Fifteen years ago today Kelley and I got married. We wore white dresses (I had to wear long sleeves because of the horrible track marks on my arms, from a recent IV treatment). Friends and family came from all over the US and the UK to witness our exchange of vows in our Atlanta garden. Most of them were frightened. Would we make them do bizarre ritual stuff? Would we engage in, y’know, Lesbian Things in public?

Strange to think same-sex weddings were so new back then that our guests were nervous. But we were the first s-s couple to be announced in the Atlanta Journal Constitution. We were the first to register at Macy’s (and, oh, there’s a story to that…). One good thing about making it all up as we went along: we did the whole thing–food, flowers, dresses, champagne–for $500 (and a lot of help from our friends).

Here’s us a few minutes after the vows:

That thing sticking up from the bottle is a teaspoon. It helps keep the fizz in the champagne. And here’s one of the obligatory ring shots (with cake in the background):

(photo by Mark Tiedemann and badly scanned and edited by me)

I could write a whole essay about that day (and the days preceding, and the days following) but for now I think I’ll just bask in the glory of it, the memory of saying to Kelley, “I will be strong, and brave, and fierce for you, no matter what.” No Matter What is engraved on the inside of our wedding rings.

Oh, and just for grins, here’s a picture of us taken two months ago, on our 20th anniversary (yep, we have lots o’ anniversaries and celebrate each one with gusto). Despite the fact we’d been eating and drinking for about seven hours at this point (gusto, remember, gusto), I think we look pretty good for an old married couple.