Olympic medalist Michelle Kwan marries in RI

For officiant, love is also charity

When county clerk Mary Melfi officiates a wedding, she donates the money from the happy couple to a charity for domestic violence. Her goal: $40,000.

nbcnews:

West Point’s Cadet Chapel hosts first same-sex wedding

(Photo: Amanda Fulton via Associated Press)

Cadet Chapel, the landmark Gothic church that is a center for spiritual life at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, was hosting its first same-sex wedding Saturday. 

Read the complete story.

nbcnews:

Their wedding photos are ready – after only 88 years

(Photo: TODAY)

Eighty-eight years after getting married, a Chinese couple have finally gotten their wedding photos taken — and they’re still smiling.

Cameras were scarce in China in 1924, when Wu Conghan, 101, and wife Wu Sognshi, 103, tied the knot, so they have no photos from their big day. But nearly nine decades later, they re-created the happiness of the event.

Read the complete story.

nbcnews:

Wheeled wedding unites couple with cerebral palsy

(Photo: Stout Photography)

The bride wore white and used a wheelchair; the groom looked handsome as he steered a Segway in his tuxedo.

Over the weekend, Melissa Crisp and Owen Cooper had a wedding on wheels.

Their wedding invitations asked guests to join them as they “roll into marriage.” “We had a roll theme going on,” Cooper told TODAY.com. “That was Melissa’s wording.”

Read the complete story.

thedailywhat:

X-Marriage IRL of the Day: At this year’s Dragon*Con, Redditor GreenArrowFL not only re-enacted one of the biggest covers in Marvel history, he married his boyfriend of 20 years in the process. 

Awww. 

[reddit]

Couple’s patience rewarded with star-studded wedding portrait

As wedding photographs go, this extraordinary shot is certainly out of this world. A couple were delighted when talented photographer Lakshal Perera managed to capture them with the star-filled Milky Way as their backdrop.

Amazingly, the image was taken in a single 71 second exposure, with the camera’s sensor set to extra sensitive to capture the dim light from the distant stars, as newly-married Shirley and Warren Andrews stood very still. It was taken on a farm in Deniliquin, New South Wales, Australia, where ex-pat Shirley lives and works with her new Aussie husband.

Lakshal, from Melbourne, explains: ‘Shirley has just moved over from the UK to live on a farm in the middle of nowhere in Australia with Warren who grew up in that town. They met while working in the UK.

‘The owner of the farm had very kindly allowed them to use the back shed which just last week had been filled with tractors and farm tools. The shed was lit with a single string of very dim fairy lights and about 50 candles. It was only one photo and they stood pretty damn still.

‘I took four test images, at much higher ISOs so I could reduce shutter times, before I grabbed the bride and groom and took two frames using the bulb mode. The first exposure was 59 seconds which I thought was slightly underexposed in the sky so I tried again and just counted out a little longer.

‘The reception from Shirley and Warren has been awesome, they’ve been so excited about having an image like this for themselves. They’ve shared the image around everywhere and have told people how much they love it which is wonderful.’

Shirley said: ‘This is my wedding photo and if this was the only photo that existed from the day I would still be extremely happy… Not only is it a bit mind-blowing and well captured creatively, it also expresses my husband and I in a much larger sense of who we are.

‘No matter the technical settings and highlights, and I am a professional photographer myself, this image could not be more perfect to me!’

The astonishing picture has caused hot debate in the photographic world, with some people thing the image cannot be real and must have been digitally manipulated.

Discussing the technical aspects of the shoot, Lakshal explains: ‘The image itself is a 71 second exposure (locked off on a Mantrotto Tripod), f/5.6, ISO4000 shot with a Canon 16-35mm f2.8L at 17mm using a Canon 5d Mk3.

‘I’ve seen the image around in a few places now and there seems to be quite a discussion as to whether the image is real or a composite or Photoshopped, etc. 

