Vermont Wedding Photos; The State of Marriage Documentary by Jeff Kaufman
I received a few photos from film producer, Jeff Kaufman, today of our wedding in Vermont last month and wanted to share. I’ve already posted about the wedding here, and below I’ll post more about the documentary, The State of Marriage, with an excerpt Jeff e-mailed to me with award winning playwright, Terrence McNally, and his partner, Tom Kirdahy. It’s an interesting interview I think most same sex couples can relate to. And we were honored to be part of the documentary and have someone like Vermont Supreme Court Justice, Beth Robinson, perform our ceremony.
Tony and I cutting the cake
Toasting with Beth Robinson, Vermont Supreme Court Justice
View of Phineas Swann Inn, Montgomery Center, VT, where the ceremony took place
Before the ceremony with Beth Robinson and the owners of Phineas Swann, Darren and Lynn
Beth Robinson
The Wedding Cake
Me putting the ring on Tony during the ceremony
The State of Marriage Documentary and Interview with Terrence McNally and Tom Kirdahy
TERRENCE:
Marriage is choosing to spend your life with someone and thinking of the two of you as “us.”
Us becomes more important than me. It’s sharing your life with someone, and that includes
everything. The lack of marriage (I called our civil union “marriage”) before this had a
greater stress on our relationship than I ever realized. Our civil union and marriage changed
the level of our relationship. It’s so much better. We didn’t get married to get happier, but we
are happier. Everything is so much better. We’re more honest. We’re more connected.
TOM:
Frankly, a lot of our love affair happened (when Terrence had cancer) in Sloan Kettering.
When Vermont happened, when civil unions happened, we thought we want to be as married
as two men can be in this country. We wanted to be as committed to each other as is humanly
and legally possible. We’d been through so much and we’d heard about this great inn in
Vermont. I don’t think either of us fully knew how profound that moment would be when we
said those words out loud, “In sickness and in health” and “I do.”
TERRENCE:
Until you actually look someone in the eye and say, “In sickness and in health, until death do
us part,” well, it’s a profound human experience. When I met Tom, marriage wasn’t even a
possibility. I could write about it in plays, men getting married, but to think it could be a
reality, that seemed impossible. It was after we went to Vermont for the legal part of it, that
the emotional impact hit me. We stood in the living room of a country inn and a justice of the
peace married (civil unioned) us, and it was snowing. Saying “I am there for you for the rest
of my life” is a very profound pledge to make to someone. And it makes me feel safer, more
protected, happier, calmer . . . I’m not alone in the world. I have a husband, and I hope I
make Tom feels the same way. As much as I love Tom, I never had that feeling until I stood
in Vermont in that inn and said the words to each other. We were both surprised. We came
back from Vermont changed men in a changed relationship.
I’ll post more about the documentary as I get the info. I think it’s going to be something interesting if this interview is any indication of the content. And I haven’t been as comfortable or impressed with someone in a long time as I was with Jeff Kaufman. What a great guy. As for Vermont and Montgomery Center, it really is a magical place to be and that made our wedding even more significant…if that was even possible.