14 Stories

I love this wedding of Jess and Erika, a Brooklyn couple who married with us in Vermont last fall. Check out the beautiful photos by Carlos Castillo and the feature story in Vermont Vows magazine.

We are proud to be partnering with GayDestinationWeddings.com on a FREE wedding giveaway! They are giving away a 5 night stay at the Avila Hotel in Curacao (wedding package included) and we are giving away a 2 piece suit from our Fourteen collection. Check out the details and enter to win this amazing giveaway.

Elopement and Assistant Wedding Coordinator

Company Overview:

14 Stories is a full service event planning and production company specializing in LGBT weddings. The company was established in 2004 in response to Massachusetts’s legalization of same-sex marriage. To date, the company has produced hundreds of gay and lesbian weddings, including conference, galas and fundraisers.  We have offices in Boston and New York City.

Position Overview:

We are looking for a highly organized, self-motivated, dynamic individual to assist with coordinating elopements with 2-20 attendees. This involves ensuring the couple has a flawless and seamless experience getting married and has a wedding cake, flowers, car service, and all of the other elements of a wedding, but on a much smaller scale.  This is an opportunity to work with some of the nicest couples you'll ever meet on a very special day.  This position is based in New York City.

Additionally, this coordinator will be invited to assist on our larger scale events (full production).

Responsibilities:

• Ensure that our elopement clients (most of whom travel in from outside of New York State) feel welcome in our city and provide them with concierge level resources to make their stay enjoyable

• Arrange delivery for or pickup all of the elements of the mini wedding including cake and flowers

• Coordinate the photographer, car service, officiant and couple for the mini wedding

• Manage and attend the mini wedding

• Be available to assist on larger weddings as needed

Qualifications:

• Highly organized, detail-oriented individual;

• Excellent oral and written communication skills;

• A proven ability to react quickly, calmly and resourcefully when problem solving;

• Excellent phone, interpersonal and presentation skills and comfort with working with nontraditional couples, including same-sex couples;

• A proven ability to be self-directed, work independently, exercise judgment, and manage multiple tasks and priorities;

• Experience in event, party or wedding coordination helpful but not necessary;

Terms and Compensation:

This is a part time, contract position paid at a flat rate per job.  Please send cover letter and resume to info@14stories.com. No phone calls, please.

Please note:  In order to be considered, in your cover letter, we require that you explain your experience with or interest in gay and lesbian weddings and events.

Such a powerful message today when President Obama became the very first president to mention the LGBT community in his inauguration address. 

Some of you many know that I provide consulting to those in the worldwide wedding industry about same-sex weddings with a goal of creating a much more inclusive industry.  As part of that, I work with some companies on this goal.

I'm proud to introduce GayDestinationWeddings.com.  Last summer, DestinationWeddings.com hired me to consult on the launch of GayDestinationWeddings.com, a wedding and honeymoon travel website.  In addition to consulting, I also trained about 65 of their sales agents, located all around the U.S. and Canada.  These agents work directly with same-sex couples on their wedding plans.  

What I appreciate about this new site is how it was so thoughtfully created and elegantly done, a fantastic example of how to appeal the gay and lesbian market and be advocates for gay and lesbian clients.  These Gay Wedding Institute certified sales agents are only referring couples to the G list, a carefully tailored and vetted list of LGBT-welcoming resorts.  

14 Stories has been around for 9 years now and it's so awesome to see the wedding industry evolve to include us!

I recently realized that I've totally dropped the ball on sharing stories from our move to New York.  We've been here a year and a half now, having moved shortly after the marriage equality law went into effect. Though I'm originally from NY, it had been over 15 years since I lived in the state.

Though moving to New York initially brought a great deal of incredible publicity, what took awhile was clients!  Those first few months I was sweating bullets as an 8 year old company starting again from scratch.  I was hustling, getting to better know New York vendors and venues.  I spent a few nights each week networking.  Jen was unemployed at first.  It took her awhile to find her dream job (which thankfully she now has, at Columbia University SIPA).  Our son Patrick was home with Jen during the day while I was out building a business in a brand new city.  Those were among the most stressful months of our marriage, especially since Jen didn't really like living in NYC.

We developed elopement packages right away, modeled after what was so successful in Boston.  Andrew was hired to coordinate those packages and has been a godsend as I've worked with clients on full wedding planning.

Gradually, some amazing couples started taking chances on our new (old) business and we were off and running.  I am so incredibly grateful for all of our NYC clients who believed in us in our first year in NYC.  You are all amazing people that I am happy to now consider friends.  I am also incredibly grateful to the amazing vendors and venues with whom we partnered  in 2012 - the people that make us look good!  It's hard learning to trust a whole bunch of new people but I'm now super confident in the team we've built.

2012 ended up being a really terrific year for us, though there were also some tough lessons learned.  Just goes with the territory, I suppose, and of course makes me even more committed to great things in 2013.  

Can I just say that I LOVE LIVING IN NY again?!  Jen may disagree a little bit but she does agree that the energy and people here are incredible.  In such a short time, I feel like we've not just built a brand new (old) business but made some high quality friends, and that's even more precious. Thank you!

I grew up Catholic, and I'll never forget what happened the first time I went to Mass after I came out. I was home from college for Thanksgiving and the priest stood at the front of the church and told the parishioners not to let their children attend an upcoming workshop on HIV prevention put on by the high school because it "condoned homosexuality." I walked out and never went back (except for some weddings and funerals), and it's been nearly 20 years. 

Unfortunately little has since changed with the Catholics. Many people see the Episcopal Church as the closest thing there is to the Catholic Church. Which is why their increasingly progressive stance on same-sex marriage gives me hope. This week, the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. announced that same-sex marriage ceremonies could be performed there. The National Cathedral is the second largest Cathedral in the country and dubbed by Congress as the "National House of Prayer." It's a symbol of Christian faith in America. And now it lets the gays marry. 

