Gay Couple Takes Second Place in Crate & Barrel's $100,000 Wedding Contest

Gregory Jones and Jonathan Howard have finished in second place in Crate & Barrel's $100,000 Dream Wedding Contest. They and the other gay couples in the contest generated quite a lot of positive press for the marriage equality movement (as well as some internet nastiness, of course.) Today they write via email:

To those of you who stood alongside us, and helped make this happen, we thank you. We thank you for your hard work, determination, and repeated sacrificing of Facebook status updates to help us reach this extraordinary place. Through your efforts, you have helped unite a community fighting for a common goal: full federal equality, including the right for same-sex couples to marry nationwide. We never imagined that our attempt to win a wedding would become a social statement that gained national coverage. Thank you all for giving us the chance to represent our community which, in the end, showed us the true meaning of community. We are still speechless when we think about the last 48 sleepless hours of the contest, which were probably some of the most exciting hours of our lives; more than 7,000 of you voted for us at that time.