Pop-up weddings, a celebration of FINALLY getting there!

For those who happen to be in New York City tomorrow and want a first-hand look at the happiness marriage equality can bring should head over to Merchant’s Gate in Central Park between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.. There you’ll find the Pop Up Chapel, which will host 24 elegant and customized weddings with help from the wedding experts at The Knot. What’s the Pop Up Chapel all about? According to the website:

“Our goal was to provide beautiful weddings that reflect the importance of the commitment our couples are making while providing a symbol of marriage equality for the entire city to celebrate.”

The Pop Up Chapel – two chapels, in fact – is providing a legal officiant, wedding photographer, ceremony decorations, and refreshments for the 24 lucky couples who reserved spots early (and their allotted 12 wedding guests), while the event itself will benefit charities that support LGBTQI youth. How did it all come together so fast? Volunteers, donations, planning experts, and a contest that asked architects to submit design entries for the 8 feet by 8 feet mini-altars that the winner will get funds to build. That’s how.

“This is basically wedding planning on steroids,” Carley Roney, Pop Up Chapel organizer, told the Times.

As for how you can get a look at this fun, spontaneous, and joyful nuptial event, the answer is respectfully. Spectators are welcome, the organizers of the Pop Up Chapel ask that they stick to designated areas. These are people’s weddings, after all!

Hey folks, I’m back! The last couple of weeks, I’ve had some technical difficulties, but the Manolo has fixed them and here I am again. Let’s all give the Manolo a big round of applause!

Anyway.

These two lovely, smiling ladies are Kitty Lambert and Cheryle Rudd. After more than ten years together, they became the first New York same-sex couple to be married just seconds past midnight, this very early morning.

The ceremony, held at Niagra Falls, was timed carefully so that their vows would happen at the first possible moment they could be legal. And for the first time ever, the falls were lit in rainbow colors.

Several hundred friends, family members, and even some of the lawmakers whose votes made the moment possible were in attendance as the couple took their vows. The ceremony was performed by Mayor Paul Dyster, and a state supreme court justice was on hand to waive the usual twenty-four hour waiting period for couples issued a marriage license. The same waiver has been granted to a number of other same-sex couples for this day.

Yeah, I think most of them have had to wait long enough.

Congratulations, Kitty and Cheryle! Congratulations to all the happy couples taking their vows in New York this week!

May you all have long, happy, fulfilling marriages.

We here at Manolo for the Brides hope you will all join us in wishing many happy years to Neil Patrick Harris and his now official finace, David Burtka.

The two have been engaged and wearing rings for the past five years, but with the New York Senate’s vote to legalize same-sex marriage in the state, they can now plan the wedding of their dreams.

Congratulations, Messers Harris and Burtka!

We would also like to extend our best wishes to all the other same-sex couples in New York who can now decide for themselves when or whether to take the marriage plunge.

You lovely people send me so much great material re: weddings and wedding planning and wedding fashion that I sometimes don’t get to it all. Eventually, it starts to build up in my inbox, and that’s when I know it’s time to clean house with a post full of linky goodness. Today, as you may have guessed, is one of those days. Enjoy!

Geeky wedding invitations that will make your heart go squee!

Wedding clothes that fit your bottom line – and your bottom, hee.

An OMG amzing Star Wars wedding (not sure what’s up with the kid inflating the condom near the end, though) (warning: autoplay music)

Destroying the sanctity of marriage, one wedding at a time

Let your friends and family vote on what they’ll hear at your reception via your wedding website – maybe not the best idea?

Sometimes unhappily ever after starts right away

How did I miss this?? Vera Wang to Design a Line for David’s Bridal

Love LOOOOVE this wedding, even if the tree on the wedding cake does kind of look like a turd

The wine box wedding ceremony seems to be all the rage at moment

Planters wheel invites and one sweeeeet chuppah!

I’m super psyched to announce that one Federal Judge Vaughn Walker declared California’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, holding that it is not only a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause, but also impermissibly burdens “the exercise of the fundamental right to marry.”

Judge Vaughn Walker’s conclusion is the bizzomb: “Animus towards gays and lesbians or simply a belief that a relationship between a man and a woman is inherently better than a relationship between two men or two women…is not a proper basis on which to legislate.”

I, with my gay mom, have been saying that for a long, long time. It is totally okay from a legal standpoint to think homosexuality (or gay marriage) is icky or weird or even totally not what God had in mind. You can even legally decide you hate gays – though it should be noted that hating gays does make you a bigot. No one is going to force Adam and Eve to be friends with Adam and Steve, and religious institutions are not going to be forced to perform the marriage ceremony when Adam and Steve decide to take their relationship to the next level.

