On February 18th of 2011, on board Royal Caribbean's "Allure of the Seas", a friendship began that eventually turned to love (more on that story on a subsequent page!). As we move forward with our wedding planning, one of the many decisions that we'll have to make is how we have the Officiant/Priest phrase the last line of the ceremony "I now pronounce you..." We've heard some versions that we like very much, and we've heard some that absolutely don't fit us at all. But you'll have to attend (or sit through the video) to find out.

It is quite exciting for us to be planning our wedding during this landmark period in history, when same sex marriages are finally being recognized, not only by friends and families, but also by those that rule our nation. We both grew up with strong examples of what makes a good marriage, and are grateful that our personal support structure is now being strengthened by the legal benefits that ALL committed and loving couples should be granted. All of which makes planning our wedding during 2013 and 2014, a great honor, as we see the world changing, and are a part of helping the world to change. And as "modern" as this concept is of "gay weddings", both Perry and I feel very strongly that we want it to be as traditional of a wedding as possible, as we intend to have as traditional a marriage as possible.

As we researched options for our wedding location (East Coast vs. West Coast; North vs. South; New York City (our home) vs. "Out of Town/Destination"), we had several requirements: We wanted it to be in a place that people wanted to travel to, and that wouldn't require our guests to take out a second mortgage. That immediately cut New York City out of the mix - as hotel rooms and other such NYC expenses are notoriously sky high. We also wanted to be married by the Ocean with an outdoor ceremony. And as lovely as many places in Cape Cod, Newport and other East Coast locations are, weather is, unfortunately, an often unfair player in that game. And as we've seen over the past couple of years, there seems to be no month that is safe from potential rainfall on the East Coast. And when we factored in the expense of having to have two ceremony locations (One, the main location, and Two, the "Bad Weather Backup"), we decided that we'd be smart to move our attention to the West Coast, and the majestic Pacific Ocean.

And for us, the perfect choice for our wedding was to be married on the Original Queen Mary - the legendary Cunard Ocean Liner that sailed from the early 1930's until it was taken out of commission and docked permanently in Long Beach (just south of Los Angeles) as a floating hotel in the early 1970's. As you'll read about on the page about our engagement, Henry proposed to Perry on the Queen Mary 2, the world's largest Ocean Liner that has (since 2005) taken over that legendary Transatlantic Service from her older "sister" and namesake. We've both enjoyed spending time on the original Queen Mary, but have been absolutely blown away by the level of service they provide to a wedding party, and we think that all of you will truly love the experience of being on that magnificent ship. We encourage everyone coming to the wedding to consider taking a room onboard, so that you can enjoy the wedding and not worry about having to drive afterwards. Walking around the decks of that ship late at night, and you'll feel like you're one of the lucky celebrities who were so often on board her during her Golden Years. They have given us VERY generous rates for our wedding guests, and even allow for our guests to make payments on their hotel rooms, should that make it easier for any of you, than having to pay the entire bill all at once. We've never heard of a hotel doing that, but they've told us that it's a favorite part of wedding guests that they can break up their hotel room expenses into smaller amounts. We'll explain more about that on the Accommodations page.

Anyway, this site is FULL of information about us, our wedding, and even full of helpful information to anyone who is not familiar with traveling to Los Angeles/Long Beach. We hope that you'll all find the information on this site helpful in planning your trip to our wedding.

As our friends Jean-Marie and Scott Morrison said when they were married "We threw a 3 day party with a wedding attached!", and that is our inspiration for our special weekend! We want to celebrate our wedding with people from all stages of our lives who have mattered to us, and to give all of you (and us!) one of the most amazing parties you've ever been to!