Our friend Christopher Shelley of Illuminating Ceremonies, one of New York’s most beloved officiants and one of our favorite Directory partners, shared this wonderful piece about how love blinds… especially fame! Read on to learn of a couple Christopher recently married and what he discovered after the walked down the aisle.

This summer, I logged onto Instagram and posted a photo of myself standing between two gentlemen whose wedding I’d officiated moments before, Giorgio, from Italy, and Guzbel, from Thailand. The wedding at Cop Cot in Central Park, New York had all the hallmarks of a joyful wedding: an adoring and well-dressed bunch of guests, a cellist, serious and determined photographers and videographers, and real tears from the two grooms.

A day after I posted the photo, along with some clever hashtags and the first names of the couple, a Thai friend of mine wrote, telling me that Guzbel is a celebrity in Thailand. She also sent me the link to a short YouTube video she’d happened across that featured the wedding – the video had apparently appeared on Thai TV, maybe whatever the equivalent of the E! network is there.

Neither Guzbel nor Giorgio had told me this fact about him – he prefers to keep it on the downlow so people don’t get all crazy, I suppose – I wouldn’t know, I’ve never been that famous. I did what any curious person would do and Googled him. Sure enough, he’s a celebrity in Thailand, having appeared in many films and shows, among them Sin Lai Hong, Payakka, Dok Yah Nai Payu, Paragit Ruk,  Yeut Fah Ha Pigat Ruk, and Banlang Hong.

I know!!! I haven’t seen these shows either. I’m sure they’re great.

Learning this about Guzbel made me appreciate him and Giorgio as a couple even more than I already did. Most of my interactions with them as we prepared the wedding ceremony were through Giorgio, whose English was better – also, he was in charge of finding the officiant. Due to Covid, I only met them in person at the wedding, so most of my involvement with them was over email. I write personalized wedding ceremonies, so the middle meaty part of the ceremonies I perform is a love story all about the couple. 

And what a story. While they were coy about how they met, they were open about their courtship in New York, long weekend getaways in the Mohonk region, hiking, picnicking. They are both foodies and their dream is to open a restaurant. I talked about this in the ceremony, suggesting they name it ‘ITHAIliana’, since they couldn’t decide whether to feature Thai food or Italian food or both.

In the end, it doesn’t matter what people do for a living – in the ceremony, they are just two people who love each other and want to declare to the whole wide world that they intend to spend their lives together.

Apparently, I’ve become popular among the Thai community because of this wedding, something I never could have predicted in a thousand years. I’ll take it! Long happy life to Giorgio and Guzbel.”

When it comes time for you to famously tie the knot, please reach out to Christopher on Instagram, at his webpage, or through his Men’s Vows Directory listing.