So You're EnGAYged, a LGBT wedding blog

Are you watching the NY State Senate video live? Right now, over 17,000 people are! Tonight, hopefully, gay marriage will be passed.

http://www.nysenate.gov/live

Hey all you Philly readers! Are you going to Pride this weekend? Well, now may be a great chance to have a commitment ceremony- at Pride!

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.

We are looking to add 2 new bloggers to the So You’re EnGAYged blogging community.

• 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.

Thanks to J. Lauren, one of our pro-gay vendors for giving us a little info on the upcoming wedding show in Columbus, Ohio and why she chose not only to participate, but run the whole event!

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!