A Colourful Queer Wedding at The Boylston Rooms, Massachusetts
Alex (she/her) and Annie (she/her) spent three years at the same college without ever actually meeting. They knew some of the same people, both had roommates on the softball team, and somehow still missed each other. It took a work rotation in the DC area, living two blocks apart, and plenty of time exploring the city together for them to become fast best friends. A little while after moving in together, friendship turned into something more.
A few years later, they were back in New England, engaged, buying their first home, and starting to think about what they wanted from a wedding. They gave themselves time to work out what actually mattered to them, from choosing vendors who openly supported the LGBTQIA+ community to leaving out traditions that never felt right in the first place. That thinking carried through to their June wedding at The Boylston Rooms in Easthampton, Massachusetts, where they wrote their own vows, entered the ceremony together, had a few quiet minutes to themselves afterwards, and spent the rest of the night on the dance floor.
How did your story begin?
We first met in 2018 in New Hampshire when Annie started working at the same company and in the same program as Alex. We had actually gone to the same college and overlapped there for three years, but somehow never met, despite knowing some of the same people.
A year later, we both moved to the DC area for work rotations. We each moved in with coworkers just two blocks away from each other, and because we did not know many people in the area, we started exploring the city together with our roommates. We became best friends really quickly.
COVID arrived halfway through the rotation, so we spent nearly all of our time together. After that first year, our roommates moved on and we decided to live together. We started dating a few months later, and it did not take long for either of us to know we wanted to spend our lives together.
We stayed in the DC area for a few years before moving back to New England, getting engaged, buying our first home, and eventually getting married in June 2025.
Outside of wedding life, we share a love of books, music, games, travel, camping, and being outdoors. We are also huge women’s sports fans with season tickets to Boston Legacy FC, and we have a two year old rescue pup named Millie. We really just love doing life together.
What did your engagement and wedding planning look like?
We were engaged for almost two years, and that ended up being a really good amount of time for us. Annie proposed on our third anniversary, and Alex proposed back. Our engagement rings, and later our wedding rings, came from WR Metalarts.
Less than a month after getting engaged, we bought our first home, so wedding planning was definitely not the first thing on our minds.
We did not do much planning during the first six months of the engagement. Once we started, we made a conscious decision not to put pressure on ourselves to make everything happen within a certain timeframe. We wanted enough time to find a venue and vendors that we genuinely loved.
We kept everything organised in one big shared spreadsheet and also used Zola. At first, the whole process felt a little overwhelming, but we settled into it pretty quickly. We created “Wedding Wednesdays” as our designated planning nights. Sometimes we would tackle things together, and other times we would work on separate tasks while sitting next to each other.
Why did you choose The Boylston Rooms in Easthampton, Massachusetts?
Finding The Boylston Rooms ended up shaping so much of our wedding.
One of the things we loved was their huge collection of decor. They have a warehouse filled with pieces collected over years of hosting weddings, from arches and table numbers to card boxes, candles, and so much more.
We had already talked about wanting to minimise how much decor we bought or created because we did not want to end up with piles of things we would never use again. At The Boylston Rooms, we were able to work with the team and choose the design for our wedding using pieces they already had.
We were able to build the wedding design around pieces the venue already had, without spending extra money on decor or figuring out what to do with everything afterwards.
How did being a queer couple influence the vendors you chose?
It was really important to us.
When we researched vendors, we paid close attention to their websites, social media, and marketing. Did they show queer couples? Did they use inclusive language? Did it feel like they openly supported the LGBTQIA+ community?
We were looking for people and businesses who openly supported the LGBTQIA+ community and whose values aligned with ours.
We were lucky to find both The Boylston Rooms and Rhode Tripper Photography early in the process, and both were openly inclusive. They also became really useful resources as we searched for the rest of our team.
The Boylston Rooms gave us a list of vendors they trusted, and one of their coordinators pointed us towards queer owned businesses to research. Meaghan from Rhode Tripper Photography also had a whole collection of resources around finding vendors, planning events, and creating a queer wedding. That helped guide a lot of our early searches.
How did you make the wedding feel personal without taking on lots of DIY?
We actually did not need to take on many DIY projects because we used so much of the decor available at The Boylston Rooms.
The main thing we made ourselves was the signage. We used colours from our invitations and then paired those pieces with decor from the venue.
Having access to so much already meant we could make the spaces feel like us without having to create everything from scratch.
What was the ceremony like, and how did you approach writing your vows?
We asked our good friend Dan to officiate, and he wrote the whole ceremony for us. He spent time with each of us individually asking about our relationship, our life together, and what we loved about one another. He used all of that to create something that felt really personal.
