wedding Archives

Ken & Joey, Welcome to Married Life

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My good friends Joey and Ken got married this year around the same time vaccinations rolled out. It was a scary time to be flying, but after doing our part to stay safe, Angel and I flew to Austin, Texas to celebrate our friends’ union.

We had planned out the trip months ago, and while traveling, we made sure to exercise caution and be fastidious with our hand sanitizer. At the airport and on the plane, we wore our face shields, masks, and gloves. In Texas, we rented our own car to keep and maintain that all-important six feet of social distancing.

Though wary, I ended up really liking Austin. During our stay, the weather was perfect each day. We spent a lot of our time dining outside or choosing restaurants still in accordance with mass mandates and six-foot-apart safety measures, though at that time Texas had dropped their restrictions. We still felt pretty safe.

Joey and Ken’s wedding was held at the Austin Motel, a gay-friendly hotel decked out in neon lights. Each room was themed; ours was decorated with lip-print motifs and a bright red leather headboard on the bed. We had rented a red Mustang for the trip, so we definitely fit in at the hotel!

There was a courtyard next to the main building. On our first day, we gathered there for a meet-and-greet cocktail hour. That’s also where the on-site clinic was, where all wedding guests were required to receive a COVID-19 test. The entire wedding party was vaccinated, but since the vaccines had just been rolled out, not everyone in attendance had been able to receive their second or even first dose. Everyone was then required to participate in an on-site test. Without the test results, you weren’t allowed to remove your mask.

Everything was very well thought-out. No surprise for Ken and Joey! The courtyard during that first happy hour was beautiful; cocktails and finger foods were served

The next day, a brunch was held for all wedding guests. Later that afternoon was the wedding. The event was entirely outdoors, at The Contemporary Austin. The ceremony took place under a tree-covered amphitheater overlooking a lake. At the end of the wedding, Ken and Joey ran through a sparkler runway to where a pickup truck driven by a drag queen was waiting. As they stood on the bed of the truck, giant fireworks shot up into the air while monster trucks drove by in a cloud of billowing red smoke.

At the after-party, the Austin Motel lit up their swimming pool with neon lights for a late dip. There was fast food to eat, and time for Ken and Joey’s close family and friends to wind down after the excitement of the day.

It was a great wedding, full of great people. I’m so happy for Ken and Joey and wish them lots of luck and love. Welcome to married life!

Countdown – 1 day – AtoZ

There’s something quietly electric about the last day of a countdown. Not loud, not frantic—just a small hum under everything, like a house settling at night.

On the table: two low glasses with “LOVE IS LOVE” catching the light, clear and simple as a promise. Behind them, sunflowers lean in, bright and a little oversized, like they’re trying to witness the moment too. And there, spread open like a breath, a sunflower-patterned fan with names written across it—Angel, Zachary—dated for a day that’s almost here.

It’s the kind of scene that feels ordinary until you look again. A tabletop, a few objects, a room with books and afternoon light. But in the midst of the mundane, meaning gathers. The fan isn’t just decoration; it’s a marker of a future hour when people will stand, smile, and realize the waiting has turned into arrival.

Countdown – 1 day – AtoZ.

Tomorrow is the day the details stop being details and become memory. The glasses will be lifted, the flowers will droop, the fan will fold closed. And what’s left—what matters—will be that steady warmth: love, spoken plainly, and meant.

Good Morning Clearwater

The morning in Clearwater arrives softly, as if it doesn’t want to disturb anything. A wide, cloud-brushed sky hangs over the water, and the gulf sits calm and steady, holding that early light the way a quiet room holds breath.

Out on the pier, the red roofs feel like small punctuation marks against the pale horizon. The scene is simple, almost spare, but it’s full of little details that make you slow down: the long stretch of wood over water, the gentle fade from sand to sea, the palms in the foreground framing it all like a memory you can step back into.

Good Morning Clearwater is the kind of greeting that doesn’t need much else. It’s a reminder that some places know how to start the day without asking you to hurry. You can imagine the first footsteps on the boards, the distant calls, the mild salt in the air. Even the light feels patient.

It’s a good morning not because it’s perfect, but because it’s present. The water doesn’t perform. The sky doesn’t insist. Everything just is, and that’s enough.

