Tangie and Melissa’s wedding starts with a love story rooted in meditation and manifestation.
They’re both spiritual beings who are firm believers in the power of manifestation and reconnecting with nature. Before Melissa and Tangie met, Melissa often meditated under a giant eucalyptus tree. During these meditation sessions, Melissa recited positive affirmations and meditated for the perfect partner.
On November 9, 2014, while taking a Sunday stroll to a movie matinee, Tangie asked Melissa if they could stop by the tree on their way to the movie to hug it, meditate with it, and recite their affirmations. Tangie had every intention to propose shortly after this exercise but she couldn’t get the ring out fast enough before Melissa said, “We should keep walking so that we aren’t late for our movie.” Tangie was in an instant panic because her proposal didn’t go as planned, she continued walking with Melissa.
Tangie was forced to come up with another plan to get Melissa back to the tree. Convinced there was no way she was going to sit through an entire movie with the ring burning a hole in her bag. Tangie then said, “OH NO! I think I dropped my phone back near the tree.”
In a panic, Melissa hurried back to the tree with Tangie running to catch up. Melissa swiftly paced around one side of the tree looking franticly for the phone, while Tangie walked around the other side fishing the ring out of her pocket. As Tangie saw Melissa coming toward her she grabbed her closer with the ring box in hand and said, “I found my phone.” (It was the ring.) Melissa confused by the wooden box, and said, “What happened to your phone?” Melissa was puzzled because Tangie’s phone also has a wooden case and the ring was in a wooden box.
Tangie then opened the wooden box, and said, “Will you marry me?”
Melissa’s confusion quickly turned into excitement, “Are you sure?”
Tangie replied, “Yes.”
[dropcap letter=”F”]or their wedding, Melissa tells Equally Wed that “June 5, 2016, is perhaps one of the best days of my life. Our love is indeed a manifestation of happiness, music and laughter. Our families joining as one laughing and talking with one another although meeting for the first time from across the country made it even that much more special.
Some of the things we included in our wedding was the ancestor table, giving thanks and acknowledgement for those within our family who have passed on. We also had a sand ceremony and Jinga block pieces as our family and friends were encouraged to give well wishes, advice and positive affirmations on those blocks.”
Photography: True Love Photo
Venue: Vizcaya Sacramento
Event Coordinator: Caitlin Frederici / Vizcaya Sacramento
Music: Quantum Music
Event Planner: Jason Shires / QME Planners
Cake and Desserts: Sugar Mama’s Bakery
Flowers: Party Petals Floral Design
Hair and Makeup: Cimberly D Artistry
Officiant: Tarah Shah / Life Church Monastery
Jewelry Designer and Goldsmith: Kaya Sattva Jewelry
*You may wonder why we use terms such as lesbian wedding, gay wedding, queer wedding, trans wedding, marriage equality and gay marriage. We really don’t want to label our own weddings. It’s just a wedding!!! Love is love! We’re equal to our straight friends. However, if you consider the population of heterosexuals in the world versus the LGBTQ community, there’s quite a lot more of them than there are of us. Which means that in the Internet world, we’re a speck in the enormous wedding world. Which is fine. We love our speck. There’s glitter and fabulous cocktails and music on our speck. Now that we have federal marriage recognition in the United States (hooray! Marriage equality!), traditional wedding media outlets such as Martha Stewart Weddings, The Knot, Style Me Pretty, etc. are covering same-sex weddings in their own heteronormative but sweet ways—and they are using some of these search terms. And guess what, our community also is using terms such as gay marriage, lesbian weddings, gay weddings, two brides, two grooms when planning their weddings online. So if our community is actually going to find the resource that is going to help them plan their wedding with tailored language, knowledge and professional expertise truly geared toward them, Equally Wed is prepared to strategically use overt marketing tools of engagement. To search for equality-minded wedding vendors and venues in your community, click here. To submit a wedding, engagement story, personal essay, click here. To sign up for our mailing list, click here.
Equally Wed is a queer-owned privately operated global wedding magazine for LGBTQ couples. Our founders, Maria and Kirsten Palladino, launched Equally Wed in 2010 after having trouble finding supportive wedding vendors and LGBTQ visibility in wedding media when planning their own Atlanta, Georgia, wedding. The graphic designer/web developer and editor/writer decided to do something about it for their community. The name Equally Wed, the heart with an equal sign in it and the phrase “equality-minded wedding professionals” are all registered trademarks of Palladino Publishing, LLC.