 If that's not a step towards equality, I don't know what is. What a year it's been. 

I have worked with hundreds of same-sex couples, many of whom, like me, are "recovering Catholics." We all seem to have some baggage. There's something so powerful about the rituals we grew up with, the Sunday rituals where we know when to sit, when to stand, what to recite, what to sing. And when rejected by that institution, it's a little bit debilitating for many of us. I've planned very very few same-sex weddings in churches, but those are absolutely amongst the most emotional ones for me. 

I'm hopeful this move by the National Cathedral will cause many other dioceses to follow suit. The Episcopal Church has become increasingly progressive in the U.S. and is the largest U.S. denomination to support same-sex marriage. We all know Bishop Robinson was named the first openly gay Bishop of an Episcopal diocese in the U.S. when he was named New Hampshire Bishop in 2003. Several other dioceses in New England have permitted same-sex marriage for a few years now. And last year, the Church itself said that priests could bless same-sex relationships - not the same as marriage but we'll take it. 

 But until this week, the National Cathedral remained silent. But when they spoke, they spoke with eloquence and inspiration, "We enthusiastically affirm each person as a beloved child of God--and doing so means including the full participation of gays and lesbians in the life of this spiritual home for the nation." Amen to that.

Scott and Todd are always in motion.  With one house in New York but living between Atlanta and Chicago, our time together was limited so we packed their trips to New York City full of meetings to plan their big NYC gay wedding.  They chose to get married at the Ritz-Carlton Battery Park because years ago when they first started dating, they had a memorable date at its former Rise bar.  The Ritz is a beautiful property with stunning views of the Statue of Liberty.  The ballroom is versatile and fun but we sought to transform it from a hotel ballroom into something truly special.

We started with a theme (New York City) and colors (yellow and purple, each of their moms favorite colors).  We brought in a lighting designer/AV company who projected images during dinner which made guests feel like they were staring out at city lights.  The designer also lit the dinner tables and added beautiful projections and purple uplights.  The beautiful flowers totally popped on the tables!

This New York City same-sex wedding was very special and a first for us because they had a Video Jockey!  Our AV company set up giant screens and speakers while the VJ mixed music videos live for the guests.  Throughout the night, photos of earlier in the wedding rotated in.  

Enjoy the beautiful photos by Katje Hempel.  Floral by Fleurs.  Lighting by Kayne LIVE.  Entertainment by Wendy Kidd Entertainment. Stationery by Bella Figura.  Photobooth by Fifth Avenue Digital.  Cake by Cake Alchemy.

It's been a truly incredible year for marriage equality (and for our business!)  Here are some things we are grateful for and excited about from 2012, in no particular order:

• For the first time, a sitting US President, Barack Obama, publicly supported same-sex marriage

• Marriage equality was approved by voters in Maryland, Washington and Maine, bringing the total number of states with marriage equality to 9.  

• Voters in Minnesota defeated an anti-gay marriage bill the very same night!

• Several well known celebrities came out!  Thanks to Anderson Cooper, Matt Bomer, Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Frank Ocean and Lana Wachowski, among others, for bravely coming out and letting LGBT youth know that they are not alone.  

• Congrats to actress Cynthia Nixon, MSBNC Anchor Thomas Roberts and Good Morning America weatherman Sam Champion for marrying their partners in 2012.

• Our business worked with 34 same-sex couples from all over the world on their wedding plans!  The couple who traveled the farthest was from Australia!

• The Gay Wedding Institute had over 250 wedding professionals from all over the world (including our first from Italy, Aruba and Ireland!) complete the Gay Wedding Institute certification course.  Check out the grads here!

• We successfully moved a wedding from one venue to another as a result of Hurricane Sandy...check out that story here.

• I signed a deal for write my second book - coming this spring!

• We launched a clothing line for lesbian, queer and trans weddings.  If you haven't already done so, check out Fourteen!

And that's just the beginning...as always, we have big goals and resolutions for 2013...it will no doubt be another exciting year for 14 Stories and for marriage equality.  Stick with us to see where we go next!

Lots of love,

Bernadette, Jen, Andrew, Janet, Victoria

For years I’d watched my female and trans clients struggle to figure out what to wear to their wedding.  My many lesbian and queer clients who wanted to wear a suit or tux were faced with three bad options:  hunt around on the internet and in department stores; buy a man’s suit and have it tailored to fit their body; or have a custom suit made. I struggled with this myself when planning my own wedding to Jen and I’m sure many of you know exactly what I’m talking about.   

For years I wanted to solve this problem (except I’m not a fashion designer!)  But I did meet the right fashion designer business partner and finally, 14 Stories is proud to introduce Fourteen, a line of ready to wear suits, tuxes and accessories especially for lesbian, queer and trans weddings.  Fourteen is the first line of ready to wear garments specifically for this market.  Shirts, jackets, pants, ties, vests and more are for sale now on www.FourteenStyle.com.

In the Fourteen clothing line, jackets and shirts have smaller armholes and shorter arm lengths, as well as a shorter torso measurement.  Necklines and shirt cuffs are modified, more bust room added where needed, all without sacrificing design and style.   All of our clothes were tested on and designed with the consultations of real life lesbians, queers and transmen.

Fourteen is designed by Miami-based clothing designer (and my business partner) Marialexandra Garcia.  Marialexandra is a renowned and award winning fashion designer based in Miami.  She led her eponymous design company to sales in over 60 US specialty stores and major retailers like Saks Fifth Avenue. 

Check us out www.FourteenStyle.com