“My favorite part was just after the ceremony talking to people, and everyone’s mood was just so light and everyone was happy,” Ron says about their wedding day.
John Gascot, who is an artist and gallery coordinator at Studios at 5663, and Ron Diana, an educator at Cortiva Institute and a licensed massage therapist, have been together for 20 years. They believe that the test of time and being able to get through anything has made their relationship stronger.
They met at a club called the Cartwheel in Pennsylvania, which they both used to frequent. At the time, John did semi-professional drag. One night John saw Ron by the dance floor and wanted to approach him but someone was already talking to him. They had been making eye contact throughout the night.
“By the time I made the round back to the bar, he was gone,” John recalls. “I figured I screwed it up. A couple of minutes later, he walked back in and was like ‘Look, my name is Ron. My car is outside running and I have to go to work tomorrow, but here’s my number. Give me a call.’”
John waited a couple of days to call, and they went out on a date later that week. They’ve been together ever since.
“I had known of him because he performed and I went to see the drag show on Monday nights, but that wasn’t what I was originally attracted to. It was just a cool thing in his character that he did,” Ron says.
John says that he has learned kindness and how to treat people gently from Ron. He describes how hardships have tested their relationship, their commitment and the need to be with one and other.
The idea of getting married came up as a matter of fact and causally with the couple, seeing they have been together for so long.
They decided, then, to get married and started planning the wedding. It was originally supposed to be at John’s studio, but they had to change the venue to their home at the last minute. Regardless, they both knew they wanted it to be a day they shared with only close friends and family.
Ron describes the wedding as being a “culmination of a tremendous amount of work, which John and I did most of. We had family and friends that came in that week that also worked like dogs to help us get everything ready.”
John says the thing he was most nervous about was a small mistake with the cake, rather than saying his vows or the ceremony itself.
“I was not nervous up until I picked up our cake that morning, and it was not what I had expected,” John says. “It was visually challenged, to put it mildly.”
They eventually sliced the cake up and repositioned it to present it in a new way that ended up turning out to fix the problem of the cake. It turned out beautifully, just as was their ceremony and wedding day.
One of the things John looks forward to the most about being married is being recognized as an equal and being able to introduce Ron as his husband and not his partner. When asked what his favorite thing about Ron is, John’s response:
“Other than he’s very handsome, he makes me laugh.”
YEARS TOGETHER: 20 years
ENGAGEMENT DATE: April 1, 2016
WEDDING DATE: October 15, 2016
WEDDING VENUE: Their home
WEDDING CATERER: John prepared all the food
WEDDING THEME/COLORS: The theme was “light and sparkle” with the colors teal and purple and lots of lights and candles.
FIRST SONG: “Breathe” by Kristine W.
INTERESTING FACT: The cake came out surprisingly different from what was expected, so they had a “make-it-work” moment the morning of the wedding.
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