If you’re planning a beach wedding or just craving a quieter kind of Florida morning, this is the mood to remember: calm, clean, and unforced—like the day is giving you space to become yourself again.

Wedding Date is Set for Zachary and Angel

Wedding Date is Set, September 7th 2019

So its official Angel and I are engaged and have set our wedding date in September. We are so excited to celebrate with our friends and family and our beloved puppy Dyson.

Find us on instagram:

If you want to send us some best wish see our instagram accounts @takenbyanangel @zamartz and @dysoncyclone

We don’t have a registry because apartment space is limited and admittedly I (Zach) am a “particular person”… or so I’m told… lol

so you can Donate to the wedding with paypal:

send us a donation here : paypal.me/zamartz

Or Donate here on the website

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The Typical Engagement 2019

The best laid plans of Dyson and men sometimes go awry. Especially, if you have my luck…adaptation – Robert Burns’ poem To a Mouse, 1786

Days, months, years, hours, minutes, seconds ~ planning, something Angel and I have a mastery over, led us to an early gap in coordination. Our planning was sound in the established goals and ultimate execution, but the timing of commencement was not quite aligned. This manifested itself in a less than grand and slightly bumbling engagement. In retrospect, it fits us perfectly and is a great introduction to the culmination of our matrimonial union.

Call me Zachary.
Some months ago — never mind how long precisely — having little time or no time in my calendar, and nothing particular to interest me, I thought I would propose to Angel on the other side of the world.adaptation – Herman Melville novel Moby-Dick, 1851

Years ago, I set a goal to travel to Japan; and after meeting Angel, it became my goal to travel to Japan with him. Characteristically in line with my other excursions, events, and eccentric ideas, I was unable to make this a small and simple trip. Using Angel’s sabbatical as an excuse, we were able to plan a month living and exploring the country. The planned start of the journey was to arrive in Tokyo, but the first big event in the country was to be a surprise for Angel.

Patience is a high virtue… but virtue can hurt you, if you have a cute plan for your engagement proposal…adaptation – Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales , 1387-1400

Some months prior to the start of our trip planning, Angel sat me down, to what I now know to be a normal conversation starter, but my first experience was received as something quite startling… a simple “we need to talk.” To limit myself from digressing into another long story inside a story, I will attempt to cut this short; we talked about getting married and I promised to propose soon.

Jump ahead, weeks before our trip to Japan, I thought myself quite skilled in delaying my proposal delivery. From our first “we need to talk” until this day I had been planning the surprise in Japan. I would start with a special bottle of Sake in our hotel suite and finish the final proposal the following day at the Senso-jo Temple in Asakusa. My longtime friends, Arek and Gavin, would meet us and help film it all.

You never know what worse luck your quirky/off-center luck has saved you from.Adaptation ― Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men, 2005

Odds are never in my favor and that day my kindling plan was snuffed out by an afternoon conversation starting with “we need to talk.” Just as casual as the cheese lunch we were eating –some focaccia, brie, and olive oil – Angel proclaimed, “I am tired of waiting. I want to get married.” To my bewilderment and with a slight chuckle, I had to explain all of my near-future plans and in turn cancel them. This is typical for my luck or the modus operandi of my life – things are always just a bit off center. The memorable engagement I planned was instantly overshadowed by this, a slightly more fitting engagement story.

The moral of this story is to keep it simple, do not over think it, and if it is meant to be, the delivery is not important.

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a GIFT. That’s why it’s called the present.”Adaptation ― Bil Keane, The Family Circus newspaper cartoon, 1994

Now with our future intent declared, we embark on a new journey. First we must complete the planning for our trip to Japan, which in effect is our honeymoon. Again in our “typical” fashion, we are doing things a bit out of order – The honeymoon, the wedding planning, and then the wedding. On top of that, another quest has been given to us, that is, stay on budget and have the wedding in New York City.

Update: We had a surprise waiting for us in Japan from our travel agent… very tasty bottle of sake – the agent had no idea this was part of the original plan.

Update: After we arrived home from Japan our friends through us a surprise engagement party. They picked us up for a friends dinner and it ended up being a party just for Angel and me!