So with that, let me get my bullhorn out! We are looking for new volunteers and ideas. We would love to hear from you! Think you would make an awesome coordinator for our real weddings features? Pipe up. Know you kick butt in grammar and would like to be our content editor? Email us right away, ha!

So shoot your emails to: kelly@soyoureengayged.com

This is obviously a huge decision, and one that didn’t come lightly. We know how much you all really love this site as it is, especially the real weddings section. Both of us (Kelly and Lara) are currently dealing with health issues, as well as work/life balance (we have full-time jobs in addition to running So You’re EnGAYged). Real weddings and vendor listings eat up the bulk of our time outside of our full-time jobs, and it’s time for us to end our work on them. This means that there will be no new real weddings or vendors added to the site, but the existing ones will remain.

A ton of thought has gone into this, and though it’s a sad decision for both of us, we’re so happy with how the site has evolved over the years and the joy it has brought to us during that time. We’re not sure what’s next for SYE, but we’ll definitely be posting about it after taking some time off! Our awesome bloggers have been given the opportunity to keep blogging if they choose.

Lara: It’s been phenomenal running this site. I’ve learned so much about this community and how vendors can be truly LGBT-friendly. I’ve learned so much about the technology behind it, and what it takes to run a successful business. The people we’ve met, the loving comments we read, and the chance to work with your best friend day after day are some of the most treasured things about SYE. We keep joking – this wouldn’t be such a hard decision if So You’re EnGAYged weren’t so awesome. :)

Kelly: I can remember coming up with the idea for So You’re EnGAYged and wondering what/where/how to go about such a large project. Working with Lara, who is my best friend, to continually set new standards for the wedding industry and push for more awareness has been my driving force. I love that I’ve goten to work with so many couples as they submitted their real wedding/engagements, and in our next chapter, I hope to focus even more on serving amazing LGBT couples as they navigate the sometimes-murky waters of planning an LGBT wedding. This was an extremely hard decision to make, but I know in the end, whatever path So You’re EnGAYged takes will be one that allows me to continue to serve my LGBT and offbeat clients with my wedding photography business and gives me snuggle time with the wife.

Thanks to all you readers for being so terrific. It’s been a true pleasure creating this site for you.

And one last reminder: we are a volunteer-run site. Not one person who works on or contributes to SYE gets paid for their work or time (not even me or Kelly!). All money from the sidebar ads goes right to fund our overhead. That means that, while we are working as fast as we can to vet new applications or make changes to your current listing, it may take a while to hear back from us because of the current influx we’re receiving. Thanks so much for your patience!

If you’d like to help us out as a volunteer, please contact us! We are ALWAYS looking for people to help out around the site.

NYC: Lisa and Kristin or their engagement shoot

Dumbo: Navin and Navin

NYC: Brian and Tom

NYC: Nicole and Sue

NYC: Sar and Nicole

NYC: Seanmichael and Damien

NYC: Bekah and Mandy

And follow Mandy, on of our bloggers, as she plans her NYC rooftop wedding

NYC: Dawn and Jennifer and part II

NYC: L and R

NYC: Steve and Patrick

NYC: Basha and Maura

http://www.nysenate.gov/live

Pastor Donte Jones will be having a canopy at Pride Festival at Penn’s Landing. It’s going to be decked out with candles, flowers, stars hung from the ceiling. A wedding planner has stepped up to help create a lawn feeling, so you’ll feel like you’re under the stars. There will even be a violinist trio! If that’s not romantic, what is?

Here’s what Pastor Donte, who just started his own church, had to say about the event.

The God Environment Church located in Philadelphia, PA. We are an affirming church for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning individuals (LGBTQ) and their allies. In the spirit of our church’s mission to celebrate and honor all kinds of families, our church would like to offer free commitment ceremonies to individuals celebrating their Pride on June 12th. In a commitment ceremony typically partners exchange vows and items of commitment such as rings or bracelets to publicly demonstrate their commitment. An important purpose for the God Environment Church to offer such commitment ceremonies during Pride is to encourage and support healthy relationships within the LGBTQ community. Studies have shown that couples who engage in these types of ceremonies are more likely to experience more stable, long-term relationships; experience less episodes of loneliness, isolation, and depression among single LGBTQ people; be an immutable influence in the fight for future LGBTQ equality; thereafter have lower STD/HIV infections rates; and ultimately serve as positive, affirming role models for LGBTQ youth.

