Wedding Industry Love - Gay Weddings Part 2!

Happy Wednesday, Adore-readers!

As many of you know, my brother is gay and I wrote a post last month about my personal plight to stand for gay marriage and to plan weddings for couples in the LGBT community. Today, I am excited to announce that I am enrolled in the first and only Gay Wedding Certification course, taught by Bernadette Coveney Smith of 14 Stories, owner of the first gay wedding planning company in America. I am taking the course in March and (barring any unforeseen circumstances), I will be certified by April! I am taking this step so that we can officially move forward in our support of marriage equality for everyone! Yes, this is absolutely personal to me, but it’s also about business. I am currently a certified wedding planner and feel that this will be a huge asset to my existing skill set.

Trisha and I are both attending Engage!11 in May and we are looking forward to learning even more about where the wedding industry overall is heading. I am proud to be a part of a company that supports gay marriage and I can’t wait to get certified and get started!

This is my little guy Joe, last May - he supports his gay uncle and so do we!

xoxo

Christy

Wedding Industry Love - Gay Weddings

An Open Love Letter to my Brother...
With Love, Christy

My dream career is to plan weddings for gay couples. I am a certified wedding planner, have been working in San Francisco for over 3 years, and got married myself in 2009. My brother, Alex, stood as a groomsman while our vows were exchanged and I know one day, I will stand up for my brother as he recites his own vows with his husband.

Here’s the thing: My brother is awesome. To know him is to love him. He is brilliant, ambitious, handsome, hilarious and loyal. He is the best person in the world to people–watch with. His sense of humor is wicked and no one makes me laugh more…or laughs with and at me more, which is a true delight in my life. I think he might rule the world one day. Thing #2: He is gay. So in most of America, by law, he is not allowed by to get married and he is stared at if he so much as walks down the street holding hands with another man. Not to mention the myriad of civil liberties he is not afforded. I don’t want to rant about politics here, but you can see where I stand and where I am going with this. I love this man. He deserves to be happy the same way that everyone else does. While I continue to love planning straight weddings, I need to put out there that I also love the gay and lesbian community, I support gay MARRIAGE, and I would be living a personal dream if I were working for gay couples right there along with my beloved straight couples.

So…here is my mission for 2011: I will work tirelessly (and happily!) to create beautiful, personal events for my clients. I believe weddings are a heightened experience and we have so few of these elevated moments in our lives. I also believe everyone deserves to feel loved and supported as they make the monumental life decision to get married. I hope one day planning gay weddings will be as "normal" as planning straight weddings, especially out here in California. But that day is not now, and this year I want to learn how to reach out to the gay community, market to the gay community and better support them through my career as a wedding planner. I truly look up to Bernadette of 14 Stories, who has created the first gay wedding planning firm. She is an inspiration to me and to the wedding industry overall.

I don’t just want to stand up next to my brother when he gets married one day. I want to plan the wedding. I want to plan the wedding in a country that recognizes, accepts, and embraces love and marriage for all.

So catch up with me, America!**

**you know who you are

xoxo Christy

Photo source: Shaughn Photography

Salutations!

Hello Blog Universe! Allow me to introduce myself…my name is Christy Daly, I am a wedding coordinator living and working in San Francisco. I work as a consultant and planner for Trisha Dean (whom you must adore if you are reading this blog) and I am so excited to be a contributor to her blog and company!

Trisha and I met while getting our wedding planning certification from Cal State East Bay. I am happy to be part of Trisha’s team and my goal with blogging is to give readers a good idea of my aesthetic, my background and my personality. I find a lot of wedding blogs to be ‘fluffy’ and I’m not that kind of gal…I know my blog posts will be opinionated but informative, and I will draw from a lot of my personal experiences.

For example, I got married when I was 6 months pregnant. By then, I had already been working as a planner for another SF company. I planned my own wedding, complete with “Shotgun Wedding” DIY invitations, in about 7 weeks, with a budget of $10,000. In San Francisco. Labor Day Weekend. My background, education and experience made it all possible. I can honestly say that planning my own wedding, having the knowledge from working in the industry, and under the special circumstances I had at the time, have made me an incredibly well-rounded and confident planner for other people. I’m ready to take on the world with enthusiasm and experience! I absolutely believe that weddings are a heightened experience and I treat the planning and execution as such. I never forget that a person has so few times in their life when all their loved ones gather in one space to celebrate and support them. Weddings are rare and sentimental events in a person’s life and I love helping to create them for the couples I work with.

