Adrian Homer and Harrison Guy tied the knot on their 10th anniversary.
By Henry V. Thiel
Harrison Guy and Adrian Homer met at Prairie View A&M University through Delta Phi Epsilon, a fraternity for gay men of color.
Guy, who now serves as cochair of the City of Houston LGBTQ Advisory Board, was assigned to be Adrian’s big brother. While the fraternity has a policy against romantic interactions between big brothers and pledges, they established a great friendship that Guy knew would last a lifetime.
Immediately after Homer’s six-week pledge process and initiation ceremony, he sent Guy a text saying he was interested in being more than just friends.
“I was flattered and surprised,” Guy says. “We are both from small towns, and very ‘country’ at heart and spirit. So our first date was at Wing Stop, because the only thing Adrian loves more than me is wings—although I joked about the fact that he eats wings in a very prim and proper way. After enjoying our wings, we talked for hours about nothing and everything. And 10 years later, we are still enjoying wings together and I still joke about the fact that he doesn’t eat them right.”
Their inside joke is that eating out has become their hobby since they go out so often. During their college years, they were regulars at The Pit in Prairie View for barbecue and baked potatoes, and at the Cheesecake Factory.
Their decade-long relationship has been mostly clear sailing, although it did take some work to overcome their age difference. “I am nine years older than Adrian, and when we met, he was just graduating,” says the now-40-year-old Guy. “So I got to watch him really grow up and take his place as a man in the world. Watching your partner make mistakes in life is brutal. It was incredibly difficult for me to balance giving him advice as his big brother in the fraternity and allowing him to carve out his own path as his partner. For us, the age difference was a major opportunity for us to grow, which we did, and it stretched us in ways that we had not imagined. My biggest takeaway from this experience is that in love and partnership, you have to allow your partner the space to explore their individual journey.”
Homer is a vocational rehabilitation counselor for the State of Texas, while Guy is the founder and creative director of Urban Souls Dance Company. Homer moved in with Guy after graduating, although marriage wasn’t on his mind. “After all, in most places, including Texas, the LGBTQ community barely had any rights at all, let alone marriage equality,” Homer says. “I figured it would never happen.”
But Guy had hope.
“By our seventh anniversary, marriage equality was becoming much more of a reality,” Guy says. So he decided to surprise Homer with a proposal during their anniversary date in downtown Houston, which began with dinner and drinks at Sambuca followed by a horse-drawn carriage ride to the gazebo at the Wortham Center.
When they pulled up near the gazebo, there were rose petals scattered on their pathway. All of their closest friends were there, but they thought it was only to celebrate the couple’s anniversary. Two performers from Guy’s studio danced in the distance while Amir Bel-Ami, one of Homer’s favorite singers, belted out one of their favorite songs. Then Guy took a knee and presented Adrian with a ring.
Three years later, the couple said “I do” at their wedding ceremony.
First, they hired celebrity wedding planner Darryl Wilson Jr. of D’Concierge to create a stunning black-and-white décor for the reception. They chose to exchange vows in matching merlot tuxedos at the University of Houston’s A.D. Bruce Religion Center in front of 250 guests on April 15, 2017—their 10th anniversary as a couple. They picked the UH chapel because of its beauty and its reputation as an inclusive religious environment that welcomes all expressions of love. The Reverend Shon Stewart officiated.
“A very special moment during our wedding, for me, was when mayor [Sylvester] Turner read a proclamation from the City of Houston, which declared April 15, 2017, as ‘Homer-Guy Day’ in the City of Houston,” Guy recalls.
The ceremony also included a special rose tribute to Chyna Gibson, a transgender woman from New Orleans who was murdered in February. Gibson was originally scheduled to be in the couple’s wedding.
The grooms say walking down the aisle on the arms of their mothers was equally emotional. But then Guy brought the house down during his vows, when he whipped out a cookie that he had saved from one of their first dates. “If this fragile cookie could survive 10 years, then our love can last forever,” Guy said.
The ceremony, which they called “A Southern Coronation of Love,” ended with the grooms placing crowns on each other’s heads. At the reception, guests dined on chef Javani King’s “sexy soul food”—deviled eggs, fried catfish, and collard greens. Baker extraordinaire Tammy Allen created their wedding cake based on one that Guy had seen on Instagram. Guests were on the dance floor from the minute they entered the reception at the Ensemble Theatre until the wee hours.
“The absolutely best part of our wedding was having our families present and supportive,” Homer says. “And marrying the man of my dreams.”
The newlyweds honeymooned in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, where they spent two weeks on the beach. They currently reside in Houston.
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