Friends, meet Joe + Larry. These two have such a sweet, sweet story. The beginning is a romantic, with them sitting beside one another on a flight while traveling for work. The middle is full of adventure, creativity, connection, and cats… and through marriage, the plot continues to be developed.
Back to their first shared flight though; yep, that is where the undeniable spark was ignited. Conversation ensued, as did their relationship… One thing that they had both had on their “bucket list” is that of scuba diving, yet they never had. They got certified in SCUBA as a couple. Joe had rehashed with us:
We were both at a point in our lives where we wanted the same things out of life, and we immediately connected with not only our enjoyment of each other, but our passions to expand our life with each other it was like the spark of our connection propelled us to want to explore the things we always wanted to try but never had the nerve. . . . Our whole relationship has kinda been like that. We spur each other on to try new things and grabbing each other’s hand and setting off to try new things.
So, they tackled their bucket list together, experienced the land and sea around the world though diving and celebrating they had found a partnership in one another. It became clear that they wished to be partnered for life, but had struggled determining if getting married was something they’d “do”. A reframe was had, and Larry crafted the best proposal via social media ever given Joe’s self-proclaimed fan-boy status of Steve Kilby. Magic. It was Facebook official, these two were getting married on their terms.
Their goal and vision in having a wedding was to create connection and community amongst their guests, but also to recreate the narrative of weddings and traditions being gay…. They wanted to get married to celebrate love, to be triumphant and not a political gesture. Let’s just say, they totally achieved that goal. The connection among guests was palpable; the guests’ love and overwhelming joy of a love story being lived was contagious.
We continue to be thankful that we were able to share in this chapter of their love story. Congratulations Larry and Joe, cheers to so very many more adventures together. Love like yours make the world a better place.