‘People are saying it can’t be real because there’s no star trails and the sky isn’t that bright. I haven’t really bothered to counter those claims as I enjoy the mystery of it however I can tell you it is indeed a single exposure. 

‘There are in fact star trails everywhere, it’s just no one can see them at the image sizes that are available online.’

thedailywhat:

Same-Sex Buddhist Nuptials of the Day: Their union may not be legal, but Yu Ya-ting and Huang Mei-yu on Saturday became Taiwan’s first lesbian couple to be married in a Buddhist ceremony.

Huang said the couple hoped that a wedding blessed by a Buddhist master would encourage more Taiwanese, 80 percent of whom are Buddhist, to support same-sex marriage.

“I remember when I told my parents that we would get married, their first question was, ‘Is this legal?’” Huang said. “I could only say to them that it would soon, but I didn’t know when would be considered soon. So we hope it will become legal.”

[buzzfeed]

thedailywhat:

Gay Marriage Endorsement of the Day: Same-sex weddings have no legal status in Japan, but that hasn’t stopped Tokyo Disneyland from giving them the OK.

“I wrote 10 years ago that I looked forward to the day when gay and lesbian couples could hold hands and go to Tokyo Disneyland,” said Taiga Ishikawa, Japan’s first openly gay politician. “I’m very happy.”

A full wedding ceremony in Cinderella’s castle, with Mickey and Minnie included on the guest list, costs about $95,000. The park is now accepting applications.

[wedinator]

Couple wed on ACM Awards stage

Christina Davidson and Frank Tucci had a country music wedding Sunday night at the Academy of Country Music Awards.

The couple tied the knot on stage while Martina McBride and Train singer Pat Monahan performed a duet of “Marry Me.”

During the song, the wedding officiant could be heard telling the newlyweds, “And now sir, you may kiss your bride.” The ACM guests applauded as the couple kissed.

McBride personally hand-picked Davidson and Tucci to wed during the TV performance. The couple met at a support group for young widows and widowers in 2009 after losing their spouses.

Monahan first wrote “Marry Me” for Train’s 2009 album, “Save Me, San Francisco.” McBride recently recorded a version of the track with Monahan for her latest release, “Eleven.”

Queen Elizabeth II makes surprise appearance at British couple’s wedding

The Queen was a surprise guest at the wedding of a couple who got married in Manchester Town Hall on Friday.

The couple only found out the Queen would be at the town hall after they had booked it as their wedding venue.

John Canning explained that after the ceremony, “we were going to spend five minutes on our own… when the gentleman from the town hall said the Queen had agreed to meet us.”

Frances Canning added: “It was a bit scary… but she was so nice, she was so gracious.”

(click-through for VIDEO)

Injured Marine, wife get their $50,000 dream wedding — for free

Donors enable them to have ceremony they didn’t have time for the first time around

Read more HERE.

Archie Comics Wedding: First Gay Wedding In The Series Hits Comic Book Stores

This week, Archie Comics released its first-ever issue featuring a same-sex wedding.

Life With Archie #16 — which features gay character Kevin Keller’s deployment to Iraq and nuptials to partner Clay Walker — was released on Wednesday, after months of anticipation from comic book fans and same-sex marriage advocates alike.

In the issue, Kevin decides to follow in his father’s footsteps and join the military — but becomes injured while serving in Iraq. While recovering at the hospital’s rehabilitation unit, Kevin meets an African-American doctor — and the two eventually fall in love. The couple’s happy wedding day is featured on cover of Life With Archie #16.

The Life With Archie series follows the lives of Riverdale High School students in their 20’s. Kevin, the series’ first gay character, was introduced to the Riverdale group in April 2010 — to “reflect what’s going on with kids today in the real world,” said Archie Comics CEO Jonathan Goldwater to CNN last month.

Click through to see a slideshow of Kevin and Clay tying the knot.

Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott marries Chris Tyrrell; couple announces nuptials in video message

(click-through for full story)