LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
A GAY-la Wedding |
by Kelli Steele |
Going to the chapel And we're gonna get married Going to the chapel And we're gonna get married Gee I really love you And we're gonna get married Going to the chapel of love You remember that 1960s hit by the Dixie Cups, don't you? Well okay, maybe you don't. But let me tell you, that hit song was the only thing I could think of two weeks ago, as I drove towards Milton en route to a gay-la wedding. On September 9, as more than 100 guests and a 300-pound purple ice sculpture of Tinky Winky (I know you know this one...the supposedly gay teletubbie) looked on, 41-year-olds Rich Moonblatt and Mark Rohrbaugh said, "I do." The part-time D.C., part-time Milton residents met three years ago and the rest, as they say, is history. Rich and Mark were vacationing on the Coral Coast of Fiji when Rich proposed, just moments before midnight, this past New Year's Eve. Obviously Mark said yes, and the wedding plans began. Although the wedding was planned as a formal one, it seemed a lot like a staged production of Romeo and Juliet. "Teaching the World New Ways to Dream," was the theme of the wedding. "This is going to be a helluva show (not just a wedding), it's a production that we planned over and over again," said Moonblatt. And a helluva show it was. Picture a garden setting in the backyard of your home. Fifteen minutes prior to the ceremony there was a musical prelude of gay composers including Leonard Bernstein, Tchaicovsky, Copeland and Camille Saint-Saen. Then the ceremony began.... It was tangibly different than most with two presiders representing the grooms (Moonblatt is Jewish...Rohrbaugh is Lutheran). The presiders, Donald Etra and Judy Bond, have been friends of the two for years. One highlight of the entire wedding came just as Etra was finishing up his part of the ceremony. The town of Milton's fire signal went off drowning out whatever it was he was saying. As the siren stopped blaring, Moonblatt quickly blurted out, "It's cocktail time." Moments later, the siren blared again, this time drowning out Bond. Again Moonblatt had something humorous to say,"at this rate the wedding will end on Tuesday." After everything quieted down, the ceremony continued with Mark, a baritone, singing an original composition entitled "Eternally Yours" to Rich. Naturally, there wasn't a dry eye in the garden.... Other highlights of this ever-so-special occasion included an appearance by Barbra Streisand (a.k.a female illusionist Chris Peterson), the releasing of butterflies, and a hot air balloon that flew over the newlywed's house dropping biodegradable pastel confetti while "Over the Rainbow" was being sung. The grooms agreed that their wedding was one that no one would soon forget. Congratulations Rich and Mark! |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 10, No. 13, Sept. 22, 2000. |