Emmy & Kamala - A Balboa Park Wedding

We met on the first day of law school, but we ‘ll be wishing for the rest of our lives that we’d met anywhere else!

Emmy was drawn to Kamala’s loud laugh and wide smile, and she appreciated that Kamala was not dressed to impress, unlike the rest of the group. Across the room, Kamala thought Emmy was smoking hot.

We quickly found each other, started a conversation about piercings, and haven’t been apart since.

Our first date, which we didn’t know was a date at the time, was a Halloween trip to Salem, Mass. We each saw a psychic (shout out to Bridge), and we both asked if we were meant to be together. Kamala was told there would be “other girls,” and Emmy couldn’t get a straight answer from Bridge, but almost six years later, we’re happily proving the psychic wrong.

We now live in Atlanta, but we got married in Kamala’s hometown of San Diego on Pride weekend 2022. Our ceremony was in Balboa Park, with a backyard reception at a childhood friend’s home. We decided to keep the guest list small and leave behind all the traditional wedding elements that didn’t resonate with us.

Some of our favorite details were shopping for dresses together and getting ready together. Emmy’s former boss and dear friend, Judge Beverly B. Martin, officiated. We had one joint all-gender wedding party of “bridesmates” who know and love both of us. Our dog Gideon was the ringbearer (and we adopted a second dog, Diego, on the last day of our honeymoon!).

We sang a “first song” together (“Power of Two” by the Indigo Girls) instead of a first dance. In addition to our astounding photographer Maddie, many of our artistic friends and family snapped pictures throughout the day. We ate sushi, fried rice, and shrimp katsu and served three flavors of cake.

We ended the night with hours of dancing at San Diego’s premier lesbian bar, Gossip Grill.