Wedding Bells at Watermark: Michael Farmer and Boyd Lindsley

Wedding Bells at Watermark: Michael Farmer and Boyd Lindsley

“Michael has loved me in a way I’ve never been loved before,” Boyd says about Michael. “I guess I learned how to be loved.”

Michael Farmer, Development Director for Equality Florida, and Boyd Lindsley, a faculty member and the Associate Director of UCF’s Nicholson School of Communication, first met at the Equality Florida Gala in 2010.

“One of my first impressions of Boyd was that I wanted to go on a date with him, and after our first date, I knew that I wanted to marry him,” Michael recalls.

WeddingBellsAfter they started to get to know each other more and become more comfortable with one and other, Boyd realized what a personality he had, his sense of humor and how much he was the life of the party. He jokes that the pair became like a suction cup. They courted each other for a while. After being together for some time, they moved in together.

“I’m just so glad that Michael was so persistent because I was reserved for a variety of reasons,” Boyd says, “but I’m so glad that Michael was so persistent because he has made me the happiest I’ve ever been because of his persistence.”

Boyd says that he is inspired by Michael’s devotion to the things he’s passionate for, especially his activism within the LGBT community.

Boyd was graduating with his doctorate degree in May 2015, and he was planning on proposing to Michael the day of his graduation. He had bought the ring a week before, and he wasn’t the type of person who liked to celebrate himself—so he decided to take his graduation day to the next step and make it a day to celebrate them as a couple.

Michael was in the middle of his toast when Boyd dropped to one knee and proposed to him in front of 60 of their closest family and friends.

“I was completely shocked and surprised. I really had no idea that he would do that,” Michael says. “I planned an event that was supposed to be about Boyd, in part because he never really celebrates himself and because he worked so hard so many years on his doctorate.

“It was one of the best days of my life until the day that we got married.”

Michael and Boyd planned a wedding weekend of events with a pool day Friday, a happy hour and dinner Friday night, and the ceremony and celebration Saturday night to maximize the quality time spent with their guests. The couple said that they wanted the focus of the wedding to be about celebrating their love and being together with family and friends, not about things like the linens and the wedding color scheme.

They had their ceremony at the Historic Lakeside Inn in Lake Mary with the ceremony under the old oak trees on the lakeshore. A wedding celebration immediately followed the ceremony in a tented event on the lawn on the lakeshore.

“I love the content of his character. He’s just got the most incredible moral fiber and he’s funny and generous—one of the kindest people I know,” Michael says. “Really the content of his character just constantly blows me away and makes me want to be a better person.”

YEARS TOGETHER: 5 years

ENGAGEMENT DATE:  May 7, 2015

WEDDING DATE: May 7, 2016

WEDDING VENUE: Historic Lakeside Inn in Mount Dora, Florida

WEDDING PLANNERS: The couple

WEDDING CATERER: Lakeside Inn

WEDDING THEME/COLORS: They didn’t have a theme, and they didn’t choose a specific color scheme. Flowers, china, linens and tent draping were all white or shades of white.

SPECIAL SONG: They walked down the aisle to “What the World Needs Now” by Jackie DeShannon and dedicated it to the world and all those who are struggling in one form or another.

INTERESTING FACT: Both Michael and Boyd’s maternal grandmothers walked them down the aisle.

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