WEDDINGS: Something Blue

It was at the wedding of close friends Rick Dickson and Luis Morales Lopez in August of 2016 that 40-year-old Josh Beasley knew for certain that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Andrew Hayes. When Beasley looked around at all of Dickson and Lopez’s friends and family celebrating the couple’s future together, he says he could picture his own future with 29-year-old Hayes. Beasley even asked some of Hayes’ close friends who were at the wedding what they thought about him proposing. Everyone loved the idea, and Beasley’s mind was set. Meanwhile, Hayes had no idea what was brewing.

Hayes and Beasley own a boutique gym in the Oak Forest area called Body3 Personal Fitness. “Body3 focuses on personal training and small-group fitness classes,” explains Hayes, who is a Houstonian through and through. Even his parents were both raised in H-Town. “And my grandma lives about five blocks from us in the Heights,” Hayes explains. Beasley is from Oklahoma, and moved to Houston in 2013. The pair hopes to buy a home in their beloved Heights neighborhood soon. 

 Beasley and Hayes met in August 2015 at a birthday party for a mutual friend. The party bar-hopped from FBar to Meteor. Beasley thought Hayes was “super cute” at first sight, even though he was rather quiet. The couple exchanged numbers, with plans to get together. A few days later, they got together for a beer and immediately “hit it off,” according to Hayes.

It wasn’t long before Beasley, a planner by nature, began to plan how he would pop the question on New Year’s Eve of 2016 when the two would be visiting close friends in Crested Butte, Colorado. For New Year’s Eve dinner in the charming little ski town, Beasley and Hayes had dinner reservations with their friends at Uley’s Cabin, a restaurant half way up the mountain.

 “It was cold and snowing, and the only way to get to the restaurant was to take an open-air sleigh ride up the mountain in the dark. We all crowded into the sleighs, wrapped blankets around us, and were trucked up the side of the mountain as fireworks started going off to celebrate New Year’s Eve! It was fantastic. The restaurant was cute and cozy, with fires going to warm the space. At the end of dinner, Josh ordered champagne to make a toast, where he fumbled through asking me to marry him. I said yes, and the whole restaurant cheered for us!” Hayes recalls.

 he two were wed in Houston on June 2, 2018, at The Dunlavy. They chose the date because they wanted to have a long engagement with plenty of time to allow for Beasley’s penchant for planning,” Hayes explains. After checking out several hotels and venues, they landed on The Dunlavy. Beasley and Hayes knew they didn’t want to have a formal-sit down meal, but rather “a place that was nice and that felt special—sophisticated, but not stuffy,” Hayes says, adding, “We wanted it to be nice but still be able to dance like crazy.” The two agree that it turned out to be the perfect space for them—a beautiful venue, with delicious food and some really wonderful moments. 

 It was also the first time that their parents and grandparents were able to meet. “It was beautiful, fun, exciting, and happy. It’s such an honor to have so many friends and family join us to celebrate our life and future together,” Hayes said.

They did have one truly funny moment during the ring exchange. Hayes said that both of their hands were shaking so badly that he forgot which hand to offer, so Beasley just grabbed one of the hands to put the ring on. 

“When we got to the waiting room before going back in to see everyone, we realized that I put Andrew’s ring on the wrong hand,” Beasley said. “We laughed, but thought nobody noticed. Then my friend Steve came back and said, ‘You may want to switch that. You put Andrew’s ring on the wrong finger!’ We laughed again and had more champagne.”

 Beasley and Hayes wanted to keep the ceremony short because, they joked, they knew their friends and family would want to get back to the open bar. The couple wrote their own vows, and chose to leave out the parts of a traditional ceremony because, they explained, “nothing else really spoke to us.”  

 Hayes says The Dunlavy was terrific to work with, as was their event planner, Mariah. “She was stellar, and took care of us for months.” The two used Secret Floral Garden for flowers, décor, and linens, and were quick to say that the LGBT-owned company did an amazing job with everything.   

 Beasley is no stranger to planning major events, as he has chaired a number of large fundraisers. So, Hayes says, “There weren’t too many surprises for him when it came to planning a party. There were a lot of moving pieces, but we divided the tasks early on and would talk through [each task].” Hayes says the one thing that they did not expect was how much time they would spend waiting throughout their big day. “We waited while everyone arrived. We waited after the ceremony to go back in. We waited before leaving at the end of the night. But it was all worth the wait to celebrate and make the day special for everyone.” Hayes said.

 The two went to Hawaii for their honeymoon, and it was Beasley’s first time there. “So it was a special place to unwind and rest following the party,” Hayes explains. They stayed at Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore—a quiet, peaceful spot close to lots of quaint shops and restaurants. “It was a truly beautiful honeymoon!” Hayes says.

 And is there one thing that they would like to shout out to the world about each other? There certainly is. “Andrew is amazing. I would do anything to make him happy, and I hope that our special wedding day was just the first of many, many days where we get to celebrate life together,” Beasley says. Beasley has some equally sweet words to offer about Hayes. “Josh is all mine! But seriously, he is the best, and always puts us first. He’s a planner and always wants to make sure that we will be okay, no matter where life takes us.”

This article appears in the April 2019 edition of OutSmart magazine.

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