So You're EnGAYged, A Gay Wedding Blog

Thanks to Leah and Ashley for submitting their beach wedding- anyone else ready for summer? Soft blues and greens and super bleached photos. And who took this killer photos? None other than Jeremy Lawson, who’s on our pro-gay vendor listing.

Our wedding took place in April 2009 in our favorite place, Grayton Beach, FL. The location is so beautiful. A laid back beach town with beautiful white sand, pale green water, colorful architecture, quaint local shops and eateries, and one of the most gorgeous national parks in the U.S. within walking distance. It was more than we ever expected. We originally planned to rent a beach house and have a 10 year anniversary party with friends and family. With their support and all the excitement, it became a full fledged wedding. A long weekend on the beach, 30 of our friends and family members staying together in a huge house on the water, cooking meals, and spending time together. To say the least, we had a blast. Our Monday night wedding after that weekend spent together was the perfect way to end the best time of our lives.

My favorite moment of the day, hands down, was the ceremony. I was surprised by this and really grateful. The ceremony took place on the bay right next to the water, late in the when the lighting was beautiful. We were in the sunshine looking at each other and just savoring every second. We had a local gay minister who had never officiated at a gay wedding before. He took it very seriously and afterward, said it was the most sincere ceremony he had ever witnessed. Amazing. We exchanged simple vows we wrote ourselves after our friend Jodi read some beautiful words of advice. It was emotional and wonderful. As a comedian, Ashley was easily able to wing her vows and they were such a perfect mixture of funny and romantic. Our friend Lance was the ring bearer. A short, casual ceremony with all of our close friends and family gathered around, sipping on our favorite beers, smiling and supportive.

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So Erin and Erica’s wedding has been featured just about everywhere. Because it was so hot!! So I was lucky enough to email them and get pictures that were taken *after* the wedding- like trash the dress session. Looking at these I’m totally smitten with the dresses- red and blue.

All images by Art Photo by Kira.

Yay for DC’s Christina and Meigh engagement session! With DC gay marriage now legal, they are planning to get married this year :) Maggie Mudd Photography sent over this sweet session, so enjoy!

Christina and I met at a mutual friend’s Stitch n’ Bitch in the beginning of 2006, but we didn’t get together until I invited her to a house party that May.  The fates conspired with a whirlwind of unsuitable suitors, artfully spilled drinks and bedroom intruders (seriously, there is no way we’re going to be able to tell our kids how we got together), but we sort of accidentally ended up a couple after that night.  It was kind of a surprise to both of us, I think, since neither of us were out looking to find The One.  We’d both had some less than stellar past relationships, so we probably took the most glacial, completely backward route to the altar possible, with lots of conversations that went something like, “Oh, I’m not looking for anything serious, I in no way am totally in love with you, wait, what?”

Once we (finally) figured out that this was going to be a forever-type situation, we went and looked at rings together with a breezy sort of, “oh, if *someone* were going to buy me some very nice jewelry, *this ring here* would be splendid” kind of feeling.  So, telling everyone but each other (seriously, *all* our friends knew we were planning to propose to each other, but they’re very good secret keepers) we each separately went out and bought a ring.

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Thanks *again* to Jenny GG for submitting these engagement pictures…she’s on a roll with amazing LGBT weddings/engagement sessions!

Stacey and I met on craigslist. Stacey posted what she called a “demanding” post. She put it all out there making sure that people knew that she was looking for something serious, something long term with a house and dog and picket fence in the future. She wanted the “whole enchilada!”

I found her post refreshing from all the others, because she wasn’t afraid to put it all out there. It was also all the things I was looking for too and I decided to be brave and respond to her post.

We met a week later and the rest is history. She is the most amazing and wonderful woman. She has such a big heart and kind way about her – Everything I never thought I would ever be able to find in my life. All our friends tease us for being so cute and in love!

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Thanks to Kiso Fotografia for sending over the wedding.

We wanted our wedding to be a blend of tradition and novelty and a mixture of formality and casual style.  The ceremony, complete with tuxes, attendants, and seated audience, took place outside on the Scioto River with downtown Columbus as the backdrop.   It was a family affair.  David’s sister officiated and we drew on a number of secular traditions to create a short, but meaningful service.   It was framed by a cello solo by David’s brother—classical renditions of some of our favorite pop songs.   Nature was kind and pushed the thunderstorms to the east of the city giving us an even more dramatic backdrop.

