A Dream
Wedding Where "Dreams Come True"

"It was absolutely a fairy-tale wedding," says Teresa Dorantes-Basile of her commitment ceremony with her partner of 7 1/2 years, Christie Basile, at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, Calif. They were the first same-sex couple to have a ceremony at the park since the Walt Disney Co. decided in April to allow commitment ceremonies.

"We go to Disneyland a lot, and we were down there for [Teresa's] birthday in December," says Christie of the idea for the location. "I just kind of mentioned it: 'Wow, wouldn't it be cool if instead of party favors we took everyone to Disneyland and got married there?' That's all I had to do in front of my mom and Teresa, and before you know it they're making plans. We enjoy Disneyland, and you know, it is the happiest place on earth!"

Teresa and her mother sprang into action right away. However, it was not a straight line to the altar. When Teresa called Disney Weddings in January, three months before Disney had a change of heart, the staff cited California law defining legal marriage as being between a man and a woman as justification for not allowing same-sex commitment ceremonies on their property.

But Teresa was not to be deterred. "I thought, Well, OK, we'll just take it across the street to the Marriott." So she continued to plan until an aunt gave her some good news on Easter Sunday. "She had seen on the news that Disneyland had changed their policy to allow commitment ceremonies," says Teresa. "So, that Monday I called Disney Weddings. So we lost our $1,000 deposit at the Marriott and started planning with Disney Weddings."

A dream wedding was then in the making. Christie's mother and grandmother not only hand-made the tux she wore for the ceremony but also created prince and princess couture for three nieces and two nephews. The day of the wedding, October 19, Teresa went off to get her hair and makeup done, along with the young princes and princesses.

"Christie's not froufrou at all. So she stayed in the hotel with our children while I got made up," Teresa remembers. Later the mothers of the brides gave their respective daughters the traditional something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue.

The Reverend Irma Sawyer, who conducted the ceremony, was also swept up in the dream. "To be honest, the thing that really made it a fairy-tale wedding for me was watching Teresa and Christie both arrive in a beautiful horse-drawn carriage complete with trumpet-playing attendants! That was really special and really helped create a special energy and atmosphere for the ceremony that followed."

Teresa and Christie both have nothing but praise for the Disney staff as well as the other vendors involved with the event. They never felt as if they were being treated differently for being lesbian. In fact, Teresa said that several people complimented them for having an exceptionally beautiful ceremony.

"It was extremely magical," says Teresa. "Everyone felt like princes and princesses the whole day. We wanted it to be a family event -- warm and romantic, but at the same time family-oriented. We wanted to give back to the people in our lives who had supported us so much in our 7 1/2 years together. Even though it was technically only a commitment ceremony, it felt like a wedding to us."