[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/real-weddings-marni-and-casey\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/real-weddings-marni-and-casey\/","headline":"Marni and Casey: Atlanta Queer Organic Wedding","name":"Marni and Casey: Atlanta Queer Organic Wedding","description":"Marni and Casey walk the walk with their eco-friendly wedding   It was love at first pitch when Marni Kahn first met Casey Brown at...","datePublished":"2010-06-22","dateModified":"2021-06-21","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/author\/NicoleWalsh\/#Person","name":"Nicole Walsh","url":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/author\/NicoleWalsh\/","identifier":2557,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0dcf2207a9ef5a8e025fa4c439c0574d1234df0a78224ac46f1b95e1bfc7275a?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0dcf2207a9ef5a8e025fa4c439c0574d1234df0a78224ac46f1b95e1bfc7275a?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\/real-gay-weddings_marni-and-casey.jpg","url":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/real-gay-weddings_marni-and-casey.jpg","height":282,"width":637},"url":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/real-weddings-marni-and-casey\/","about":["Real LGBTQ+ Weddings"],"wordCount":1154,"keywords":[" lesbian wedding","Atlanta","chuppah","eco-friendly","J.Crew","Jewish","organic","pets","queer wedding","urban"],"articleBody":"  Marni and Casey walk the walk with their eco-friendly wedding It was love at first pitch when Marni Kahn first met Casey Brown at her company\u2019s softball game. The two met through mutual friends, and as soon as Marni saw Casey\u2019s hazel eyes it was lights out, game over. They talked through most of the game in the outfield. Marni asked for Casey\u2019s phone number that night, and five years later she proposed.Casey came home from work one day to find all of the cards she had ever given Marni strewn about the dining room table. Next to the cards lay cupcakes from Highland Bakery, Cakebread wine and a box of UGZ slippers\u2014her favorite kind. There were two large picture frames wrapped and leaning against the dining room chairs. These were pictures of Piedmont Park, where they had spent time together as a couple. All of these things represented Casey and Marni\u2019s relationship in the past and the present. And what was inside the slipper box would symbolize their future together. Here, Marni placed two rings; one, a simple gold band with diamonds, and the other, a white gold band with diamonds and an emerald for the center\u2014green like Casey\u2019s eyes.After she saw what was on the table, Marni grabbed Casey\u2019s hands and professed her love and adoration. With tears in her eyes, she asked Casey to spend the rest of her life with her.\u201cI was completely taken by surprise!\u201d Casey says. \u201cI\u2019ve never seen Marni at a loss for words until this moment \u2026 She was a nervous wreck!\u201dIt took the brides about four to five months to plan their wedding. Both shared the responsibilities equally, picking and choosing which tasks to complete based on their own unique talents. \u201cMarni wrote the ceremony and program,\u201d explains Casey. \u201cShe also dealt with vendors and invoices. I was responsible for the details, like assembling the place cards and programs, and making stickers for our take home cupcake boxes and gift bags.\u201d Casey and Marni picked out their venue, florist, bakery, photographer and attire together. \u201cMy brother Jason is an event planner in New York City,\u201d says Marni. \u201cHe\u2019s an expert in his field and took care of our event. We came to Jason with some ideas of what we wanted, but allowed him to take over and make it spectacular and he truly did!\u201dThe couple chose April 10, 2010, at the Alto Rex Rooftop Lounge at the Hotel Palomar in Midtown Atlanta. \u201cOne afternoon, Casey and I went to the Hotel Palomar for drinks,\u201d says Marni. \u201cWe were sitting on the terrace taking in the city views and realized this could be a beautiful space to have our wedding.\u201d\u201cWe really wanted to make the event about us, and we took a lot of time to add personal touches to everything,\u201d says Casey.Every facet of Marni and Casey\u2019s wedding was hand-selected down to the finest detail, and it shows. \u201cWe tried to personalize every aspect of the night \u2026 signature drinks at cocktail hour, keeping the menu vegetarian and pescatarian,\u201d says Casey. The place cards were hand-embossed, and the couple even designed their own programs. Cookies, modeled after Marni and Casey\u2019s Labradors (Addie and Luke) were handed out as favors to each guest, with a pledged donation from the couple to Atlanta Lab Rescue.\u201cWe had decided that our wedding environment needed to reflect our social practices and Hotel Palomar did,\u201d says Marni. \u201cIt\u2019s a socially responsible eco-chic hotel that composts on hotel grounds, recycles, uses organic local products, and is pet-friendly. We had found the perfect space to share our wedding vows in front of our family and friends.\u201dThe self-identifying queer brides walked down the aisle arm in arm. \u201cIt was magical and magnificent,\u201d says Marni. \u201cLooking out at our closest family and friends, feeling the touch of one another, and knowing that we were about to take something so private, our love, and make it public.\u201dBoth wore wedding dresses from J. Crew, catered to their individual body types, with gold accessories. For shoes, the women showcased their playful personalities with Marni in gold Chucks and Casey in gold Toms. Each bride looked effortlessly beautiful in her simply elegant and comfortable looking ensemble. Both brides carried stunning bouquets courtesy of Twelve Flowers Boutique. \u201cWe allowed our florist John to be creative,\u201d the couple says. \u201cWe told him we like an urban-rustic-organic look, and he made it happen!\u201d Michael Hanz was on hand to make the brides picture perfect with hair and makeup.Marni and Casey wrote their own ceremony and asked their parents, other members of their family, and four of their friends, to speak and represent different aspects of the relationship.Standing under a chuppah, the couple recited their vows. \u201cI was a nervous wreck,\u201d says Casey. \u201cPublic speaking is a phobia of mine so standing in front of family and friends, talking about feelings, which is not something I like to do anyway, was terrifying! But as soon as I got through the vows, I felt a peaceful calm come over me.\u201dAtlanta-based Drew Newman Photographers and Jonathan Nye of Evolution Video, captured the invaluable moments between Marni, Casey and their 95 guests throughout the day.Post-ceremony, guests relaxed at cocktail hour sipping on signature cocktails the brides selected themselves. A lavish vegetarian and pescatarian dinner followed, catered by Hotel Palomar\u2019s own Pacci Ristorante. Guests nibbled ahi tuna tacos, blue-cheese stuffed dates and risotto before enjoying a choice of seared halibut or roasted polenta. Dessert options were rich and varied, including banana tiramisu, a cupcake tower stacked with red velvet, chocolate and coconut cupcakes from Highland Bakery and a candy bar, featuring Twizzlers, Skittles, M&M\u2019s, Reese\u2019s Peanut Butter Cups, Sour Patch Kids and kettle corn popcorn.\u201cThe night was beyond anything I could have ever imagined,\u201d says Casey. She advises engaged couples to \u201cabsolutely make the day about you. It\u2019s easy to lose sight of what\u2019s important, but at the end of the day, it\u2019s about the couple. So be true to who you are and make the guests feel like they are a part of something special!\u201dAfter being together for five years and taking months to plan a wedding, Marni and Casey have learned a lot about their relationship and about marriage in the gay community.\u201cWe knew this before,\u201d says Casey, \u201cbut our wedding confirmed that marriage has little to do with the state or government\u2014although the privileges attached to heterosexual unions are something we all deserve. Our wedding was about professing our love and commitment to one another with the support our family and friends; our community married us.\u201dThe couple lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with their two Labradors, Addie and Luke. They will be spending their honeymoon in Vancouver this September."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Marni and Casey: Atlanta Queer Organic Wedding","item":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/real-weddings-marni-and-casey\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]