So…that’s a summary of me, I guess. I am excited about sharing with you through this blogging endeavor and I will “talk” to you soon!

xoxo

Christy

Photo source: Shaugn Photography

A Fabulous New Face

Hi all! I know, I know. What can I say...first we had the holidays and then Emmie's first birthday and I will admit I am totally and completely behind! Excuses, excuses! But I do still have wonderful and new info to share. I will start by sharing the first and most exciting piece of news...and introduce to you the wonderful, the talented, the amazing...Christy!


Trisha Dean Events is THRILLED to welcome on another full time planner! Things are hopping over here and 2011 is looking like a fab year so I am beyond happy that Christy has officially decided to join my little company and help me grow. We've had fun dreaming up all of the wonderful ideas we have in store for you this year. She will be posting on the blog and sharing her witty sense of humor, her fab sense of style and her ridiculously helpful wedding tips with all you brides and grooms out there. You can learn all about her this Wednesday when her first post goes live!

Ok, I am off to download photos from Em's party and will post them soon so you all can see what fun we had with our snow themed birthday.

xoxo
Trisha

Photo source: Misti Layne

A New and Improved Adore...

...is on its way!

Welcome back! Our holidays were a blast and we hope yours were too! We have some fancy, exciting, spanking new changes over here at Adore! Of course I wanted to be able to launch into them on the first post of 2011, but as they say, change takes time, and we are still recovering from too much egg nog over here. :)

So keep your eyes peeled for new features, new faces and new fun. And slowly but surely a new look. In the meantime, here is a gorgeous image that I can't get enough of in attempt to hold you over. I found this on the lovely Elizabeth Anne Designs and it was taken by Marie Labbancz. The dress, the red soles, the brick path! Sigh. Love.

Happy New Year!

Photo source: Marie Labbancz via Elizabeth Anne Designs

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Hi all,

It is the most wonderful time of the year! The radio has been tuned to KOIT 96.5 since November 18th, when I heard the first Christmas song of the season and has not been turned off once - I really do think the cats enjoy it when we are out and about!!

Most of the holiday to do list is done...I delivered some fun toys and much needed donations to The Bay Area Crisis Nursery and know they will go to good use, the house is decorated and ready to go, although I am debating adding more lights out front - the cool white LED lights just don't give off the holiday glow I am looking for.

The trees are done, yes, we have two this year! Emmie gets her very own little tree, because it is cool to have more than one tree, and it is her first Christmas! Oh alright, the real reason is I am super picky about my type of tree and particular about each year's theme. Crazy right?? This year's tree theme is snow and the tree is covered in silver, white and blues. I love glitter ornaments, especially old school ones, and always, always have white lights on my tree.

The thing I have yet to complete, ummmm, should I say start...is my Christmas shopping. It is so hard to find the perfect gift! I must let you in on a little secret though...one little gift I am giving my hubby and daughter this year is a mini vacay from blogging. So, this will be my last post of 2010, and I will resume the week of January 10th bright eyed and bushy tailed!!

Happy Holidays my friends and I will see you in the new year and I can't wait! I hope Santa brings you all that you dream of and more...

xoxo

Trisha

Photo source from an adorable new blog I found called Kate's Place.

Love and Memories

Hi all,

I have a bit of a different post today - one that is a little more personal. Instead of the fun wedding details, I wanted to focus on the love part that gets us to the wedding that leads to the fun wedding details.

My Grandpa passed away this past weekend. My Grandma passed away a few years back, and I know he is incredibly happy to be with her again. They were married for 64 years, had three children and a sweet little home in San Bruno, California.

My Grandpa served in World War II and was one of the first troops to land in Normandy on D Day. He spoke 7 different languages - was fluent in Italian, and made enough money winning poker games during the war that my Grandma was able to purchase and furnish a home on the winnings he sent back to her. How cool is that?! My Grandparents loved Disneyland and my sister and I were spoiled with summer trips and wonderful memories of being in the happiest place on earth. They were the best!

In my little post today, I wanted to remind us that love is timeless and sacred. Through thick and thin, good times and bad, love will get us through. It amazes me that this feeling on which we build a life with someone has the ability to create such an impact in our day to day lives - and I wouldn't have it any other way! I am such a romantic and to me, a wedding is a moment in time with family and friends where love is celebrated.

Ok, enough sappy stuff. Go hug and kiss your loved ones, live in the moment, and be happy. Here is Grandma and Grandpa - Bob and Bernice - not sure of the date, but thrilled to have found the photo.

xoxo

Trisha

Photo source: Author's personal collection