What a wedding we had Saturday night, March 13, 2010. It was a landmark for me and for Raleigh City Museum. This was the first gay wedding I performed and the first wedding ever at Raleigh City Museum which is located in the old Briggs Hardware building on Fayetteville Street downtown Raleigh. It is a unique and terrific place for a fun wedding.
The first floor of the Briggs Building is the home of Raleigh City Museum. John and Mark saw it and knew immediately that was where they wanted their wedding...for a number of reasons, one of them being that the museum features a celebration of civil rights for women and African Americans. John and Mark wanted this in their ceremony as a statement for gay rights. John contacted me in September and we all met and they contracted with me to preside over their commitment ceremony. I was thrilled because I have done several commitment ceremonies for women but none for men. They really liked being able to write their own ceremony with me as their guide. They came up with a fabulous one too which included the civil rights tribute.
This is the center area of the museum where the chairs had been set up for the ceremony. After the ceremony large circular tables were brought into this space for the reception and for dancing after dinner. Marty and I decided we did not want to miss this reception so we stayed for a while. Chris of Macaroni Grill catered the wedding and I must say it was delicious! In the distance you can see me talking to Lenny Fritts of Touch of Class DJs. Lenny is great to work with. He takes care of plugging my theater mike into his system then we do a sound check to get the sound level perfect. He also lent Marty his camera this evening when mine ran out of space!
Looks like Sir Walter Raleigh has something to say to Mark and John! This is what you saw when you first walked into the museum for their wedding.
At the appointed time, with all the guests seated, I processed in with the attendants. Matthew, Mark's brother, was his attendant. Corinne, a friend of John's was his attendant. They each carried white roses and I carried two.
The roses were given to their mothers and then later the other two white roses were in memory of Mark's grandmother and John's sister. Many tears were shed as you can imagine. I think I gave out a record number of hankies! John and Mark also had their guests take a stone at the beginning of the ceremony and infuse it with their love and blessings for the couple to be displayed in their home as a reminder of everyone and all the love that filled the room that evening. They also made reference that in some countries "stoning a person to death" is done for people who fall in love with the "wrong" person. But this evening the stones were for love.
After the vows and rings, I pronounced John and Mark equal partners, partners for life, and the music began amidst all the cheering and well wishes. The guests were directed to the back of the museum for cocktails while the ceremony space was turned into the reception area for dinner.
Congratulations, John and Mark! You made it happen! What a great couple you are. Maybe one day you can legally get married in North Carolina! I sure hope so.
I had promised John and Mark that I would dance at their wedding and I did. After dinner and all the funny and tear-provoking toasts to the couple, Lenny put on the music and before Marty and I got our stuff and left, I had a little dance with the two grooms whom I think were amazed since I had had knee replacement surgery only 6 weeks earlier.
Here's Lenny doing his job...........fantastic DJ that I can always count on.
This is their wedding cake. It was so pretty but I did not find out who made it. The cupcakes came in yellow cake with raspberry filling and chocolate cake with chocolate cream filling. On the top was the small cake and the two teddy bear grooms!
I lifted this photo from their Facebook page. Wonderful shot, guys! All the best to you and I hope to see you at another gay wedding of your friends.
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