The last 7 days have been the best of my life. For those of you new to my blog, this week Michael and I were married in Niagara on the Lake in Canada. We had 15 of our closest friends and family with us for the three day event. We then all flew back to NY and had a wonderful reception with 70 plus friends and family in Great River. For those interested, I have posted the pics from the wedding itself. We hope to have the wedding reception photos in the next few weeks. We also have these pictures from Debbie and those from Paula and Angela.

Thanks to everyone who made the week so special for us both.

My Sweetie and I had a successful trip to Canada where we met with the lawyer and submitted all the necessary paperwork, met with the officiate to do our ceremony, found the location for the ceremony (Niagara on the Lake), and took at look at some of the local venues for a post-ceremony dinner. Here is a photo of where we plan to be married.

Lots of stuff happening with me personally. Some of it has to do with my recently turning 37 and lots of introspection as well as some spiritual growth stuff. I am building up the guts to share some of it with you all.

Michael and I leave tomorrow to begin the formal arrangements of our wedding planned for next June in the Niagara Falls area. I am excited to look for a site and meet up with a prospective officiate. We also will be meeting with an attorney to finalize some paperwork. In Canada if you were previously divorced, you must provide provide proof of the divorce and request permission from the province to be married. This will also be an opportunity for Michael to revisit the area he went to college (Buffalo).

I’m sure that will be a chance for him to show me around his old spots. I plan to bring the camera along so that I can show off our adventures. This is my first time stopping in that area.

So, I’ll first share that the engagement party was a wonderful success. Plenty of wonderful guests, wine and food, continually improving weather - how could it go wrong? It was fun watching my family and Michael’s family interact and celebrate together. There was even a moment of clinking glasses which we did not expect from our 40 or so guests.

Unfortunately, as my father, brother and grandmother were walking in the door of the vineyard, they got a call on their cellphone that one of my cousins had unexpectedly died. Paul was around the same age as me. He was my Dad’s brother’s oldest son. I can recall as a youth teaming up with him to play tricks on our younger brothers. He apparently had some sort of respiratory issue which did caused him to stop breathing. I don’t know other details at this stage. I am scheduled to get on a plane to California for work meetings in a few hours. I will likely have to fly back sometime during the week for the funeral.

So tomorrow is the big day. It’s actually more like a dress rehearsal for next June when Michael and I will be getting married. There were invitations, caterers, locations, family drama and registries. We have survived to this point, and I feel more confident for when we do the big event next year. At the same time, I am very nervous. We have less than 9 months to go and there is so much to be done. I am looking forward to tomorrow when our key family members meet one another. We are holding the party for 42 of our closest family and friends at a local Vineyard which of course makes wine the main beverage of choice. This should hopefully encourage everyone to let their hair down and be pretty social. The party space is pretty unique - outdoor deck which overlooks the main part of the vineyard. Currently they are calling for showers which hopefully will be overlooked as the space is nicely covered.

On the topic of marriage, this week a court in New York ruled in favor of a gay partner who was suing the state for pension benefits after having shown that they were wed in Canada. This is a sign of good things to come and reinforces our plans to be married in Canada next year and the slowly added rights we may benefit.

I am off on a business trip to Toronto tomorrow afternoon.  We plan to get a Yankees game in tomorrow night.  My boss is a big Yankees fan, so it should be quite exciting mingling with plenty of Blue Jay fans.  Whilst on the topic of Canada, as mentioned in previous posts, Michael and I are planning to be married there next year.  If there is anyone out there reading this from Canada, I would like to request some assistance in the area of marriage planning in Canada. 

We were thinking either Niagra Falls or Toronto as our destination.  Anyone who can provide some solid information about the legal aspect (i.e. do I need to get permission from the province of Ontorio because I was previously divorced in the US?), places for a non-religious ceremony, and resources to  find a officiate, would be greatly appreciated.  Michael and I got the engagement party invites into the mail yesterday.  One task now completed.  Registry was completed yesterday as well between Bed Bath and Beyond and Target.  Happy Days!

So I told my Mom yesterday afternoon that Michael and I are getting married and her reaction was what I would have expected if I had told her that our dog Emma was hit by a car and died. I suspect she will decline because her Pastor has told her not to attend.

Needless to say I am disappointed. At least Emma will gladly accept our invitation.

As I shared in a recent post, Michael and I are planning to be married in Canada on June 5, 2008. The wedding ceremony itself will be limited to very close friends and family, while we will extend the festivities during our reception at Q in the Hamptons on June 7. We have started to think about what kind of ceremony we would like to have. I have been reading various books, articles, and blogs which share some ideas. Neither Michael or I are religious and don’t want a Church wedding. Regardless of the location I want the ceremony to be something that expresses the thoughts and feelings we have for one another and those in our lives. If you has any ideas of unique rituals used in gay weddings that you have attended (or dreamed of), I would love to hear about them to feed the collection of ideas we want to consider.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and ideas.