00:01On our four-year anniversary, on our drive to Alaska, I said let's go on a
00:05nature hike or something. We wanted to go moose spotting. Moose spotting. Which is a
00:09thing in Alaska. Ladies romance. It got done on one knee and I said, please will
00:15you marry me? You and me forever. Thoughts, questions, comments, concerns. And she
00:19said yes. This will be our first gay wedding we are both attending and
00:23participating in. And then, hey it's a gay religious ceremony. I mean that's
00:28something I never thought was even really an option when I realized that I
00:32was gay.
00:39We met in college. We were in the same small seminar class. And I cracked a joke
00:45when we were going around introducing ourselves and Lizzie frowned at me. So I
00:49was smitten from the jump. I wish I could say it was love at first sight, but I like
00:54the sound of that. And then the whole day, the person that I want to see the
01:00most to like calm me down when I'm feeling stressed, I literally is the one person I
01:04can't see. Why don't we just wear like homes on our heads and just we can't see each
01:08other and we just hand us at each other? We have chosen to celebrate with a
01:12religious ceremony. We are Episcopalian and our faith is important to both of us. I
01:20showing you can be a queer identifying person and have a religious identity that
01:25the two are not mutually exclusive. We say in the church that marriage is a
01:30institution that should be entered into reverently and deliberately for the
01:35purposes for which it was intended by God. Check, check, and check. My oldest
01:41friend, she basically said, I don't believe that God intended for two same-sex
01:46people to be together in this way. That is a human interpretation so of course
01:51there's gonna be fallacy in that. God is love and people will poison that. Grace has
01:56a religious background and she kind of understands like this balance between
02:02faith and being a member of the LGBT community. I had to come to my faith in a
02:08very unique and trying way. I'm a part of a faith group that a lot of it hates me
02:14for who I love. So to reconcile that and love the same God is a test of faith. I
02:20don't want to do again but I had to do so I have a really rock-solid foundation.
02:26Yeah, that I think. Guys, from over there, is that better? Guys? Fanny? I think people will be
02:32surprised that the ceremony is so religious because the LGBT community has
02:37been so ostracized and othered by Christians. My stomach is like doing flips right now.
02:51Before the ceremony, we'll have some time up at the venue and we're gonna do kind of a no-looking
02:57gift exchange.
02:58We're gonna use one of our good friends to exchange the gifts. We're not seeing each
03:02other that day just so that they'll be a little something from each other.
03:14Aww, it's her tattoo on a necklace.
03:18She's been writing me love letters since 2015 for me to read on our wedding day.
03:28Oh, shoot. Oh, gosh!
03:41Alright, uh...
03:42Do you want me to bring all the characters in?
03:44Yeah, I guess we should put it in the room. Hi guys, I'm a mess. How's everybody doing? How are
03:48we feeling?
03:58Our wedding day will be big. We have a lot of people coming in from out of town. We've written
04:03a
04:03note to everyone attending just to say thank you and a little bit about how we know each other and
04:08how they've played a role in our relationship. And we have 20 people in our wedding party. Some
04:14people would say having 20 bridesmaids is unconventional. And you know some people would
04:17say having two women getting married is unconventional. So I guess in that sense the
04:22whole thing is unconventional.
04:39Dearly beloved, in the name of God and the church, we've come together today with Elizabeth Capel and Grace
04:44Spalbridge, witness the vows they make committing themselves to one another according to the church.
04:51I honor you in the name of God.
04:53Now that Elizabeth and Grace have exchanged vows of love and fidelity in the presence of God in the
04:58church, I now pronounce that they are married and bound to one another as long as they both shall live.
05:05And everybody says, Amen.
05:11You may now kiss.
05:19I think when you're a baby gay kid, you kind of experience questions what my life would look like
05:25and would it be fun and cool and exciting like how I would see in movies because there wasn't that
05:29representation
05:30for me.
05:31I just can't believe you're at our wedding and you're all here with me.
05:36So thank you. I'm speechless. It doesn't happen often. Thank you so much for being here. We love you all.
05:45So I do have these moments of looking around and feeling really proud of the life we've created.
05:49We did it. We found each other. And I'm proud of that. And I'm proud of the life we've built.
05:54Give it up to the lovely couple!
