtyard as husbands!
Finally, for our first dance at the reception we choreographed a dance to the Glee version of “Fire,” sung by Kristin Chenoweth and Matthew Morrison. Towards the middle of the song, we broke away from one another and marched around the reception hall collecting our groomsmaids from their tables. Then, together with our groomsmaids, we gathered on the stage and all danced and sung the rest of the song. It was definitely not your typical first dance, and our guests are still telling us how much fun it was to watch!
The second way we personalized our wedding was to really have fun with some ambitious design touches. Our color scheme was turquoise, gold, white, and black, but we also had an overarching theme of “black chandeliers.” That might sound strange to some, but it reflected our shared love of the Hollywood Regency decorating style. We also had a lot of help from our friends and groomsmaids. Brocks’ groomsmaid Priya folded 60+ origami paper cranes in our wedding colors, which were hung on strands behind the wedding platform and arranged on each table in the reception room.
Brock’s sister Erin, who is an amateur jewelry artist, designed and made aquamarine necklaces and earrings for each groomsmaid. Gary’s groomsmaid Valeria hand-painted wine glasses with the names of each groomsmaids, incorporating our wedding colors. The glasses allowed us to have some clever photos of the wedding party enjoying a champagne toast.
We had so much fun designing and orchestrating our wedding, and we were relieved that the day transpired without a hitch. Now we look forward to spending the next chapter of our lives together!
They were also featured in the New York Times! All images by Stephen Gosling Photography.
Vendors:
Venue/Caterer/Planner: Westin Grand Hotel of Washington, D.C. (contact: Kristin Dobbins)
DJ: Michael Rease of Bialek’s Music
Photographer: Stephen Gosling
Cupcakes: Hello Cupcakes
Very nice touches!! Congrats!!
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