We held the reception at the same venue in the North Bank Park pavilion, just steps from the river ceremony cite.   Our colors—lime, magenta, and cerulean—evoked breezy summer cheer.   The meal represented a blend of Bryan’s Georgian and David’s Texan culinary traditions—with highlights like pecan-crusted chicken, fried green tomatoes, and barbeque brisket.  We kept it formal with assigned seating for guests but added casual elements of a buffet.  We continued the traditions of (egalitarian) cake-cutting and mother-son dance.  But we made it hip with dance music inspired more by club mixes than by your traditional wedding fare.

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This Oakland, CA wedding was sent to us by Dana Pleasant Photography, who actually is based in Seattle, WA. I love the popcorn reception idea! You’ll have to click on the more tag to see them.

Our wedding was a blend of being traditional and unique. We focused on making everything exactly what we wanted in our wedding. You know, you only get married once, so we tried to so we enjoy the process of planning and it paid off in the little details. From the photos to the flowers the day felt absolutely perfect for the two of us. Our goal was for our wedding to be relaxed and non-stuffy. We felt like everyone had a good time and went home with at least one moment that really stood out for them.

Our wedding day was the first day of our married life and it was a beautiful! Our vows to each other and the presence of our family and friends solidified our lifelong commitment. We were so in love on our wedding day, but what is even better, is that we are even more in love with each day that passes since then. That day is one of the most important days of both of our lives and we can honestly say that we wouldn’t change a thing!

We made our ceremony meaningful to the both of us by having a close friend marry us. We also had family play the guitar and sing a song we picked out as we walked down the aisle. Additionally, we each wrote something special for each other that was kept secret until our officiant read it during the ceremony.

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The second half of this square dancing, burlesque veil, wishbone designed, barn wedding is here!

Favorite design element of your big day? Any tips for readers on how you created it?
There was a theme in the ceremony of being on a journey together. We love to travel together and we used the trips we had taken together as a theme for the decor. The tables were not numbered, but were instead named after places we had visited since we have been together. In all the flower arrangements there was the name of the locations (really big so people could see it easily) and a photo of us on that trip and a little story about what we experienced on the trip. We tried to set it up so that guests from Erica’s side of the family were seated at a table with a trip to Audrey’s side of the family in New England, and that Audrey’s East Coast friends and family would get a story about Erica’s family in Montana or here in Washington. Most people walked around and read them all actually. It was really fun to write them and super easy. We just got 5×8 prints made and printed our story out on the same size piece of paper and put them back to back in the flower arrangements with one of those plastic pronged card holders that you get in a bouquet of flowers.

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Prepare yourself people- this is just the first half of this wedding all sent over by Jenny GG.

Our wedding was perfect! We had beautiful weather, a lovely location, friends and family helping with every aspect of it including making our own boutonnieres, centerpieces and bouquets from flowers from the farm across the street; setting up the tables and all the place settings ourselves; Audrey had a friend doing hair and makeup for all her attendants; and we had friends setting up decorations, DJing and emceeing. We had a touching personal ceremony and lots of great food and dancing! Our wedding turned into such a party, and everyone from the bartender to the guests said it was the best wedding they had ever been to (do people tell that to everyone?).

We both felt so loved by everyone this day. Our friends and families that were there are truly amazing and supportive and loving and we really couldn’t have wished for a more wonderful day to celebrate with everyone.

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Anna Sawin Photography sent us over photos and some info about Brandy and Kim’s wedding:

My lovely brides today are Florida residents who took their love on the road for a destination wedding in Provincetown, MA.
Their close family members are spread around the country, and they all converged on the Cape for a glorious late spring wedding to celebrate the wedding of Brandy and Kim.

They love the ocean and the beach, and opted for a simple, outdoor ceremony with just their nearest and dearest there to witness it. They chose to literally “tie the knot” with silken cords as part of their ceremony. Afterwards, we hopped into pedicabs for a wild and joyous ride around town. Kim and Brandy toasted their marriage with champagne while the the crowds up and down Commercial Street cheered them on.

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It seems like this week Boston is the town of love! Today we are featuring another couple who feel in love and decided to do engagement pictures in the Boston area (with their two dogs who I want to stuff in my bag and steal- how cute are they?). Can I say I was really refreshed to see two guys with engagement pictures that are sexy/show some love. So often I feel it’s these two guys who happen to just be in pictures together- lovely pictures, but no emotion. Kuddos to Allana from Ars Magna Studios for spicing it up!

Patrick and I met in 2003 on the beach in Buzzards Bay.  We’ve been engaged since June 2009 and can’t wait to get married this October.  The ceremony and reception will be held at the Artists for Humanity EpiCenter in Boston’s Fort Point Channel.

We live in the South End with our dogs Simon and Sushi.

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