We also wrote our own vows.
Throughout our engagement, we had both been keeping lists in our notes apps. Whenever an idea or a little thought came to us, we would save it for later. By the time we actually sat down to write the vows, we already had plenty to work with.
Starting was probably the hardest part. Before we wrote, we talked about the general feeling we wanted, including how serious or lighthearted they should be and how personal we wanted to get. Then we went away and wrote separately without sharing anything until the ceremony.
We asked Dan to read both sets beforehand so he could make sure we were aligned on length, emotion, and overall tone. Thankfully, we were naturally on the same page and neither of us needed to change anything.
Were there any wedding traditions you chose to do differently?
Definitely.
Understanding where wedding traditions came from was important to us. We did not want to include something just because it was expected, especially if its history did not align with our values. There were also traditions we skipped simply because they did not feel like us.
The biggest change was how we entered the ceremony.
Instead of walking down the centre aisle one after the other with our dads, both sets of parents entered first. Alex’s parents moved to one side of the room and Annie’s to the other. We then walked into the ceremony space together, shared a moment, and separated to join our parents.
From there, we each walked with our parents around the outside of the chairs, helped them to their seats, and met each other again at the front.
The only time we used the centre aisle was when we left the ceremony together.
We also had our brothers stand with us at the altar while our bridesmaids sat in the front row. We love our brothers and really wanted them to be part of that moment.
Later in the evening, we both danced with our dads. We asked our mums if they wanted dances too, but they politely declined.
What did the wedding day itself look like?
We spent almost the entire day together.
Because The Boylston Rooms handled the decorating and preparation, there was not much for us to worry about once the day arrived. We got ready with both groups of bridesmaids in the ceremony space, with hair and makeup by Crystal Vazquez & Co. starting early in the morning.
The whole morning was basically one big group hanging out, singing, dancing, and goofing around while everyone took turns getting ready.
We only separated when it was time to put on our dresses and prepare for our first look. We worked with Penny Jane Bridal for our bridalwear and Rose Fine Alterations for alterations. Our bridesmaids helped with the finishing touches, then Meaghan and Evan from Rhode Tripper Photography brought us into the ceremony room for a quiet first look.
We also took most of our planned wedding party and family photos before the ceremony, which we were really happy about later because it meant those important photos were already taken care of.
The ceremony lasted around twenty minutes and included our personal vows and a poem reading. The florals throughout the wedding were created by Dandelions.
Once the ceremony finished, our guests headed into cocktail hour while we had a few quiet minutes alone. Erin and the team at The Boylston Rooms had asked us beforehand what snacks and drinks we wanted and had them waiting for us in one of the wedding suites.
That little break was such a thoughtful part of the day. It gave us a chance to step away from everything for a few minutes and just be together.
After some more photos, we joined the second half of cocktail hour, then moved into the reception, with catering from Myer’s Catering. We opened with our first dance, followed by a speech from Annie’s parents. Our bridesmaids gave speeches during dinner, and we welcomed everyone before opening the dance floor again with our dances with our dads.
Once everyone started dancing, they basically did not stop, with Rob Alberti Events behind the music for the night. There was an outfit change with about an hour left, and we danced until the end before hopping on the trolley back towards the hotels.
Which vendors really stood out to you?
We had such a great experience with all of our vendors.
Erin and the team at The Boylston Rooms did so much to make everything feel easy. They handled all of the decor setup and takedown, brought us snacks and drinks immediately after the ceremony so we could have a few minutes alone, and helped keep track of our gifts and belongings so leaving at the end of the night was simple.
Meaghan and Evan from Rhode Tripper Photography were also wonderful. Neither of us is particularly comfortable in front of a camera, so the fact that they took the time to get to know us before the wedding meant a lot.
After taking some engagement photos, we all went out to dinner and just spent time getting to know each other. By the wedding day, it felt like they really understood us and what we wanted.
Meaghan even created a full wedding day itinerary for us, which was incredibly helpful and something we had not expected her to do.
Finding The Boylston Rooms and Rhode Tripper Photography early in the planning process really set the tone for everything that came afterwards, and we are so grateful for the people behind both businesses.
Captured by Rhode Tripper Photography
Alterations Rose Fine Alterations
Catering Myer’s Catering
DJ Rob Alberti Events
Dress Boutique Penny Jane Bridal
Engagement & Wedding Rings WR Metalarts
Florist Dandelions
Hair & Makeup Crystal Vazquez & Co.
Venue The Boylston Rooms
