So, we’d still like to get married when it’s federally feasible…

But this’ll do :)

We were among the first in line to get our licenses on June 1 here in IL, and got married 11 days later after having planned for years and majorly scaled back. We had basically no budget, but that actually made it better in some respects. We had a tea party (neither of us drink, so it removed the impetus of having to have alcohol) with about a dozen of our closest friends and family. My dress was vintage, Jess’s was etsy-commissioned and then altered by a friend here.

We rented a vacation home so that both our families and a friend could stay in the same place that we had the ceremony and reception and we could still have a nice outdoor place. One of the best things was having friends come in from all over the country, some who had never met, and hang out, play games, get to eat some of our favorite food and exchange emails by the time they left. Some went back to each other’s hotels to hang out more after the party! Parents helped with food prep, my brother in law and both fathers hung things; everyone read at the ceremony. My dad spent the night before hand-writing the readings because my printer broke! It was really inclusive and great. There wasn’t a ton of dancing (except for us) but everyone talked, we had time to talk and eat…I totally suggest small weddings with people you really love.

Tips on saving: We put an ad out stipulating that we had a low budget, were queer, tattooed, fun—got a great student photographer who was willing to work for free (we paid them!). We got flowers from Whole Foods, arranged ourselves; decor from dollar stores and party stores as well as a chinese lantern warehouse. We made all our own food, including plenty of food for everyone with special needs – our vegan photographer told us it was the first time she’d ever not had to worry about that kind of thing and that it was delicious, and our gluten-free friend also enjoyed himself and was able to have some dessert!

The cake and some treats were supplied by one of our favorite bakeries in town, and they ended up with more than they needed so we got a HUGE CAKE with a whole extra tier. We DJ’d our own playlist with an iPod. 16 months ago