So this week, we've alluded to a secret project we were working on at Yay New York. And to wrap up the week, I'm honored to present it to you. This is the trailer for the documentary short Eric Brown of the The Media Playground is working on about marriage equality, the party we threw, and the community you guys are.

Because the point of the event wasn't just to get two couples married, or to get 150 people together in a room and have a party. The point was to take what happened in that room and spread the message. The message that, as Ang put it to me earlier this week, "Love is love, and don't be a dick." Or, more eloquently if less succinctly, there is nothing more beautiful than two people loving each other and the world honoring that love.

So please, share this video. Put it on your blog. Link to it on Twitter. Put it on Facebook. Share the message with people who aren't part of this community, or who aren't sure how they feel about marriage equality yet. And I'll let you know when the full documentary short is done. Of course.

APW's LAMBDA Legal drive is going to be open for the next two weeks, as I know some of you want some time to plan on slightly more significant gifts. A huge thank you to the couples who trusted us with their weddings, the sponsors and volunteers who gave their talents and heart, and all of you for following along, lifting us up, and allowing this to happen.

And don't worry, Ask Team Practical will be back next week. Obviously.

When we were planning Yay New York, Leah and Mark offered to do a photobooth for us. And I said yes because that's what you do when you're planning an event with very little money and very little time. You say yes a lot and trust that people will know what's good for you. I only had one rule: no mustaches on a stick. Because yes. I'm tired of that.

Well, thank god we said yes, because the photobooth was epic (and easy). First of all, please don't feel like you have to spend a ton of money on photobooth decorations. We made ours by buying about nine tinsel curtains and layering them on the wall to make a really thick backdrop (we spent less than this, but here is the best I could find online).

Then Kari of The Handmade Event made some signs, picked up some affordable props, and BAM. The magic. (I hope you're enjoying the third set of arms in this picture.)

Turns out, it was super, super fun. And now I have visual memories of how hot APW readers are. Seriously. And you thought I was kidding. Y'all are full of sassy hotness.

So the photobooth was epic and awesome, and it was the quickest possible way to make friends. It's hard to stay strangers when you're throwing around props and taking hilarious pictures. So now I'm going to let you enjoy Team Practical...

Continue reading Yay New York: Photobooth!

** The bulk of our party photos were shot by Melissa of beIMAGED in NYC, who gave up dancing just to shoot. We love her. All photos are credited individually, since the photographer community was in on it.**

Photo by FedorovFoto

This morning I started to tell you about the Yay New York party, but it turns out to really tell you about it, I needed more space and voices from Team Practical. So here we go...

Photo by beIMAGED

Rachel/DDay had this to say (That's her in the grey with the flower):

In the span of 24 hours, I left my home, bought a party dress on the run, slogged through torrential downpours, waited in line under dripping tents, sat on a stinky bus for six hours with wet shoes, changed into said party dress in a shady and poorly lit NYC deli bathroom, ran in heels down a dark street and found my way to the epic party that was Yay New York. Lots of wine and delicious popsicles and photo booth silliness and shaking of booties. And sweating, lots of sweating. And seeing faces only glimpsed in tiny gravatars, suddenly animated and real-person sized, shaking my hands and laughing and assuring me it was ok that I just spilled wine on them (and the floor, and myself) mid-dip-low.

A mere twelve hours after leaving home, the party was over and I still hadn't eaten dinner. The ever-hospitable Zan led me and a couple other lost puppies back to her apartment (in a church!) in Brooklyn, where she fed us the most amazing Emergency Dinner, a.k.a. mac 'n' cheese with peas and tuna fish (don't squish up your nose till you've tried it). Not enough hours later, I woke up on her fold-out couch and let her lead me (in my lady bug pajamas, because no I didn't bring anything to wear the next day) all the way to my bus stop, which incidentally was well out of her way (thank goodness for Zan, it has to be said). Another 5 or 6 hours later, after blushing my way through D.C. in my pajamas, I was home.

I was excited for this event, I was pumped to meet my "Internet Friends" (heh), I was looking forward to partying for marriage equality. But reading the live updates on APW on my way there, it was really brought home for me where I was going and why and how exciting but also sobering it all was. Joy, for the happy couples. And then absolute wretched despair for the reason this party was necessary. We still have so much work to do, and I had a long bus ride to think about it. But being in that room, with confetti and streamers (and wine and melty popsicle juice) flying around, surrounded by Team Practical... it was all about joy, and friends, and vigorous love. ...I mean that in the energetic spirit of love kind of way, not, like, sex (though there was a lot of sexy in the room, too).

Photo by beIMAGED

Photo by Emily Takes Photos Continue reading Yay New York: The Party (Part II)