Price and Salman's Big Texas Wedding

Woo wee! Lord was that one action packed weekend. I've always heard everything is done bigger in Texas and last weekend I found out that saying rings true.
My dear friend Price Latimer tied the knot with her longtime boyfriend (and one of my favorite people on the planet) Salman Agah. Price is an art consultant living in LA who I met through Anna at RISD. Salman is an extreme sports celebuskater who owns his own business and often times gets asked for his autograph by skater aficionados.
Price was born and raised in Texas (her family homestead the Turkey Track is still on my list of top destinations to see before I die) so the wedding was held in San Antonio.

I have never been to Texas and was very excited about checking out one of my southern neighbors and to see the Alamo!
Justin was my date (as usual) and we kept that party going from Thursday morning until Sunday night.

We stayed at The Painted Lady Inn, in the middle of a warehouse district but only a short drive to downtown. It was a charming little gay owned and operated place with faux marble, plush carpet and a cozy hot tub on the roof! We stayed in the Oscar Wilde suite naturally.

Thursday we got in the morning and spend the afternoon decompressing from a long week. We watched King Kong and ate cookies in bed then ventured out to the Alamo and a curious bar/museum with rattle snake tail art, hundreds of moose/deer and polar bears on the wall and a giant oak mirror made for a czar in Russia (?)

That evening we got gussied up in western attire and headed out for a barn dance. Now this was no ordinary barn, it was a top-drawer stable and living area for prized polo horses. I was in hog heaven petting all the horses and checking out the tack room. The place is owned by one of Price's uncles and they had a country band, loads of food and of course two bars. We got buck wild, got to know some of the other guests and I ended up giving Salman a spin around the dance floor and dropping him on his head. Sorry buddy!

Friday was the men’s luncheon where we consumed more meat and more booze, and then the groomsmen had a tuxedo fitting at Salman's room. After a siesta we all headed out to the museum where the wedding is taking place for a rehearsal. The space is quite elegant, a casa built in 1929 and later turned into a modern art gallery crammed full of Picasso's, Manet's, Monet's and Modigliani.

After the run around of a run through we packed back into a bus and headed to the rehearsal dinner at a private club in town. Since it was Nov 1st the theme was day of the dead and the entire outside was decorated with sugar skulls, skeleton brides, piñatas and a Mariachi Band kept the music hoppin. After a drink or three we boarded boats and took a guided tour around the San Antonio River, champagne abounding of course. Dinner was divine, more BBQ! More drinks! Granddaddy told Mia that she could go on a cattle run next time she was in town. I got jealous and pretended I could cattle run too. I don’t know how I’m going to pull that one off on my next trip but we will figure something out.

Later we all stumbled over to Havana, a cigar bar located in the basement of an old mansion. I am not sure what happened here but I remember a mirror shattering and the staff asking us to leave. From there we danced at the hotel, Justin and I hit two rotten gay bars where the trannie at the door told us we were too cool to be there and asked the cab to take us home.

Needless to say the day of the wedding wasn’t pretty. Justin and I huddled in bed and watched more bad TV until 1pm when we headed to Roby's house for an afternoon of man-versations and guess what- more BBQ! Roby, Price's brother, is an avid hunter and his entire bachelor pad is hung with animal heads. Justin and I couldn't stop touching everything. He even pulled out his rattlesnake tail collection. I was in charge of the groomsmen’s ties and pocket squares so I laid them out so they wouldn’t get too wrinkled in the madness.

When It was time to get dressed I necked wrestled all the boys into their ties and taught them all my pocket square trick. I had to discipline Adam who asked what the hell the purple napkin was for. Breeders!

We all had a drink then headed over to the museum for the big game. The girls were stuck in traffic and the setting sun was blinding the guests. Finally we took our places and the cello started up, the doors swung open and there was Price, looking like the most beautiful Calla Lilly in the world! She was STUNNING.

I have never cried at a wedding but for some reason this one got me. It may have been Salman's sister singing "O mio babbino caro" from Gianni Schicchi. That stole the show.

Once the bride and groom sealed the deal we took some pictures and then headed into the palm-filmed courtyard for the fun to begin. I had one drink and almost turned green. But after my third I was in good form.

We feasted on (you fill in the blank) and mingling began immediately after the first course. The bride and groom had the first dance to The Ronette's, Be My Baby, which was so perfect.

After dancing up a storm with Big Daddy Jim (Price's amazingly wonderful and hysterical gay uncle) Justin and I went to the car for a costume change and came back to dance every last dance.
At 12 the lights went on and the party rolled over to Jim's son's house, Jay. MORE TAXIDERMY! Justin and I did photo shoots in every room. The night wound down around 3am after many shots, a bon fire, more dancing and a sing along to "Deep in the heart of Texas"

The next morning we awoke at 10, ordered breakfast in bed and then met the clan for some Mexican and a recap of the night before. Then we headed to the Latimer's home for wedding cake and a wind down at the pool before heading to the airport. Salman gave us both a big kiss and a squeeze and we jetted back to New York. My heart was warm, my stomach heavy and my head on cloud nine. The perfect wedding weekend.