But just because a whole bunch of people think gay folks are icky doesn’t mean that those people get to decide what gay folks can and can’t do any more than, say, people who think /women/the differently-abled/etc. are icky get to decide what those folks can and can’t do.

I mean, heck, I think lots of stuff is icky. I don’t try to ban that stuff, though. I just don’t do that stuff. So to all the people who cannot stand gay marriage, I say: Then Do. Not. Get. Married. To. Someone. Of. Your. Gender. Problem solved! (I warn you, though, that not entering into a gay marriage will not protect you from having a nice, upper-class gay couple move in next door or from seeing attractive gay people on your television set.)

Of course, Ahnold weighed in: “For the hundreds of thousands of Californians in gay and lesbian households who are managing their day-to-day lives, this decision affirms the full legal protections and safeguards I believe everyone deserves. At the same time, it provides an opportunity for all Californians to consider our history of leading the way to the future, and our growing reputation of treating all people and their relationships with equal respect and dignity. Today’s decision is by no means California’s first milestone, nor our last, on America’s road to equality and freedom for all people.”

Now let’s raise a glass in honor of all the gay Californians who are still engaged because they didn’t make the previous cut-off while also crossing our fingers that something ridiculous like a federal ban on same-sex marriage doesn’t suddenly become a reality. Once upon a time, I would have said I couldn’t have seen something like that happening, but after the whole Prop 8 thing, who knows where this is headed.

To the moral majority crowd, if they’re reading this, all I can say is that we’re all over gay marriage here in Liberalchusetts, and somehow we still have the lowest divorce rate in the entire U.S. of A.! Threat to the sanctity of marriage, my tush.

Last night Mr. Twistie’s band played a local coffee house. Don’t worry, this will tie in with the title eventually. Just give it a minute.

Anyway. They played a coffee house. The crowd was pretty good, but the amazing thing was that it contained some unexpected faces. One of those faces belonged to Dan. Dan was the lead singer in the band way back through the mists of time when Mr. Twistie and I first started dating. He left, though, about twenty years ago to pursue his dream of singing gospel music instead. We wished him luck. He was a great guy with a terrific voice, but he really didn’t have a rock voice. Now he sings with a renowned gospel choir in the Bay Area and he’s thrilled to be raising his voice in the praise of God. I think he’s where he belongs now.

He’s also where he belongs in his heart. He introduced Mr. Twistie and me to his partner, Jim, last night. When they looked at one another, I saw the same glow I feel on my face when I look at Mr. Twistie – the same one I see on his face when he looks at me.

Turns out they did officially marry during the brief window when same sex marriage was allowed in our state a couple years ago. I’m delighted for them.

And this brings us to Argentina.

Three days ago, on July 15, 2010, Argentina officially legalized same sex marriage. This makes Argentina the first Latin American country to legalize same sex marriage.

The wording of the legal code has simply been changed from ‘husband and wife’ to ‘the marrying parties.’ This simple change of wording gives same sex couples the same rights as their heterosexual couple counterparts in matters such as: adoption of children, social security benefits, and other family issues.

Things got off to a rocky start with denouncements by the Catholic church and protesters in the streets taking on crowds of celebrating gays and their supporters, but the law has been passed by the government and I don’t think it’s going to change.

By contrast, after a good start, California voters stripped away the same right from thousands of Dans and Jims – and Danielles and Janes – just months after the state courts declared that equality under the law required recognition of same sex marriages.

That makes me sad. It makes me angry.

I’m delighted for the gays, lesbians, and bisexuals of Argentina. I just wish the ones here could get the same basic human rights back.

My good friend and compatriot Fabrisse pointed out an interesting article in the Washington Post to me the other day that got me thinking. It discusses the plight of women who want to marry in nice formalwear, but dress in men’s clothing. One woman featured in the article refers to herself as ‘the Ellen’ in the relationship.

These women don’t need or want big white strapless dresses, but they also don’t want kicky white minis or ladylike pantsuits. They want tuxes. They want quality suits.

Most of these woman already shop in menswear stores and departments. the problem was that most of them felt cut off from a community. They found their own solutions in whatever way they could, but without much support.

This situation frustrated Susan Hess so much that she created a site called DapperQ to help other menswear-wearing women meet (at least in the virtual world) to discuss experiences, trade tips, rate retailers, and generally create that community.

If you’re a woman looking to wear a more masculine look for your wedding (or in everyday life), this could be a great resource for you.

After all, not every girl dreams of a big white dress for her wedding. Some girls dream of marrying a girl in a big white dress.