[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/let-them-eat-cake\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/let-them-eat-cake\/","headline":"Let Them Eat Cake: The first Illegal Wedding Fair commences in NYC on June 6","name":"Let Them Eat Cake: The first Illegal Wedding Fair commences in NYC on June 6","description":"By Kirsten Palladino If you\u2019ve ever attended a straight wedding fair, you probably haven\u2019t gone to another one since. First, there\u2019s all that heterosexist bride-and-groom...","datePublished":"2010-05-20","dateModified":"2021-06-21","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/author\/admin\/#Person","name":"Equally Wed","url":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/author\/admin\/","identifier":787,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ca62cf123aaaf135c80b055249bacbda79de9226e11cdfcde6529bedf89683de?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ca62cf123aaaf135c80b055249bacbda79de9226e11cdfcde6529bedf89683de?s=96&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Equally Wed","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"http:\/\/equallywed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/equally-wed-lgbtq-weddings-logo.jpg","url":"http:\/\/equallywed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/equally-wed-lgbtq-weddings-logo.jpg","width":218,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/iwf.jpg","url":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/iwf.jpg","height":650,"width":600},"url":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/let-them-eat-cake\/","about":["In Bloom"],"wordCount":1054,"articleBody":"By Kirsten Palladino If you\u2019ve ever attended a straight wedding fair, you probably haven\u2019t gone to another one since. First, there\u2019s all that heterosexist bride-and-groom lingo buzzing in your ears. And then the questions asked about your groom or husband-to-be, or quizzical looks if you\u2019re a man checking out the bridal glory\u2014and not as the gay best friend of the bride-to-be. Of course, it\u2019s natural to feel nervous to sign up for the tux giveaway from the big-brand suit shop in town, because you don\u2019t know how they\u2019ll act when a woman shows up for the fitting\u2014and she doesn’t want a woman’s suit. And you can imagine how it is for two grooms asking a wedding photographer if he\u2019s ever shot a gay wedding, and he stammers, \u201cUh, is that even legal?\u201d It\u2019s uncomfortable, to say the least. So yes, we need our own wedding fairs just as much as we need our own wedding magazines. Which explains why we\u2019re so excited about the Illegal Wedding Fair in New York on June 6.The one-day four-hour event is full of useful things every LGBTQ couple could wish for when planning their big day, including a highly curated selection of New York’s most talented, equality-minded wedding professionals from florists, photographers, cake artists and caterers to event performers, fashion and style vendors, and officiants\u2014all happy to help you plan your fabulous gay wedding. A full list of vendors is on the fair\u2019s website, but some of the highlights include Cake Alchemy (of WEtv\u2019s \u201cAmazing Wedding Cakes\u201d fame), Brooklyn-based Betsy Thorleifson of Nine Cakes, Zak Kunish of ZAK Events (a luxury event designer and master of d\u00e9cor), Brooklyn-based florist Saipua, Rony Tennenbaum, the talented artist behind the LVOE rings, and the Oratory Laboratory, which is a quirky company that does speech consulting.\u00a0 Guests also can expect a discussion on gay weddings led by author David Toussaint (Gay & Lesbian Weddings: Planning the Perfect Same-Sex Ceremony), as well as workshops led by Anne Klaeysen and Law’nence Miller, officiants from the New York Society for Ethical Culture. And it all takes place in the sumptuous setting of downtown Manhattan’s most exclusive wedding venue, 632 on Hudson.So how\u2019d New York get so lucky to land the nation\u2019s first Illegal Wedding Fair? Well, it wasn\u2019t always this fortunate. Last December, 38 New York State Senators voted against legally recognizing gay marriage. The wheels started turning for Kiwa Iyobe, the chief organizer of the grassroots event. A founding partner at Suite 2046, an NYC-anchored small marketing consultancy, Iyobe understands events and consumerism inside and out. It was this expertise combined with her feminism and longtime support of equal rights that led her and other like-minded people to, as she says, \u201cget together out of frustration\u201d after the devastating vote in December. Iyobe says they \u201clooked around and noticed that while there were about a million \u2018bridal fairs\u2019 for heterosexual couples in NYC every year, there wasn’t anything comparable in production value for the LGBT community.\u201dIT TAKES A VILLAGENothing happens with just one person, of course. And Iyobe is quick to start thanking the people who\u2019ve been instrumental in making the Illegal Wedding Fair possible. \u201cKaren Lashinsky had this wonderful venue that she was willing to offer us for the event since she too is a big supporter of marriage equality, so the ball started rolling from there,\u201d she says.\u00a0\u201cIt’s been an incredible journey for us, because we really only started talking about doing something this February and now it’s turned into this much bigger thing with media interest and lots of wonderful support from gay-friendly vendors. I have to say that the timing of Equally Wed being launched was also totally serendipitous because we’d been looking for a partner that also emphasized great design and high production value.\u201d She credits her business partner Susan Choi, who has been hard at work in the outreach to product sponsors, as well as generous donations of time and services from Amy Krakow of Propaganda Marketing, graphic designer Wil Rodriguez, web guru Benjamin Degenhardt, and Erin Gleeson and Vanessa Bahmani of E&V Weddings, the featured photographers for the IWF.YOU\u2019VE GOT A FRIENDSuprisingly, Iyobe isn\u2019t gay. Well, maybe not surprising, but it\u2019s really touching that a straight person would take so much interest in giving the gay community something so wonderful. Of course, Iyobe does have her reasons. \u201cMany of my best friends are gay and lesbian,\u201d she explains, \u201cand it is deeply frustrating to see overt discrimination at work when it comes to the legalities of marriage, especially in a city like New York. I have been in a committed relationship for more than seven years with a U.K. citizen, and after I became a U.S. citizen last year\u2014I was born in Japan\u2014we decided to get married in City Hall precisely because of the legal protections it offers.\u00a0 Our witness was a very close friend who has himself been in a committed relationship for almost a decade, and it is impossible to understand why I should be afforded more rights than he and his partner.\u00a0It’s my firm belief that the cultural tide has turned with regard to same-sex marriage and the lawmakers need to catch up with the rest of society. What happened in our state in December was a big blow, but we hope to keep our spirits high and not give up until all people are treated equally before the eyes of the law.\u00a0 We hope that the Illegal Wedding Fair will continue much-needed dialogue about what marriage between two people really means and why it is a privilege that should not be taken for granted!\u201dTHE DETAILSILLEGAL WEDDING FAIRWHEN: June 6, noon to 4 p.m.WHERE: 632 Hudson, West Village, New YorkCOST: $35; $60 for couples (a limited tickets will be available at the door for $40)BUY TICKETS: http:\/\/www.brownpapertickets.com\/event\/108159ALL THE INFO AND MORE: http:\/\/www.illegalweddingfair.comEqually Wed magazine is proud to be the national media sponsor of the Illegal Wedding Fair. Please stop by our table and say hello. We’d love to meet you!"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Let Them Eat Cake: The first Illegal Wedding Fair commences in NYC on June 6","item":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/let-them-eat-cake\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]