Since I was 13 I dreamed of one day being swept away by a handsome prince. I thought that on my special day I would be the prettiest princess in all the land. Well, now that I am a fairly well-known queen, I couldn’t downgrade! So, hunties, I threw
a fabulous wedding fit for a queen. Here are the tops and bottoms of my road to the altar.
First, it’s all good after you found your venue, but trust me, finding one for New Year’s Eve was no simple task. We started by trying to book a venue out in Brooklyn. I won’t give out the name because I dedicate this article to excellence in New York City. Anyway, long story short, they screwed us over by booking another event in our time slot just three months before our big day. But that tragedy was followed by a big blessing: the amazing Hartley House (right on 46th Street between Ninth and Tenth Ave.). It was a perfect combination of warm, charming and comfortable – a perfect place to throw a lavish, over-the-top, opulent wedding for me and my little king.
The Hartley House is also a non-profit organization. So we felt really good pushing over the coins for our fabulous wedding. We knew that it was being pushed back to be used for New York City kids who come to The Hartley House every day for the wide array of after-school programs and activities that they offer.
After we found our dream location, we thought it would be all smooth sailing from there. Then the question of what to wear came up. Now, I’m a drag queen, but I had no plans to wear a wig or beat my mug on my wedding day. However, I did want to look extremely beautiful, so I hired the amazing talented Danielle Synera (the reigning Miss Asia NYC) to build my look for the night. I ended up wearing a gorgeous white “tux” with a simple, yet elegant, four-yard-long train attached to the back. It was stunning and looked sickening on me, but there was one more big thing to get out of the way before our big day was complete.
Now, we needed a “say something cake.” This was a nightlife celebrity wedding, with star-studded guests. So we needed a cake fit for a queen, or more like 100 queens, and their families. We found in a local bakery in Washington Heights. Once again, I won’t mention that bakery’s name, as I am about to disclose the biggest drama of our wedding day. We arrived to pick up the cake at 3 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. They brought out a stunning black and white cake. It looked phenomenal. Later I would find out that it tasted just as good as it looked. But the problem was, the bakery did not have boxes big enough to fit our cake in. So picture me walking through Washington Heights to my band member Jesse’s car with a three-layer cake in open air. I have never feared birds as much as I did that day. I carried the cake on my lap all the way to Hell’s Kitchen. The cake took a couple of dings, but thanks to my amazing wedding planner, Donna Foman, we covered the dents with beautiful flowers, and it looked splendid. We also had the honor of having one of my favorite queens (Kizha Carr) host the event .
At the end of the day, all of my friends and family and all my nightlife pals showed up and showered us with gifts and good wishes. It was truly the greatest day I ever had in my life.
Photos Davide Laffe
