Real Weddings: Cesar & John

Here is a PhotoStory of Cesar & John's Wedding, held on June 21, 2008, at Chase Palm Park Center in Santa Barbara, California. The photos are by the incomparable Gloria Plunkett Photography. This is the first time I have posted client photos on my blog...I usually just put it on my Website, but thought I would test it out to see what people thought.

A little background on the couple...Cesar & John have been together for 14 years and have an 18-month old son. On May 15, 2008, the State of California made it legal for gay and lesbian couples to get married. The weekend after the ruling, the couple and their friends, including me, were sitting around and we persuaded them to have a ceremony and reception, since they have never had a commitment ceremony. So after talking it through, they asked me to plan a wedding for 100 of their family and friends the Saturday after gender neutral marriage licenses would be handed out. They had to wait 30 days from the court ruling to be able to get their license, so we planned it for June 21st, though they got their license on the first day they were able to on June 17, 2008...a historic day in California.

So in a month's time, I was able to plan their long awaited wedding and reception. Thank you to all my vendors who worked so diligently to make this day happen for them.

The ceremony was held on the green behind Chase Palm Park Center with gorgeous views of the Santa Barbara Harbor as well as the Channel Islands. Their colors were Tiffany Blue and Chocolate. They had a cocktail hour with passed hors d'oeuvres and a gourmet buffet dinner with an open bar catered by CP Catering by Chef Ledesma (new website currently under construction). Their ceremony flowers were a mixture of green and white gladiolas (unfortunately right before the ceremony, the wind picked up and knocked over the flowers on the stand...so we had to improvise with something smaller). The reception flowers were a mixture of hydrangeas, lilies, and orchids, all created by Gina Morales. Their first dance song was to David Cook's - Time of My Life. Their cake was two flavors...the bottom was chocolate with chocolate ganache filling and the middle and top tier was a white cake with passion fruit and toasted coconut filling, made by the amazing Christine Dahl. They gave their guests picture frames that also served as the seating cards. They threw a bouquet together on the insistence of the single guests, which was pretty funny to see (men and women fighting for a bouquet).

The best part of the wedding was the mixture of cultures and also the mixture of hearing and deaf people. John is deaf and about half of the guests were also deaf. So we hired an interpreter for the ceremony and reception. It was so wonderful to see deaf people dancing the night away to DJ Luke and seeing the interaction between the two groups. Additionally, their wedding coincided with the "Summer Solstice," the longest day of the year...and it was amazing that we had sunlight until almost 9pm that evening. It was truly a magical evening, one that I will treasure a lifetime. In the words of Cesar and John, "We had the wedding of our dreams...you made it a platinum affair on a beer budget." So I hope you will enjoy having a glimpse to their special day.

- Percy

All photos by Gloria Plunkett Photography
Music: I Sing for You from the movie Camp, Kiss by Prince, Groove Is In The Heart by Dee-Lite