Currently there are only 7 states that offer legal marriage for same sex couples, and fewer that allow civil unions, providing state-level spousal rights to same-sex couples. My partner and I recently celebrated our one-year anniversary as of May 2nd for our own commitment ceremony; the ceremony became a very important guiding component of the healthy relationship we developed.

So grab your partner and go meet Pastor Donte at Philly Pride.

• Are you a DIY maven that wants to share all your craftiness with our readership?
• Do you have a strong blogging voice and are excited to speak to larger issues like marriage equality, relationship building, budgets, and the wedding industry at large?
• Do you feel you have a unique perspective from inside the LGBT community and would like to see more representation of your viewpoints?
• Are you getting married this fall or winter?

We are looking for some new bloggers that are passionate about So You’re EnGAYged, our community and want to share their story with our readership.

• Head on over to our application section and read all the requirements. Make it a goal to sit down and write your three blog posts for your application after dinner tonight, Friday night, and Saturday night after dinner. As soon as your fork hits the plate, start typing!
• We will be accepting applications for the next 2 weeks only. After that, we will pick our new bloggers! You can of course apply anytime, but we won’t have any empty slots to fill and will keep your application on file until one opens up, which may be months.

So You’re EnGAYged is a very tight knit community of bloggers. We even skype chat together to hash out blog posts every month. So we are looking for bloggers who are active and will be a great fit for our community.

Once a upon time when I first began planning weddings & events I did a wedding expo. After 8 hours of being confined to a 6×6 booth I swore never again. The couples roll by like cattle, grazing on the coupons and freebies. Never stopping to ask questions or screen the vendors. Not to mention if I heard one more vendor ask a “Which one of you is the bride?” I might have screamed. Simply put it just wasn’t reflective of how I like to interact with my clients.

However, recently I decided to go back on this promise to myself and participate in Fully Committed, A Gay Wedding Affair. Why the sudden change of heart?

As a vendor there are three things about doing a show like this that really interest me. First, from my perspective as a wedding vendor same-sex couples definitely have a harder time planning a wedding because the majority of resources are directed towards straight couples. It most certainly has to be discouraging. Without resources you have no opportunity to develop a connection with the right vendors.

Which brings me to my next reason; the show’s format is interactive. A GLBT focused show is going to be smaller in size so mixing and mingling is encouraged rather than forbidden. I don’t want to hand you my brochure and then watch you walk away. I want to get to know you a little bit. Who are you as individuals and as a couple? What type of event are you planning? Are you running into any roadblocks with your planning? Is there anything I can do to help you? When I can form a connection with you the better experience you have. Yes, even if you never hire me. This is exciting time for you. I want your planning to be a fun and memorable experience. I think this is what you want too.

The last thing that is wonderful about any GLBT wedding show is connecting with other vendors. This is a collection of gay owned and allied wedding vendors committed to the fight for marriage equality (proceeds from the ticket sales go to support Equality Ohio). These businesses share my values so I want to know more about them and I want them to know more about me. Seeing the other wedding vendors respond publically, and with great enthusiasm, on Facebook and Twitter has made me realize that.

Living in or near Columbus, Ohio? I hope to meet you at Fully Committed! The wedding show is April 17th!

So You’re EnGAYged now has a blogroll under our twitter, facebook, and contact button on the sidebar to the right. Every month, we will feature 5 new blogs we feel our readers would love to see and subscribe to. To foster an even greater sense of community, those 5 bloggers from last month’s blogroll will make suggestions for blogs to feature for the new month.

However, if you have a blog you love to read or write a blog yourself, we would love to see it and consider it for our blogroll. We are looking specifically for blogs that are personal blogs and not large, popular wedding blogs. Just email kelly {AT} soyoureengayged.com your blog link and that you’re specifically applying to be on our new blogroll.

So this month’s blogroll is:

• A Los Angeles Love
• Bunnies ‘N’ Beagles
• Crafty-Ass Witch
• Roughing It
• Some Birds

So get your google readers out and subscribe to these awesome blogs!