Exactly 20 years ago, Stephen and Walter met on a cold, windy night in Chicago. Today we were married!
We were married in our great living room, with a very simple ceremony.
Toinette Staley, our neighbor to the south and the first person we met after we moved down to Lynchburg happily attended our wedding.
We were married by Paul Boothby, who has been officiating over same-sex marriages in Lynchburg - before and after it was legal.
Our dear friends Sara and Roy Coleman were in Richmond, where Roy was having an operation on his back, were unable to attend to their great dismay, but sent a beautiful bouquet of flowers to remind us of their support and best wishes.
Last week we went to our favorite bakery Montana Plains and ordered a wedding cake. Stephen knew exactly what he wanted, right down to the Tiffany-blue icing and white lettering.
Since this was also our 20th anniversary, we ordered twenty white roses from Bloom by Doyle's and they provided a beautiful arrangement in a vase we left for them.
After the ceremony we had cake and champaign.
We planned the wedding at 5:00 PM so Stephen and I could go out to dinner. After Paul and Toinette left, we drove over to the very first restaurant we ate at the day we moved into our home, Isabella's Italian Trattoria. We even had Blake, the first waiter to serve us. After a flute of champaign, Stephen had the salmon special and I went for the shrimp & polenta special. When it came time to get the check, Blake informed us that Cheri Barauskas, who owns Isabella's with her husband Andrew, said it was "on the house"! Cheri gave us a big hug and "Congratulations!" as we left.
Stephen wrote a poem for our wedding day, beginning back the night we met:
WE OF LOVE
Stand in deep winter my night to glassed light,
his spring to door, his smile, his bright,
his bring inside to our words and eyes
into our worlds and ways, and to our yes.
Unfold the bloom night to day, room by room,
on the floors, in falls or joys,
on our shores, wave by wave,
year on year, we of we of love.
Congrats guys. Wish you all the best
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ron!
DeleteBest wishes.
DeleteStand in deep winter my night to glassed light,
ReplyDeletehis spring to door, his smile, his bright,
his bring inside to our words and eyes
into our worlds and ways, and to our yes.