A Creative Colorful Wedding Shot On Film

The funny part about writing this is that Dancing With Her has sort of seen us through all of the phases of our relationship. You’ve seen us in the flower fields when we first publicly proclaimed our love. And you were there when we concocted a silly pancake-filled engagement announcement.

On Wedding Planning.

When we were planning our wedding, we realized that we were lucky enough to be surrounded by lots of awesome, creative people who work in the wedding industry. So we brought them all in to do exactly what they do best.

Our wedding was shot entirely on film by our awesome friend Rose. She has been taking photos of Becka for the last six years and we were so happy to have them document our day.

Our friend Ryno shot our wedding video; in the past, he had shot one of Julianna’s music videos, which Becka had directed. Our friend Kathleen or Best Bud Florals designed our linens setup (there were three different color schemes with two tables clothes each). Kathleen was also in charge of creating the gorgeous and imaginative centerpieces and bouquets. Our friend James played guitar as we walked down the aisle. Our dresses were designed and created by Michelle Hébert. Becka had the chance to model for her six years ago, and after modeling around 200 wedding dresses throughout her career, Michelle’s were still the ones that felt the most at home. She took on the task of creating two dresses that would complement each other—not looking too different or too similar.

Becka added in the idea of a transforming dress, for the drama.

On Wedding Traditions.

When you grow up not knowing if you will ever be allowed to marry the person you love, the ‘traditions’ go out the window. We found a venue that allowed us to walk to the aisle at the same time. So neither of us had to wait. We took pieces of ceremony that we liked and brought them together in our own way.

Our friends and family blessed the rings, tied to a pillow that Becka’s mom crocheted. We sung our way out of the ceremony. We prioritized hanging out with our friends and family in exchange for just a few meaningful photos after the ceremony.

On The Wedding Style.

When it came to the room, it was an explosion of color (remember the six tablecloths?). We also requested that our guests use this time to explore a love a color like we do. Leave the black suits at home. We’d also chosen this venue because they were the only ones we’d seen that incorporated anything hanging from the ceiling. A historic women’s club that allowed us to bring the night sky inside? Yes, please. Pie instead of cake? Absolutely.

The (Unique) Wedding Music.

One of the incredibly unique touches to our wedding was the choice to use a wall box. All of the credit for this goes to Julianna. She did the research on if this would be possible and how to get one, how to wire it, and how to get it working, how to connect it to a card that had been loaded with 100 songs that we had painstakingly picked. And then how to make sure that it would all work well enough to let our guests DJ the night. Each table had a little bowl (that we had lovingly picked out at an estate sale) full of dimes. So, our guests got to pick where the vibe of the night went.

The night ended with the only song it possibly could- Becky by Julianna Zachariou. Is it cheesy to play your own song at your wedding? Maybe, but who cares!

If you’ve written a a queer love anthem about the person you’re getting to marry, you should probably go all out and perform it. So that’s what we did. Julianna singing on an unplugged mic and Becka on the air keyboard.

The End Of The Wedding Night.

We ended the night laying on the floor surrounded by people we love, who had bolstered us every step of the way to this special day.

On their way out, they got to pick up some of our favorite snacks and a custom coloring book with pages dedicated to different milestones of our love story (created and drawn by my sister Natalie).

I think I was surprised by the amount of effort we put into every little detail of this wedding, but looking back I’m so happy we did. And we did it out of a place of absolute joy. Planning a wedding is never something I pictured doing, but I’m so happy we planned the party that was exactly right for us. We got to celebrate how far we have come and how hard we have worked and all the unknowns that are yet to come.