This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Love and Marriage A Wedding Weekend Celebration On Cherry Grove

The Nuptial Tide has finally come in for Fire Island’s Same-Sex Couples .  To celebrate the passing of The Marriage Equality Bill, The Grove Hotel in collaboration with www.rainbowweddingclergy.com will host Love & Marriage A Weekend Wedding Celebration Sept 16-18, 2011. 

“Almost immediately after the bill passed Rev Alison Caiola contacted us. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.” said Sal Piro, General Manager of Grove Hotel, Cherry Grove, Fire Island “We had already started to discuss the importance for us to create an event that would properly mark this momentous occasion”.  

The two put their heads together and it turned out to be a “marriage made in heaven’ when the idea for a weekend long wedding celebration was born, “Being  a wedding officiant and the daughter of the first ministers to perform same-sex ceremonies after Stonewall, I wanted to come up with a way to celebrate with the community  and honor my parent’s work.”,explained Rev Alison, an Interfaith Wedding Minister and owner of www.rainbowweddingclergy.com. “Since Cherry Grove is reputedly the nation's first and oldest LGBT community, and The Grove Hotel is the heart of the community, I knew it would be the perfect place to host a historic wedding event”.  

Find out what's happening in Sayville-Bayportwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

All weekend long, Rev Alison and her  co-officiants will perform individual, personal beach wedding ceremonies for couples who want to get married and for those who want to renew their vows.  One attention-getting wedding ceremony will be that of NAME and NAME  long-time Cherry Grove residents who will get married after being together for  60 years!  A wedding photographer, bouquets and boutonnières will be available to all the couples. 

The celebration will kick off with The Grove Hotel hosting a Friday night welcoming party which will include a show starring PORSCHE (The "girl" with 1000 voices) and special guests. The individual beach weddings will take place all day Saturday and Sunday.  Romantic dinners, lunches, brunches and small parties can be accommodated at local dining establishments.  On Saturday evening PORSHE will be the singer and host at the Wedding Reception Gala for all the newlyweds and their guests. For more info on the event people should contact loveandmarriage@grovehotel.com or call Sal at 631-597-6600  

Find out what's happening in Sayville-Bayportwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

THE GROVE HOTEL is located in the very heart of Cherry Grove and is central to the best that Fire Island has to offer. It is Fire Island's largest hotel and the social hub of Cherry Grove. It hosts the popular Miss Fire Island contest.

REV ALISON CAIOLA is an Interfaith Minister and the owner of www.rainbowweddingclergy and www.nyweddingclergy.com.  She custom crafts and joyously performs same-sex and heterosexual wedding ceremonies in the five boroughs, Long Island and Westchester County. She recently hosted The NYC Marrython in Central Park. In the past 12 years, her work has garnered peer recognition and industry awards.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?