00:01On our four-year anniversary, on our drive to Alaska, I said, let's go on a
00:05nature hike or something. We wanted to go moose spotting. Moose spotting. Which is a
00:09thing in Alaska. Ladies romance. It got done on one knee and I said, please, will
00:15you marry me? You and me forever. Thoughts, questions, comments, concerns. And she
00:19said yes. This will be our first gay wedding that we are both attending and
00:23participating in. And then, hey, it's a gay religious ceremony. I mean, that's
00:28something I never thought was even really an option when I realized that I was
00:32gay.
00:39We met in college. We were in the same small seminar class. And I cracked a joke when
00:45we were going around introducing ourselves and Lizzie frowned at me. So I
00:49was smitten from the jump. I wish I could say it was love at first sight, but I like
00:54the sound of that. And then the whole day, the person that I want to see the most to
01:00like calm me down when I'm feeling stressed, I literally is the one person I
01:04can't see. Why don't we just wear like homes on our heads and just, we can't see each
01:08other and we just stand beside each other.
01:10We have chosen to celebrate with a religious ceremony. We are Episcopalian and our faith
01:16is important to both of us. I think we're breaking barriers by showing you can be a
01:22queer identifying person and have a religious identity that the two are not
01:26mutually exclusive.
01:28We say in the church that marriage is an institution that should be entered into
01:32reverently and deliberately for the purposes for which it was intended by God.
01:37Check, check, and check.
01:40My oldest friend, she basically said, I don't believe that God intended for two
01:45same-sex people to be together in this way. That is a human interpretation so of
01:51course there's gonna be fallacy in that. God is love and people will poison that.
01:55Grace has a religious background and she kind of understands like this balance
02:01between faith and being a member of the LGBT community.
02:05I had to come to my faith in a very unique and trying way. I'm a part of a
02:11faith group that a lot of it hates me for who I love. So to reconcile that and love
02:18the same God is a test of faith. I don't want to do again but I had to do so
02:23I have a
02:23really rock-solid foundation.
02:26Yeah, that I think. Guys from over there, is that better?
02:30Guys?
02:30Fanny?
02:30Fanny?
02:31I think people will be surprised that the ceremony is so religious because the LGBT
02:36community has been so ostracized and othered by Christians.
02:40My stomach is like doing flips right now.
02:45That's cute.
02:46That is cute.
02:47No, this is actually relaxing me so very much. It was like a little jittery and now I'm not.
02:52Before the ceremony, we'll have some time up at the venue and we're gonna do kind of a
02:56no-looking gift exchange. We're gonna use one of our good friends to exchange the
03:01gifts. We're not seeing each other that day just so that there'll be a little
03:04something from each other.
03:13Aww. It's her tattoo on a necklace.
03:18She's been writing me love letters since 2015 for me to read on our wedding day.
03:24This is so cool.
03:26Aww.
03:28Oh shoot.
03:31Oh gosh.
03:41Alright.
03:42Do you want me to bring all the parents in?
03:44I guess you should put it in the room. Hi guys, I'm a mess. How's everybody doing?
03:48How are we feeling?
03:58Our wedding day will be big. We have a lot of people coming in from out of town.
04:03We've written a note to everyone attending just to say thank you and a little bit about
04:07how we know each other and how they've played a role in our relationship.
04:10And we have 20 people in our wedding party. Some people would say having 20 bridesmaids is unconventional.
04:16And you know some people would say having two women getting married is unconventional.
04:20So I guess in that sense the whole thing is unconventional.
04:39Dearly beloved, in the name of God and the church, we've come together today with Elizabeth Capel and Grace Baldridge
04:45to witness the vows they make committing themselves to one another according to the church.
04:51I honor you in the name of God.
04:53Now that Elizabeth and Grace have exchanged vows of love and fidelity in the presence of God in the church,
04:59I now pronounce that they are married and bound to one another as long as they both shall live.
05:05And everybody says, Amen.
05:11You may now kiss.
05:19I think when you're a baby gay kid, you kind of experience questions what my life would look like and
05:25would it be fun and cool and exciting like how I would see in movies because there wasn't that representation
05:30for me.
05:31I just can't believe we're at our wedding and you're all here with me.
05:36So, so thank you. I'm speechless. It doesn't happen often.
05:40Thank you so much for being here. We love you all. Thank you.
05:45So I do have these moments of looking around and feeling really proud of the life we've created.
05:49We did it. We found each other. And I'm proud of that. And I'm proud of the life we've built.
05:54Give it up to the lovely couple!
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