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Brian’s Farewell

Posted on March 2nd, 2011 by Brian. 17 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.

Dear Fabulous Community of So You’re EnGAYged;

After months of sharing my wedding planning story with you, the time has come for me to say farewell. I have reached the end of my wedding planning process and recaps, all of which I hope you have enjoyed! I also hope that along the way some of my advice and experiences have helped you in your wedding planning process.

Planning a wedding is an amazingly rewarding experience full of ups and downs, surprises, and even, (at times) frustration. I pray that my posts have helped you to see all of those things, to be excited for them, and for some of the less-than-wonderful challenges, perhaps even helped  you to prepare for them. I hope that some of my wedding details (which were by far my favorite part of my special day) give you ideas or inspiration for your own weddings.

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Destination Wedding Recap 10: The Venue & The Budget

Posted on February 23rd, 2011 by Brian. 7 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.

The Venue:

I thought it might be helpful to tell you a little bit about the venue we chose. This amazing place was Las Caletas, a little “island” about an hour from the marina in Puerto Vallarta. Las Caletas, once home of Hollywood director John Huston, is now owned and operated by Vallarta Adventures, a tour provider. They provide all kinds of wonderful tours for the adventurous traveler in addition to wedding services on their beautiful beach for couples of all types – and their LGBT clientele is certainly growing!

Photography by Kristina Hill

The company hires only locals which is a wonderful thing, and all of the leftover food and such is donated local community centers. Nothing goes to waste and they are very interested in promoting local businesses and people. Kelley was our wedding planner and she was simply wonderful. We immediately became fast friends. And the venue – absolutely gorgeous. It is secluded, natural, and completely unique. Our guests never wanted to leave.

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Destination Wedding Recap 9: Entertainment & Our Beach Reception

Posted on February 16th, 2011 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.

Once we cut the cake and danced our first dance, the party was ready to begin. To start it off right, Tom and I has asked for a bit of live entertainment. The entertainment we chose were fire dancers. Immediately following our first dance, the music changed and two men appeared from what seemed like the ocean. Music erupted from the speakers as they walked towards the bonfire on the beach, clad in shorts and body paint. One by one the dancers extended these numb-chuck-like emblems into the fire to grab a flame. Then, in syncopation to the rhythm of the music, they began to twirl the fire as they danced. It was AWESOME.

Tom and I stood in the middle of the dance floor as they performed for the crowd, dancing and twirling the flames at times, around us. A few times they bowed to us and swung the flames in a circular motion by our sides and they stated their congratulations. Tom held onto me for life – scared of being burned, but I was totally loving it. The performance was amazing and lasted about 20 minutes.

Photograph by friend and guest, Dara Burleson

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Destination Wedding Recap 8: The First Dance

Posted on February 8th, 2011 by Brian. 2 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.

After we made our way from dinner to the dance floor on the beach the cake was cut, toasts were given and we danced our first dance.

Photograph by guest and friend, Stephen Lambeth

Now, for weeks when we were planning our wedding we struggled to find THE SONG for our first dance. The problem being Tom and I don’t really have a song. Actually, that’s not necessarily true. We do kind of have a song but it doesn’t really have the best beat to dance to and all the other renditions are pretty lousy. So we went on a mission to find something we both loved. Here were the requirements we had for our perfect song:

  1. It had to be fun and preferably more up-tempo than ballad
  2. It had to be quick (Tom is not the best dancer and we didn’t want to be out there for 5 or 6 minutes)
  3. It had to be somewhat unique (we did not want a typical first dance song)

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Destination Wedding Recap 7: Gay Symbols In My Gay Wedding – A Follow-Up

Posted on February 2nd, 2011 by Brian. 6 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.

A while back, I blogged about incorporating gay symbols in my gay wedding. It was something I felt compelled to do being a proud gay man. I would imagine that all of us consider it when planning our big day. So, as a follow up to that blog, I thought I would share with you how and where I did just that!

As you recall, I had decided to have rainbow hand-made ribbon flowers at my wedding for decoration and favors. I had ordered 100 and only needed 25 for favors, so I had plenty to have fun with.

I placed them in the knots of the bows on our chairs at the ceremony:

Photography by Kristina Hill

Here is a close-up:

Photography by Brian Edwards

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Destination Wedding Recap 6: Our Romantic Luggage Wedding Cake

Posted on January 26th, 2011 by Brian. 7 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.

As you may recall, the invitations to my wedding were passports and the RSVPs were boat tickets, a DIY project by me. I couldn’t pass up the chance to make take this travel theme one step further with the cake!  So, I designed a cake in the shape of a suitcase with patches  to highlight a few of the destinations of our lives. There were four “patches” I wanted:

  • I love NY (because we live and truly love NY)
  • Mexican Flag (because we were getting married in Mexico)
  • Jekyll and Hyde Pub (Tom and I met working in this NYC theme restaurant)
  • Cinderella’s Castle (We were honeymooning in Orlando, FL

With the help of my planner in Puerto Vallarta, we found a wonderful bakery named Pie in the Sky to take my vision and make it a reality. My chocolate, espresso reality! And boy was it a HIT!


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