A gay couple’s Pride Month wedding was cancelled by coronavirus. Until Drag Race icon Michelle Visage stepped in

Jun 25 2020
Written by Reiss Smith

Michelle Visage married a gay Scottish couple over video call. (BBC)

Michelle Visage rescued a gay couple’s wedding after it was cancelled by coronavirus, officiating their ceremony over video call during Pride Month.

Alan Lambie and Finlay Wilson got engaged last summer, during a Pride trip to Washington DC, and had spent months planning a June wedding – until coronavirus happened.

The pandemic put their special day on hold, but at the last minute Michelle Visage intervened.

The Drag Race icon had put out a call looking for couples whose weddings had been scuppered, and Alan and Finlay got in touch thinking little of it.

Shortly after, they received a call from the producers of her BBC Three lockdown show, How’s Your Head, Hun?, telling them they had 36 hours to get their home ready for a one-of-a-kind ceremony.

Michelle Visage rescues gay wedding.

Michelle Visage declared them husband and husband over video call from her LA garden, which her husband had decked out in a rainbow balloon arch and Pride flags, resplendent in a leopard print officiant’s robe.

Alan and Finlay exchanged their vows in their Dundee garden, which neighbours had helped deck out (socially-distanced, of course).

Friends and families dialled in through Zoom while neighbours peered over fences. Finlay’s brother, a photographer, was able to join them, as at the time restrictions allowed for one person to visit a household outdoors.

Though it wasn’t what they had originally envisioned, the newlywed husbands said they felt lucky to have had such a unique ceremony.

View this post on Instagram

WE DID A THING We posted several times that during the Covid-19 lockdown we were supposed to get married on 7 June that eventually cancelled. However, a turn of events came about and we GOT MARRIED! We had been sent a post by some friends where @michellevisage is asking if there was any couples out there looking to be married. Michelle is an officially ordained minister and wanted to mark Pride Month by virtually marrying one couple. We entered thinking there would be no chance as so many must have applied for it. Well… a call from producers said we had been shortlisted then a FaceTime with someone from the show. It was Michelle telling us we were the chosen couple! #GAGGED This meant we had approx 36 hours to get our house & garden ready for a wedding! Several trips to the DIY store, and copious amounts of caffeine later, we made our garden presentable. Our community and neighbours rallied around decorating our picturesque lane with flowers, balloons and bunting. They even had a secret WhatsApp group to discuss organising rose petal confetti distribution! The service was streamed to our friends and family via Zoom and they have all remained tight lipped like us until today. Neighbours were watching over their walls on step ladders and socially distancing on the street and we had Finlay’s brother @ajwphotographyscotland there to do the photos. We got engaged in such a love filled way at Pride in Washington DC and to be married by Michelle during Pride month couldn’t have been more of a flitting way to follow. The support from the proposal was so overwhelming and to know we (2 random Scottish guys) touched the hearts of so many of you who follow our journey was truly lovely. I hope you watch How’s Your ahead Hun? on BBC3 on iPlayer now and continue to follow on the journey with us and see how beautiful it was. Thank you!! I can say I’m a very happily married man ❤️?️‍? I love you Finlay DISCLAIMER: everyone was socially distant. If it looks like they aren’t, they are from the same household!

A post shared by Alan Lambie (@alanlambie) on Jun 22, 2020 at 10:25pm PDT

“We had given up because we’d passed the point where we should have been organising the wedding and were at the point where we would have had to delay it to the following year to get it on the same day,” Finlay said, according to the Daily Record.

“So to get the chance to get married within seven days of our original wedding day was really amazing.

“And our street showed so much support. They brought us flowers and swept the road and were looking over garden walls on ladders and throwing petals. It was really lovely.”

Alan added: “It gave us all something to dress up for. Everyone has been in jogging bottoms for three months.”

How’s Your Head, Hun? is streaming on BBC iPlayer now.