Married and Counting

After almost 25 years together, Pat Dwyer and Stephen Mosher load up a van with a dozen of their closest friends and take to the road for a destination wedding… several destinations and several weddings. They are embarking on a “slighty zany… cross-country adventure” (The New York Times) to get married in every state that will let them.

Stephen and Pat met in Texas in 1985 and now live together in New York. As several states began passing marriage equality laws, they eloped in Connecticut. If they were a straight couple, that one ceremony would have rendered them legally married across the nation and the entire world, but since 45 states and the federal government refuse to acknowledge their union, they decided one wedding was not enough, and settled on their plan of an interstate wedding tour.

The stress of planning just one wedding (or one road trip) can be almost enough to tear some couples apart, but Pat and Stephen must plan six more weddings and an interstate journey that will take them and a posse of wedding guests through Vermont, New Hampshire, Iowa, Massachusetts, and even California (where the legal status of same-sex marriage is in limbo). The trip will culminate in their final nuptials on the steps of the Supreme Court in Washington, DC.

When Stephen's father announces that he will not attend any of the weddings because he 'philosophically disagrees' with them, the grooms add an additional stop in Texas so Stephen can confront him directly, and so Pat can come out to family members of his own who do not yet know he is gay.

In each state, they make unexpected new friends, some who support their mission and some who do not. They find acceptance from strangers, rejection from loved ones, and discover that no distance is too far to go to prove to America and each other that their marriage counts.

For a year, they allowed the filmmaker to travel with them, sharing their most intimate moments with the camera. The documentary is part road-trip romantic comedy, part political protest, and all love story.

“One of the most relevant, heart-felt and timely documentaries of the year… a brilliant gem” –Huffington Post

“Equal parts love story and political protest” –TIME