Weddings Redefined

I am preparing my speech for this Saturday's Celebrant USA Conference.  I am honored to deliver the keynote address.  In preparing, I came across this video from the Golden Girls, circa 1991.  The Golden Girls was my late (and very Irish-Catholic) mom's favorite show...wonder what she thought of this episode...  Check out this great clip below!

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This was a fantastic and successful year for 14 Stories and for marriage equality – thank you for all of your support and belief in what we do!  We absolutely adore our clients and believe more than ever in the power of their stories to change the world.  So without further ado, here are 14 highlights from 2011, in no particular order:

1.  We worked with 34 couples from 21 different states, producing beautiful weddings as small as zero guests to as many as 250.  Congratulations to you all!  We are grateful for your business and thrilled to have you as part of our 14 Stories family.

2.  I traveled around the world to train wedding professionals all about gay weddings.  I spoke to enthusiastic groups in Baltimore, Cancun, Phoenix, Vermont and Chicago!   This is part of our mission to promote marriage equality and reduce homophobia in the wedding industry.

3.  Along with that, this spring we launched the world’s first Gay Wedding Institute certificate course for those in the wedding industry looking to be more inclusive of same-sex couples and sensitive to their wedding planning needs.  This intensive course (with homework!) was launched as a webinar and held 3 times in 2011 with great feedback and participants from the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

4.  We launched the country's first app for gay wedding planning.  Our Gay Wedding Confidential app is available for a free download from iTunes and Android (but works better on iTunes!)

5.  Marriage equality came to my home state of New York on June 24 and we were there, on Pride, that weekend to celebrate!  Being a part of Pride the weekend of marriage equality was pretty incredible. 

6.  Civil unions became legal in Illinois, Rhode Island and as of next week, in Delaware and Hawaii.  Same-sex couples in those states can now have statewide protections for their families.

7.  The press we received in 2011 was pretty amazing!  We were featured on the Today show, on BBC, on NY1, NPR (twice) and in countless print publications including this amazing article on the front page of the L.A. Times.

8.  We signed a contract with a prolific and prestigious production company to develop and produce a gay wedding planning reality TV show….let us know if you want to be on TV!

9.  We hired another wedding planner!  Andrew is the first person on our team to plan weddings (besides me) and is fabulous, charming and talented.  You can read more about Andrew on our About Us page.

10.  I was invited to be a blogger for the prestigious Huffington Post and the feedback on my articles has been great.  If you’ve missed them, check them out here!

11.  I went to the Engage! wedding industry summit twice (once in San Diego and the other in the Cayman Islands) and connected with my peers from the wedding industry from around the world. 

12.  We opened our New York office in July and moved our family to New York in September.  New Yorkers have welcomed us with open arms and things are going very well here!

13.  One of our weddings appeared in the nationally distributed Destination Weddings magazine.  Check out Deb and Michelle's story here!

14.  Don't Ask, Don't Tell was repealed.  How amazing to see this discriminatory law go away and have our LGBT brothers and sisters be able to serve openly (and get married in uniform)!  What a huge moment in our civil rights history.

I hope that the new year brings you and your family great happiness and success - and cheers to the hope of more marriage equality!  

We are very proud to offer friends of 14 Stories a special discount to the upcoming off-Broadway production  Standing On Ceremony:  The Gay Marriage Plays, which opens on November 13 in New York.  The show previously had a very successful run in L.A.

Standing On Ceremony is a series of short plays written by legendary playwrights such as Neil LaBute, Mo Gaffney and Paul Rudnick.  During opening night, the play will be simulcast to 40 cinemas throughout the U.S. A portion of ticket sales for every show will be donated to Freedom to Marry and other  marriage equality organizations. 

Jen and I will definitely be going and I hope you check it out!  To purchase tickets at the discounted rate of $49 (down from $79) use code PLAY49 at Ticketmaster or when you call 800-982-2787.

As you know, I believe that stories change the world....and the stories heard during this play are sure to make an impact!

You'll have to check out my latest Huffington Post blog to find out...

Image from Gay Ever After at the Sarah Jassir Bridal Market show

A few weeks ago, the Huffington Post invited me to be a new blogger on their site, which now has a weddings section.  I eagerly jumped at the opportunity and my first post appeared today!  I wrote about "what's the difference between a straight and a gay wedding?" because I'm literally asked that question all the time.  

Check out my thoughts on their site (and please leave a comment at the bottom of the post).

Over the summer we agreed to provide expert wedding planning advice to same-sex couples being profiled by New York magazine.  I was given a lesbian couple, told their story and their scenario for a beach wedding next fall and asked to provide advice as if they were actual clients.  I gave them the full scoop which included some tough love, unfortunately!  Based on their wedding budget, $15,000, and their vision, I suggested they chop their guest list in half...check out the article and see what they thought of my advice.

I'm so excited to finally share this beautiful real wedding with you.  I had to hold off because it was published in this issue of Destination Weddings and Honeymoons magazine and magazines require that real weddings not be published anywhere else until the issue comes out.  We are proud that this wedding was that mainstream wedding magazine's first same-sex wedding.  

So, the story...this is the story of Deb and Michelle.  They met online and promptly fell in love, and literally within months were engaged and calling 14 stories, from Columbus, Ohio, to plan their wedding.  Their vision was an intimate and relaxed wedding weekend experience on Cape Cod, with only about a dozen guests, all of whom were traveling in to share the joy.

We promptly suggested one of Cape Cod's most spectacular vacation rentals, a stunning 7 bedroom property, and they booked it immediately.  We orchestrated airport shuttles down to the Cape.  14 stories did all of the floral design.  Each guest room had a small floral arrangement, a welcome bag and the guests' name on a calligraphed door sign.  We arranged beautifully catered dinners on Friday and Saturday evenings, including a fun Friday night on the deck with s'mores and snuggies.  The entire experience was relaxed, elegant, intimate and fun for all and captured perfectly by the incredible photography of JAG Studios.

Boston Spirit Magazine was kind enough to interview us for some expert advice for their readers, as well as feature four of our 2010 weddings.  Check out the fantastic article below!

GSN’s HIT SHOW “THE NEWLYWED GAME,” is looking for new contestants, including same-sex newlyweds!

You and your spouse could have the chance to possibly win prizes including a second honeymoon!

If interested, please e-mail CastingNewlyweds@gmail.com with the following information:

• Full Name of both spouses (must be married less than 2 years)
• Phone number 
• E-mail Address 
• Wedding Date 
• City/State 
• Recent photo of you and your spouse 

Once they get your email they'll send you a detailed application.

Engaged couples looking to work with New England's finest venues and vendors should check out The Boston Bridal Lounge, located at 125 Newbury Street in Boston.  The space is very chic - full of flowers, featuring beautiful tablescapes and tons of wedding planning resources.  14 Stories is a member of the BBL so we will be meeting clients in the space and helping them find their own wedding inspiration.

Those of us in the wedding industry who are members have a portfolio binder so couples can check out the local talent.  14 Stories is very excited and proud to be a member.

Stay tuned because in May, we'll be offering two workshops in the space - a training for wedding vendors on LGBT weddings and also a wedding planning workshop for engaged LGBT couples.