Our original wedding date was November 2017, a few months after his passing Hurricane Maria around the island. Sometimes, even if you are very excited about a particular date, you have to be realistic and understand that there are things that are beyond your control. The first thing we thought was that if we are going to get married there, we wanted the local people to be good.
In 2015 we went on vacation to San Juan for my birthday. Michael had already entered Puerto Rico several times and had talked to me a lot about how beautiful they were. We started planning the wedding in August 2016 and were planning to spend a few days there to finalize decorations and complete last minute preparations just as the hurricane hit. When we were able to get back in touch with everyone, they updated us on the status and forecast for our November wedding: we should postpone the celebration, since it would be a nightmare to try to make it happen under such conditions.
It took us a day to put it all down, but We remain true to the idea of celebrating it in Puerto Rico. The hotel and the organizing team and all the suppliers had treated us so well that we had become friends so we wanted to give them all our support.
There are very few traditions and precedents for an LGBT wedding because they have not been celebrated like this for a long time. As a couple, We had to learn a lot on the fly, We explored together, we exchanged views… The wedding abroad gave us the opportunity to transport everything, the family, the guests, the couple themselves, to an environment that was not the usual, that It shattered the preconceived notions everyone has about a “normal” wedding. We still don’t have all the vocabulary we need to describe this type of marriage, traditions, businesses and everything about these ceremonies is very heterotypical.
ESCAPE BRIDES IN ECUADOR
Meg Ten Eyck-Cale and her wife, Lindsay Cale, live in Mérida, Mexico, from where they run their Sapphic travel blog, Drugs on the street. They got married in Ecuador in March 2017.
Choosing an overseas destination for a wedding can be complicated if you have to consider security. We reject them immediately countries where there are still laws against homosexuality, but we also wanted to spend a few weeks traveling, and we had to factor that in as well. Ecuador was the perfect choice: The country offers significant adventure tourism and exists My Sacha Ji Eco Resort and Hotel, a sustainable resort run by LGTBIQ+ people that fit our values.
I always recommend renting services and accommodation managed by LGTBI+ people. We had talked a lot with the owner so we knew it was a place where we would feel safe and comfortable. I already knew her, in fact, we had met at one of his conferences International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association years before marriage.
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