When you’re a coupla geeks in love, and you bonded over Red Dead Redemption, what else would you do but go to New Orleans to celebrate your nuptials? Thus, a Red WED Redemption Weekend!

Our wedding ceremony “script” was something that I wrote all on my own, and I’ll be honest, I’m really proud of it. It, like us and our relationship, was non-traditional, non-religious, and peppered with geeky references. There was no “husband” and “wife” nonsense. We are partners in life, and what I wrote reflected that.

Our best friend Nami officiated, and did an absolutely amazing job. We had the most perfect and beautiful experience, and that was entirely because of the people who were there. We missed everyone who was invited and couldn’t make it (almost entirely due to health issues/COVID), of course, but I can never express the gratitude I feel for those who were able to be there to support us.

We ate amazing food, including a lot of beignets (burgnerts? bugwats? binyetts? buhlwahrs?) We drank good beer. We also drank…a lot of other stuff, lol. We listened to awesome music. WE. FUCKIN. DANCED.

Things were broken – arms, phones, car windows. People got lost in NAWLINS from time to time. It was all as it should be. I don’t regret a single moment (okay, except maybe Nami breaking her elbow). We gathered. We got in trouble for gathering. There was oatmeal and there were a lot of mimosas and there was a strip club and there was hanging out at the hot dog bar because yes, of course, there is a hot dog bar in Nawlins.

I am so beyond grateful for the people who love us. For the fact that we all, whether we are related by blood or not, became FAMILY that weekend. I feel so HASHTAG BLESSED for the people in my life who made this weekend happen, who made our WEDDING happen, who made it all so. Darn. Amazing.

I love that so many of our friends and family have become friends with each other now, because of us, because of this time in NOLA.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you for loving us. Thank you for supporting us. Thank you for being there. My life – OUR lives – wouldn’t be the same without you.

And PS

NAWLINS GOT US NOW, Y’ALL.

So without further ado, the one script that bound us all 😉

OFFICIANT:
Today is a celebration. A celebration of love, of commitment, of friendship, of family, and of two people who are together in this absurd and wonderful thing called life.

There are thousands of important moments that happen throughout all of our lives, but a wedding is regarded as a moment so critical, it needs to be shared with friends near and far. With us today are guests from South Carolina, Texas, Washington state, California, Connecticut, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, and Louisiana.

Love, a great unifier and a universal truth, has brought us together here in New Orleans. Everyone here has their own love stories, be they short or long, with friends or partners, already written or yet to be discovered.

Tara and Dean’s tale is one of fan conventions and video games, of a deep and abiding friendship that has become a deep and abiding love. Their relationship blossomed through mutual interests, and has weathered life upheavals and loss and, of course, a global pandemic. It has spanned three years, five months, and twenty-one days…not to mention about 2,300 miles. And they are here – we are ALL here – today, both despite and because of all this.

In stories, love heals wounds, fixes what is broken, allows you to go on. But love isn’t a spell, some kind of benediction to be whispered, a blame, or a cure-all. It is a single, fragile thread that grows stronger through connection, shared hardship, and honored trust.

We are gathered here this weekend to celebrate not just Tara and Dean and their relationship, but their family – because to be part of Dean’s life is to be part of his children’s lives, a choice that Tara made with an open heart and an open mind.

This celebration of Tara and Dean is about what came before, but more importantly is what happens next. They fell in love by chance, but they are here today, now, in this moment, by choice. Tara, Dean, you have chosen each other. You have each chosen to be with someone who enhances you, who makes you think, makes you smile, and makes every day brighter. In that vein, I believe you have each written a little something of your own to say to each other, in front of these witnesses, today. 

This is where we both spoke our own vows, but those are reserved for ourselves and our friends and family who were in attendance. Needless to say, they were rife with sweet nothings and Red Dead references.

OFFICIANT:
Tara and Dean, do you take each other as lawfully wedded partners, to love, encourage, trust, and respect each other, to work together to foster a marriage of equality, and to create a home for yourselves, Ben, and Camden that is filled with growth, laughter, and compassion?

In which we both said “I Do” as simultaneously as possible

OFFICIANT:
Love comes from humble beginnings: through a combination of serendipity and effort, imperfect beings shape it into something extraordinary. You are exchanging rings, which are perfect and unending circles, as a symbol of your imperfect and yet extraordinary love.

Dean, as you place the ring on Tara’s finger, please repeat after me:

With this ring, I bind my life to yours.
It is a symbol of my friendship, my love, my trust, and my respect,
And the promise to care for you, stand beside you, and share with you all of life’s joys and adversities.
For this day and all the days to come. 

Tara, as you place the ring on Dean’s finger, please repeat after me:

With this ring, I bind my life to yours.
It is a symbol of my friendship, my love, my trust, and my respect,
And the promise to care for you, stand beside you, and share with you all of life’s joys and adversities.
For this day and all the days to come.

And with that, by the power vested in me by the great state of Lemoyne, I now pronounce you partners for life. Now kiss!

There was a lot of kissing here 🙂

Esteemed guests, it is my pleasure to present to you the Lynbury Gang!