Comments on: On the Occasion of Same-Sex Marriage in California

By: John Scalzi

John Scalzi — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:50:09 +0000

Depends on where you do perform the marriage, Trevor. Check with the local authorities to see what clearances, if any, you need to perform the marriage.

By: Trevor Curtis

Trevor Curtis — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:43:58 +0000

sniff. I’m emailing a link to this to my 20 year old step-daughter,who’s getting married next year. This is great advice to any newlyweds,period.

PS.I’m officiating at the wedding.Anyone here know the legal status of mail-order minister’s licenses these days?

By: Claudia

Claudia — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:39:07 +0000

sniff..I must copy this. What a good bit of writing and good people making comments. All is right, or getting that way, in the world. Fingers crossed.

By: Lawrence M. Schoen

Lawrence M. Schoen — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:58:56 +0000

Damn you, Scalzi, you made me tear up.

Good advice, though. Nicely stated. Marriage is good.

’nuff said.

By: alfaniner

alfaniner — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:28:38 +0000

As one relative who has been tagged to video several ceremonies — a little advice. Don’t hand a video camera to someone five minutes before the ceremony and say “You’re good with a camera… Can you tape the wedding?” It’s a big responsibility, and it takes some time to learn where all the buttons and such are. And provide a tripod!!! (happened three times now — I now keep a tripod in my trunk for weddings, just in case).

And for the videographers — don’t go crazy with the zoom every five seconds. Sure, zoom in for the vows, but most shots of the actual ceremony are better if static, with slow pans or zooms. Get a shot of the singer if you can, but that’s also a good time to pan around the audience and try to get all attendees in at least one shot.

From what I’ve been told, most people rarely watch the actual ceremony video, but enjoy the tape of the reception much more. Take the camera out every half hour or so, get a few candid scenes, then put it away for a while (except for the special events that occur.)

Learn how to work the manual focus. In the dark the auto-focus won’t work as well — don’t let the bride and groom think it’s YOU going out of focus all the time, especially later in the evening. Well, maybe it WAS me, that one time…

By: Rob Lawrence

Rob Lawrence — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 05:12:04 +0000

Great post! and Happy Anniversary! And congrats to all the newlyweds for whom the state government is getting outta the way. If you get a chance, tune in to Pacifica Radio - KPFK (90.7 FM in L.A.) Friday 8-9 am PDT. Our buddies Gina and Linda are getting married on air, on a great radio show - Uprising. http://uprisingradio.org/home/?p=2793 Live Audio Stream Here

By: shane

shane — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 03:24:22 +0000

I try and get the last word in on every argument… “Yes dear”.

By: socratic

socratic — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 01:48:19 +0000

Speaking as a straight single dude in Georgia, that was one of the greatest things I’ve read in a long, long time. This time is long overdue. I can only hope that, when I get around to tying the knot, I’m a tenth as happy as the wonderful folks who are finally equal under the law are today.

By: Network Geek

Network Geek — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 22:48:21 +0000

My ex-wife and I ran away to Las Vegas to get married. Hmm, maybe there was connection….

Well, good advice for those looking to stay the course. I find that treating my loved ones like I, well, you know, *love* them seems to work well. Though, of course, I do rather expect it to work both ways.

By: Joe Hass

Joe Hass — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:38:28 +0000

I have to share the one thing that went wrong at our wedding. We had our reception in the president’s reception hall at a Catholic University in Chicago. My beloved’s friends set the room up. It was a long, rectangular room and the head table was set up along one of the long sides of the room, with the dance floor to our right (as we looked out to the guests).

As the guests were arriving and taking their seats, I found it very odd as to who was sitting closest to the head table. When I saw my mom and her family (who I had assigned to Table 3) sitting in the far corner, I knew something was really, really wrong.

I walked over to the table, and discovered that the friends had put the 12 table numbers based on the dance floor as the primary focus. So instead of tables 1, 2, 3, and 4 in front of us, it was tables 1, 4, 7, and 10! Enough guests had shown up that it was too late to try to shift everything around, so I shrugged my shoulders and went to her to apologize.

My mom looked at me and said (with a big grin), “What, not enough money for you?”

To all the newlyweds: the heartiest of congratulations and love to you all.